Indicates presentation materials are posted below.

Douglas W. Nelson
A Look at Children’s Well-Being on the Eve of Change in America

• Douglas W. Nelson is president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and a member of its board of trustees. He is one of the nation’s leading advocates for children and a foremost expert on policies and community-based responses related to improving the lives of at-risk children and their families. Since assuming the presidency of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation in 1990, he has led the foundation through one of the most remarkable and innovative transformations of a philanthropic organization—from a moderately sized institution providing foster care services for disadvantaged children to one of the nation’s most influential and respected large foundations.
  
  In addition to his membership on the foundation’s board of trustees, he serves in varying positions on the boards of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative, and Casey Family Services. In the past, he also served as chair of the New York City Special Advisory Panel on Child Welfare and as vice chair of the board of trustees for the Foundation Center in New York City. Closer to home in Baltimore, he is a member of the board of directors for the East Baltimore Development Initiative, chair of Safe and Sound—Baltimore’s Campaign for Children and Youth, and a member of the board of trustees for the Baltimore Community Foundation.
  
  Nelson is frequently invited to present lectures and speeches across the country. He also writes about a wide range of domestic social policy issues. His social history of the World War II relocation of Japanese Americans titled Heart Mountain earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1976. His other published works include studies and essays about children and youth, aging, long-term care, and housing.
  
  The Annie E. Casey Foundation website is AECF.org.

Deborah Prothrow-Stith
Violence in America Through a National Lens

• Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a nationally recognized public health leader, is revered as a youth violence expert. As a physician working in inner-city Boston, she broke new ground with her efforts to have youth violence defined as a public health problem, not simply as a criminal justice issue.
  
  In 1987, then Gov. Michael Dukakis appointed her as the first woman commissioner of public health in Massachusetts. In that role, she established the first Office of Violence Prevention in a state department of public health, expanded prevention programs for HIV/AIDS, and increased drug treatment and rehabilitation programs. She currently serves as associate dean and professor of public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health.
  
  As a chief spokesperson for a national movement to prevent violence and a frequent speaker in national media and public forums, Prothrow-Stith supports the application of rigorous scientific methods to strengthen violence prevention programs. Prothrow-Stith has authored or co-authored more than 80 publications on medical and public health issues, including The Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents, a forerunner of violence prevention curriculum for schools and communities. She also authored Deadly Consequences, the first book to present the public health perspective on violence to a mass audience. She and co-author Howard Spivak offered a blueprint for community-based violence prevention work in their book Murder Is No Accident, and a guide for parents of girls in their book Sugar and Spice and No Longer Nice.
  
  A Spelman College and Harvard Medical School graduate, Prothrow-Stith has received 10 honorary doctorates.
  Violence in America Through a National Lens presentation

Victoria Rowell
The Women Who Raised Me

• Victoria Rowell was born in Portland, Maine, where she spent her entire childhood in foster care. Under the auspices of the Ford Foundation, she received a full scholarship to the Cambridge School of Ballet in Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 8. Rowell made the transition from classical dance to acting during her late 20s. After moving to Los Angeles, she began acting on the daytime drama “The Young and the Restless.” She has been on the series for 13 years.
  
  Rowell called upon her childhood experiences when she wrote an award-winning book and developed a documentary about her role models. Both her book, The Women Who Raised Me, and her documentary, “The Mentor,” talk about the important people in her life who have helped her achieve her successes. Rowell has been honored with 12 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards.
  
  In recognition of her contributions to education and support of foster children, as well as for her work in human rights and world peace, Rowell received the United Nations Association Award. More recently, she has received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of Southern Maine and an honorary degree from Wheelock College in Boston—both in recognition of her work in foster care and adoption. Rowell has been honored as a National Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. She has also participated in CBS’ annual “Home for the Holidays” special, which honors foster children, for the past seven years.

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