Board
of Directors |
| Peter Quandt Chairman David Tobis, Ph.D. Steven Rosenheck, Ph.D. Douglas Lasdon, Esq. Bernadette Blount Child Welfare Organizing Project Frederick Mwangaguhunga, Esq., MBA |
Vickramajit Sandhu, Esq. Esmeralda Simmons, Esq. Medgar Evers College Jason Warwin Lily Faulhaber, Esq.(counsel) Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton Lawrence Murray, MSW |
| Staff |
David Tobis is the Executive Director of the Fund for Social Change which he founded in 2002. For the past 25 years he has worked to reform child welfare. For ten years he was a consultant to UNICEF and the World Bank to prevent children, the disabled and the elderly from being placed in long-term residential institutions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, particularly in Lithuania, Romania , Moldova and Armenia.
He began his social activism in Mississippi in 1965 first rebuilding a burned church and then returning as a civil rights worker. He spent the next decade as an anti-war activist, traveling to North Vietnam in 1968 as part of the first student delegation to visit that country. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Guatemala in 1966-67 and co-edited the book published by NACLA, " Guatemala : And So Victory is Born, Even in the Bitterest Hour." He was also a Revson Fellow in 1987-88.
He is the author of numerous reports and articles on New York City's foster care system that have led to significant changes in service delivery. He wrote a monograph published by the World Bank, The Transition from Residential Institutions to Community-Based Services in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union that has become the basis for the World Bank's community services strategy. He also wrote the article for the Encyclopedia Britannica's Book of the Year on the Child Welfare Crisis throughout the world. Previously he was Director of Human Services for New York City Council President Carol Bellamy and led that office's successful efforts to reform New York 's foster care system.
He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Urban Justice Center (chairman 1987-99), High Tide Dance, Inc., the Global and Regional Aspergers Syndrome Partnership (GRASP), and the Carlo Pittore Foundation (President). He graduated from Williams College and received a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.
John Courtney, Co-Director of the Partnership for Family Supports and Justice, as well as Senior Advisor to both the Child Welfare Fund and FAR Fund, has been committed to improving the child welfare system for the past 25 years. Previously he was Director of Program Planning with New York City 's Child Welfare Administration and Deputy Executive Director of Little Flower Children's Services. In those positions, and now with the Partnership for Family Supports and Justice's Bridge Builders Project, he has helped bring about positive change within child welfare.
His commitment to the field has influenced countless progressive New York City practitioners, organizers and community members. In addition, his expertise in program design, implementation and evaluation has been vital in shaping and developing both the Child Welfare Fund and the FAR Fund. John also supervises all MSW interns, providing them with insight and guidance, leading them into successful careers as social workers.
Anita Gundanna, Program Office at the Child Welfare Fund, has worked for the past seven years to prevent and address violence against women and children, with a focus on immigrant communities. Anita is committed to ensuring comprehensive, culturally competent, and family and community focused services. Previously she served as Director of Client Services at the New York Asian Women’s Center and managed all of the agency’s residential and community-based services assisting women and child victims of domestic violence. In 2005, she co-founded Project Free, a NYC-based initiative to address human trafficking. Anita also has a strong background in child welfare reform and worked for several years as an advocate for New York City’s Asian American and immigrant families at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF). Anita received her B.S and Elementary School Teaching Certification from Duke University, and her Masters in Social Work, with a concentration in social policy, from Columbia University.
Andrea Loefke, Office Manager, earned an M.Ed. in art education and physical education from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and an MFA in Sculpture from Ohio State University in 2003. She has received numerous fellowships and has shown her work in New York as well as throughout the United States and in Germany. She is also employed as an Adjunct Professor at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. She previously worked as the office manager of the William Lipton Gallery. Her work can be viewed at: http://www.AndreaLoefke.com.
Eight Square Accounting provides fiscal management services for the Not-For-Profit Community of New York City. Partners Amanda Li and Richard Bryant combine thirty years of experience serving this community, offering a full range ot management and training skills. Their mission is to insure that the fiscal departments of the organizations they serve are fully functional and effective. Clients include The Fund for Social Change, The New York Women's Foundation, The New York Asian Women's Center, Asian Professional Extension, and the Swedenborg New Church of New York. Contact: rdbryant@optonline.net