Biographical Sketches for District of ColumbiaCRP Members

Rick Bardachhas served as a member of the Citizens Review Panel for about one year and has been a resident of Washington, DC for over 40 years. He retired from the DC Government's Department of Human Services after 23 years of service.Among other assignments, he was a Child Protective Services worker for 5 years.Following that, he was a mid-level program manager for the Income Maintenance Administration until retirement. Mr. Bardach has held position of Executive Director for the Southwest Community House, a very small community social services non-profit. He was on the board of the South Washington/West of the River Family Strengthening Collaborative for about ten years. He is currently a board member of the New Community for Children after-school program, lives in the near Southwest sector of DC, and is very active in this community.

Rashida Brown, Chair, is currently the legislative policy associate for the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, an affiliate membership organization within the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). She is also the staff liaison for the National Association of State Child Care Administrators. At APHSA, Ms. Brown serves public child welfare administrators and directors of Child Care and Development Fund Lead Agencies in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Her primary role is to inform state and local human services administrators and Governor-appointed commissioners on federal legislation, regulations and policies related to vulnerable children and families. She works closely with Congress and the Administration on various children's issues, which include, but are not limited to, child welfare, child care and juvenile justice programs. Prior to her work at APHSA, she served as a social services administrator at the Maryland Department of Human Resources in Baltimore and worked in private adoptions and therapeutic foster care. Ms. Brown graduated with a masters' degree in social work from Howard University School of Social Work. She is licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Sig Cohen is a mediator with the DC Superior Court as well as in privatepractice with Beyond Dispute Associates and Tough Conversations. Previousexperience includes serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, workingwith the Alliance of Concerned Men, a community-based ex-offender organization,and a career with the foreign service of the U.S. Information Agency.

Elaine Farley, Treasurer (No bio available at this time)

Susan Grosshas devoted her life to advancing social justice and empowering the most vulnerable and underserved in our society. She began by spending 15 years as an activist for civil rights, consumer protection, and corporate social responsibility nonprofit organizations. In 1980, she co-founded the Management Assistance Group, a non- profit management/organizational development organization, and was its executive director until 2005. For over 35 years, Susan has helped social justice groups to improve their structure, management, organizational effectiveness; has guided them through strategic planning processes, and has coached their boards and their executive leadership. She has assisted many organizations that work for the well-being of children, including the Children’s Defense Fund, Voices for Children, Advocates for Children, Latin American Youth Center, Young Women’s Project, and American Civil Liberties Union. While Susan still occasionally works with nonprofits as an independent consultant, she is mostly retired and now spends her time volunteering, including mentoring a 14-year old male youth in foster care, under a CFSA program managed by Community and Family Life Services; working with pre-school students at the KIPP Grow Academy; running a writing center for students at the SEED Charter School; serving as board chair of the Young Women’s Project; mentoring a YWP older youth in foster care; and serving as Chair of the DC Citizens Review Panel for Child Protective Services. Susan is the mother of two adult sons and the grandmother of six children.

Josh Gupta-Kagan is a senior attorney at the Children’s LawCenter, where he works on policy issues including reform of the District of Columbia’s abuse and neglect system and handles child abuse and neglect cases.He graduated from the NYU School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar, and clerked for the Hon. Marsha S. Berzon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.Josh has published articles on adoption and guardianship subsidy policies, custody disputes between parents and non-parents, children’s right to an adequate education, children’s Fourth Amendment rights at school, and the history of Head Start. He is an adjunct professor of law at the GeorgetownUniversityLawCenter, and lives with his family in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Yvette Marbury-Long, Secretary (No bio available at this time)

Dr. Betty Nyangoni was appointed to serve on the first Child Abuse and Neglect Committee in Washington, DC. For four years she served as Coordinator of Child Abuse and Neglect for the DC Public Schools. In addition she has served as Chair of the DC Citizens Review Panel, two separate terms and represented the DC Citizens Review Panel at three National Citizens Review Conferences in Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota, Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Lexington, Kentucky. She has designedand conducted training for mandated reporters. Currently she is an Adjunct Professor in Education at TrinityWashingtonUniversity, a part time associate for America's Most Wanted, (the TV show ) and a consultant on grant fundingfor a range of programs at the United States Department of Education.