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Joi
Kohlhagen, Editor and Founder
Joi
Kohlhagen is the Founder and Editor of Perspectives On
Youth. She has been a prolific advocate for children in
various capacities for which she has received numerous
awards. She is an active member of a number of organizations
that serve the well-being of youth.
She is currently researching and writing about several
issues, including exploitation by mentors. In addition,
she is in the process of writing a book about how adult
experiences of being cyber stalked can be useful in helping
communities to generate greater protection for children
who are victims of cyber stalking; and to also help organizations
prevent other children from falling prey to this vicious
crime.
Joi has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication
from New York University, and a Juris Doctorate. Her interests
include literature, theater, travel and sports. She lives
with her husband Robert in Long Island, New York. |
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Al
Desetta, Communications
Editor
& Parenting Issues Editor
For
over 25 years, Al Desetta has been working with teens
and is the editor of numerous books for young adults,
including The Struggle to Be Strong: True Stories by
Teens About Overcoming Tough Times (Free Spirit Publishing,
2001) and The Heart Knows Something Different: Teenage
Voices from the Foster Care System (Persea Books,
1996). His work has been praised by Jonathan Kozol, Martin
E.P. Seligman, and Marian Wright Edelman, among others.
Over the years, Al has conducted numerous writing and
editing workshops, for both teens and adults. He is currently
an editor at Free Spirit Publishing, an independent publisher
of many critically acclaimed books on youth issues.
Al has a B.A. in English from the State University of
New York at Binghamton and an M.A. in English Literature
from the City College of the City University of New York.
During the 1990-91 academic year, he was a Charles H.
Revson Fellow at Columbia University. Al currently resides
in upstate New York and is the very proud father of his
young son. |
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Patrick
Boyle, Articles Section Editor
Patrick
Boyle is Editor of the Articles Section of Perspectives
on Youth, a collaboration with Youth Today magazine,
the leading national newspaper dedicated to the youth
service field, read by over 100,000 youth workers each
month. Patrick is a highly-accomplished journalist with
over 25 years experience. He is the editor of Youth
Today magazine, and author of A Father's Place,
a parenting column in Maryland's Gazette newspaper chain
and on several Web sites. He also teaches at the Philip
Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Patrick has extensive experience covering youth issues
as a reporter for The Watertown Daily Times and The Washington
Times, and as a free lancer for the Washington Post, Baltimore
Sun, Newsday, Child and Parenting magazines and ABC News,
among others. His book, Scouts' Honor: Sexual Abuse
in America's Most Trusted Institution, examined child
molestation in the Boy Scouts of America. He has also
served as senior editor of Car & Travel magazine and
spokesman for AAA. He has a Master's degree in journalism
from the University of Maryland. |
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William
Wesley Patton, Children’s Law Editor
William
Wesley Patton is Professor and J. Allan Cook and Mary
Schalling Cook Children’s Law Scholar at Whittier
Law School. He is Director of the Whittier Law School
Legal Policy Clinic. He has served as a children’s
advocate since 1977 as a public
defender, Professor, and Founding Director of the Whittier
Law School Center for Children's Rights and Legal Policy
Clinic.
Professor
Patton is the Co-Editor of Juvenile Law And It’s
Processes: Cases And Materials, 3rd Ed. (Lexis 2003)
and Author of Legal Ethics In Child Custody And Dependency
Cases: A Guide For Judges And Lawyers (Cambridge University
Press 2006). He has also authored more than 20 law review
articles on children's issues.
In
addition to having litigated hundreds of child abuse
and juvenile delinquency cases in the trial and appellate
courts, he has also written numerous legislative analyses
and testified in legislative and congressional hearings
regarding children’s interests.
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David
Lefkowitz, Performing and Media Arts
Editor
A
theater journalist, critic, and playwright for two decades,
David Lefkowitz is the Founder and Publisher of TotalTheater.com,
an archive of theater writing, and factual information.
He is also Co-Publisher and Chief Editor of Performing
Arts Insider, an industry Journal covering Broadway, Off-Broadway,
Cabaret, Opera, and Dance. He is also Off-Broadway Editor
for New York Theater News. Former Chief Editor of Playbill.com,
David is a Member of the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle,
International Association of Theater Critics, and American
Theater Critics Association (ATCA). He has served on ATCA's
Executive Committee and is Editor of its annual journal,
"Critics Review."
