Board
Carol Wilson Spigner, Chair
Carol Wilson Spigner is a child welfare policy and services consultant who recently retired from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice where she directed the social policy program and taught policy and macro practice. Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, she served as Associate Commissioner for the Children's Bureau in the Department of Health and Human Services. As the federal policy leader, Spigner directed the implementation of Family Support and Family Preservation Act, the Adoption and Safe Families Act and redesigned the federal monitoring process. Spigner has published articles on permanency planning, adoption and disparities in child welfare. Her work has been recognized through awards from American Public Human Services Association, North American Council on Adoptable Children, National Association of Social Workers, Association of Black Social Workers, Black Administrators in Child Welfare, The Association of Child Welfare Mangers and Child Welfare League of America. Spigner holds a doctorate in social work from the University of Southern California. Her current work focuses on disparities in child welfare and reform of complex child welfare systems.
Yolie Flores
Yolie Flores was previously a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District and CEO of the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council (CPC), the largest children’s partnership network in the United States. A first generation Mexican American, Flores has championed several reforms targeting the needs of low-income children and families. As a school board member she authored the Public School Choice resolution, as well as the Teacher Effectiveness resolution, illustrating a keen understanding of the challenges that confront students. Flores received her B.A. from the University of Redlands and her Master of Social Welfare from UCLA. She was a Coro City Focus Fellow, and a member of the inaugural class of the national Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Children and Family Fellowship. She has received the YWCA “Incredible Woman Making History” award, the Los Angeles County “Woman of the Year” award and the National Association of Social Workers “Social Worker of the Year” award.
Mark L. Joseph
Mark Joseph’s current research is focused on the study of mixed-income development as a strategy to reduce poverty. He is studying the experiences of public housing residents as they transition to mixed-income communities as a part of Chicago’s public housing transformation. He has also studied the economic impacts of incarceration as well as comprehensive community development strategies in high poverty neighborhoods. Joseph received his B.A. in Government from Harvard University. He received a Harlech Scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University. He continued his graduate studies at the University of Chicago, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Harris School of Public Policy. Joseph completed a post-doctoral scholarship at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, and was a research associate at the Chapin Hall Center for Children. In 2005, Joseph received the Harris School’s “Minorities in Public Policy Studies Alumnus of the Year” award and in 2007 won the Best Paper of the Year award from the Urban Affairs Association.
Gary Stangler
Gary Stangler is Executive Director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a national foundation created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs to leverage resources and public will to help youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood. Prior to joining the Initiative, Stangler served as the director of Missouri's Department of Social Services for 11 years. Appointed by then-Gov. John Ashcroft (R) in 1989, he was re-appointed by Gov. Mel Carnahan (D) in 1993. He began his career in the Department of Social Services in 1980 and worked his way up the ranks. Stangler has testified on a number of occasions before Congress on foster care, indigent health care and family preservation. He has received numerous awards, including the Lewis Hine Award for Service to Children. Stangler is a graduate of the University of Missouri - Columbia and the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