David holds two degrees from New York University, both
awarded with Honors: A Bachelors of Fine Arts in Film
& TV and Masters of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing.
He has lectured on writing and literature at Columbia
University, Touro College and the Eugene O'Neill Theater
Center. His dark comedy, "Kandide," won the
Lee Korf Award and was produced in The Original Theater
Works in California. "Marriage, Babies and the End
of the World," a collection of plays, was published
by Holvoe Books of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Since October 2002, David has hosted the talk-radio/humor
program, "Dave's Gone By," airing weekly on
Long Island, NY's WGBB, with older episodes syndicated
to the Internet-radio site, Live365.com. David recently
began co-hosting a second syndicated radio program. David
has diverse interests including travel and comedy. David
currently resides with his wife Joyce in Long Island,
New York. |
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John
Bell, Advisory Board
John
Bell is the current Director of the Training and Learning
Center for YouthBuild USA, and former Director of Leadership
Development. He has thirty-four years of experience in
the youth field as teacher, counselor, community organizer,
program developer, leadership trainer, director, and parent
of three. He was a founding staff member of three youth
organizations: Youth Action Program (in 1978) in East
Harlem, the originator of YouthBuild; Children of War
(in 1984), an international youth leadership organization;
and of YouthBuild USA (in 1988). He is a nationally known
trainer and consultant in the areas of youth leadership
development, peer counseling and healing, and diversity.
He has done training and consulting work for the Peace
Corps in Africa and South America. He is the author of
numerous published articles and handbooks on youth leadership.
He is a passionate advocate for including young people
as partners in community development. Mr. Bell holds a
BA and MA from Stanford University. |
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Father
Dallas B. Decker,
Advisory Board
Father
Dallas Decker has been involved in youth causes for several
decades. He is the President of the Kiwanis Club in Long
Island, New York, an organization that provides a wide
range of services to youth, especially disadvantaged youth.
Over the years Father Decker and his wife have given a
temporary home to over 50 foster children. They also have
four grown children. Father Decker is an Episcopal Priest
and an Ordained All Faiths Minister and is a graduate
of the All Faiths Seminary in Manhattan, New York. Father
Decker and his wife reside in Long Island, New York.
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Cynthia
Decker,
Advisory Board
Cynthia
Decker is a musician and a public school music teacher.
She has a BA in Ed from Mansfield (PA) University and
an MA from SUNY Stony Brook. She has taught kindergarten
in Long Island, New York, and fifth grade in a BIA (Bureau
of Indian Affairs) on the Navajo Reservation at Tohatchee,
New Mexico, where she was named Teacher of the Year. She
is also an Organist/Choir Director at her church, in Long
Island, New York. She and Father Dallas Decker have been
very happily married since 1960. |
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Jonathan
Laskin,
Advisory Board
Jonathan
Laskin is First Deputy Bureau Chief of the Brooklyn District
Attorney's Drug Treatment Bureau-a special initiative
of New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye. The Drug Treatment
Bureau largely involves matters concerning 16 to 18 year-olds,
and is serving as a model for other counties in New York
in addition to several States across the Nation. He previously
was a Deputy Bureau Chief of the Grand Jury Bureau of
the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office in New York. He
has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Union College
and a Juris Doctorate from American University School
of Law. He has performed extensive pro bono and community
service and has many diverse interests. He currently resides
in New York. |
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Jennifer
Nelson,
Advisory Board
Jennifer
Nelson is the co-founder and Director of Voices of Youth
(VOY), a multiple award winning program that is considered
to be among the most innovative foster care programs in
the country. Voices of Youth is based in New York City
and Texas and is a division of South West Key Program,
Inc. in Austin Texas. VOY offers training and mentoring
for youth to make foster care a more supportive experience
for teens so they are better prepared for the transition
out of care. Jennifer is a social worker and has a Masters
Of Social Work from the University of Maryland. She currently
lives in Austin, Texas. |
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Russ
Pottle,
Advisory Board
Russ
Pottle was until recently Associate Publisher of Youth
Today: The Newspaper on Youth Work, the leading national
newspaper for professionals who work with young people
with a readership in excess of 100,000.
During his 30-year career in publishing and marketing,
Mr. Pottle has held senior level positions with prominent
professional publishers such as Little, Brown and Aspen
Publishers. He also helped launch Lightning Source, the
acknowledged leader in the burgeoning print-on-demand
book publishing field.
Among his activities in the nonprofit sector, Mr. Pottle
is a long-time participant in educational and mentoring
programs designed to help young inner-city children at
risk. Mr. Pottle resides in Tennessee. |
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New
York State Assemblyman Andrew Raia,
Advisory Board
Andrew
Raia was recently elected to his third term as Assemblyman
of the 9th Assembly District of New York State, which
represents over 140,000 people in Suffolk County, New
York. Assemblyman Raia serves on the New York State Assembly
Committees of Social Services; Health; Banks; & Housing.
Assemblyman Raia is widely acknowledged to be one of the
hardest working legislators in New York State. He has
a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State
University of New York at New Paltz. He is very interested
in issues that affect youth and families and is a Director
of the Huntington Boys and Girls Club in Long Island,
New York. Assemblyman Raia is a Founding Member of the
New York State Assembly Task Force on Sex Crimes Against
Children and Women. As Assemblyman, he has facilitated
a number of events and programs to benefit the well-being
and education of youth. |
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Rabbi
Alan Stein,
Advisory Board
Rabbi
Alan Stein is an ordained Rabbi and received his Rabbinical
Degree from Tifereth Yisrael Rabbinical Yeshiva in 1995.
He is also an attorney in general practice in Long Island
New York. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the State University
of New York at Binghamton and a Juris Doctorate from Touro
Law School. His interests include playing golf, travel,
the theater, and spending time with his wife and their
two young daughters. Rabbi Stein and his family live in
Long Island, New York. |
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Professor
Mitchell Stephens, Advisory Board
Professor Mitchell Stephens is Professor of Journalism at New York University. He is the
author of A History of News, an extended history
of journalism that has been translated into four languages
and was a New York Times "Notable Book of
the Year." His latest book, The Rise of the Image,
the Fall of the Word, is a historical analysis of
our current communications revolution and was published
by Oxford University Press. Professor Stephens is also
the author of Broadcast News, the most widely used
radio and television news textbook in the country, and
the
co-author of Writing and Reporting the News. In
recent years, he has written numerous articles on media
issues and aspects of contemporary thought for publications
such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles
Times, the Washington Post and the Columbia
Journalism Review. |
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Joyce Weil, Advisory Board
Joyce
Weil was recently awarded a Phd. in demography at Fordham
University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Her research interests include aging, women's health,
social inequality and health/well-being, inequalities
over the lifecourse, and quantitative methodology.
In her more than 14 years of research, Joyce has worked in a variety of
settings, including interning in a health-research, training program of the
NYC Department of Health, Bureau of TB Control investigating the reporting
of TB and HIV on death certificates; assisting at the Women's Health
Education Project providing health education to homeless women living in
shelters in New York City; surveying obstetricians/gynecologists at Cornell
Medical Center about attitudes towards the unblinding of newborn HIV
screening; interviewing persons 65 years-of-age and older via telephone at
regular intervals after their hip fractures at the Department of Health
Policy at Mount Sinai Medical Center; writing Institutional Review Board
(IRB) submissions and grant renewals; editing a privacy and confidentiality
website designed to educate others on protecting the rights of subjects of
research for the American Statistical Association; and most recently as a
consultant to the Demography and Social Statistics Division of the United
Nations reviewing Demographic Yearbook data for Brazil.
For
the past five years, Joyce has also taught the undergraduate
course, Introduction to Sociology, and a year-long Methods
of Social Research course, both at Fordham University.
She also currently is an Adjunct Professor at Pace University.
She holds a Bachelor of Science from Hunter College/CUNY;
a Master of Public Health from Columbia University;
and is currently at Fordham University completing her
doctorate.
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Christopher
Attard, Web Master
Christopher
Attard is a computer teacher in the Bethpage School District
in Bethpage, New York. In addition to his work with POY
he also is the web master for the Bethpage Congress of
Teachers Union Web Site (BCT1379.org).
He has a degree in Architecture from SUNY Farmingdale,
A Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Education as well
as a Masters Degree in Liberal Studies and Computers from
SUNY Stony Brook. He resides on Long Island with his loving
wife Dawn, son Louie and is expecting a new addition (baby
girl) 4/24/07. |
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