Maddox Guerilla, Senior Consultant for Youth Homelessness

When they're not de-mechanizing humans from the conditions that have been instilled on us, through different art mediums and practices, Maddox is dreaming and creating new solutions. He is a visionary creator who believes in the idea of PROTOPIA, the idea that every day we actively work towards the world we want to see. They are inspired by the EARTH, TREES, plant medicine, and preserving our ancestral traditions and keeping those practices alive. They believe in the role imagination plays in ending youth homelessness. He has expanded the narrative – people with lived experience should not just have a seat at the table but also be supported to have their own homes both metaphorically and literally. Maddox is making sure that people with lived experience and people who are directly impacted are at the forefront of the decisions that impact their lives, ensuring that our policies are reflective of the needs of our most marginalized.

Alison Kear, Chief Executive Officer, Covenant House Alaska

Alison moved to Alaska in 1994 and soon after discovered her purpose when she began supporting at-risk youth at Covenant House Alaska (CHA). Her tenacity and the ability to make connections and never take no for an answer propelled her to the position of Executive Director in 2012. Alison’s most notable success was raising enough capital during the 2010 recession to construct a new building and youth center for CHA, during which she inspired people all over the country with her courage, conviction, and leadership. She values education and has received schooling from all over, including Florida and Texas, but the best was the 2012 Alaska Pacific University Master’s Program. Alison has dedicated her time and energy to Special Olympics Alaska, Soroptimist International of Cook Inlet, Alzheimer’s Association, Breast Cancer fundraising, and YWCAAK. She also loves to spend time with her best friend and devoted Labradoodle, Lucy. She inspires her employees by throwing 30-second dance parties for anyone with good news.

Dr. Matthew Morton, Research Fellow, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

Dr. Matthew Morton is a Research Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Morton has expertise in youth development, youth homelessness, evaluation of complex interventions, and evidence-based practice. He currently leads the youth homelessness agenda at Chapin Hall. Morton is Principal Investigator for Voices of Youth Count, a national research and policy initiative focused on building evidence to support action on ending youth homelessness, and the Youth Outcomes Project, an effort to improve outcomes and measurement across multiple domains in systems, services, and research related to youth homelessness. As a consultant to the World Bank, he is also involved in policy research and evaluation activities related to youth and women’s empowerment in Afghanistan and India.

Morton has worked as an advisor in the U.S. Administration for Children and Families and was a key contributor to the development of the U.S. Government’s national strategy to end youth homelessness and efforts on addressing child trauma. He has also worked on youth, poverty, gender, and labor programs and policy as an Economist and Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank. Morton’s additional prior work experience includes teaching graduate-level courses at the University of Oxford, consulting for the European Commission and other organizations on policy evaluation, and serving as a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. Senate and as a Policy Fellow at the Eckerd Family Foundation.

Morton holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science in Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluations from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stetson University.

Sahra Nawabi (she/her), Youth Advocate, Alameda County Youth Advisory Board

A 19-year-old Afghan American woman; born and raised in Hayward, California. She has been in this advocacy work for almost 2 years, first by becoming a youth member at the Alameda County Advisory Board and within 6 months she became a Peer Mentor. Her natural drive and presence within this advocacy work has led her to achieve self-sufficiency and make markable change within her community. You can describe her as a determined and inspiring individual who transfers her trauma into the legacy of her work.

Dash Togi (she/her), Youth Champion Fellow, Covenant House Alaska

Talofa! Dahsuri (Dash) Togi is a queer individual born and raised in the beautiful island of American Samoa. She is the youngest and most stubborn of five siblings. She believes in implementing authentic youth voices to inform and expand youth services as well as decriminalizing stereotypes around homelessness. Dash dedicates her life to serve and amplify youth voices as a Youth Champion Fellow with Covenant House Alaska and partnering with the Alaska Humanities Forum, National Network for Youth, Anchorage Youth Development Coalition, and many other organizations locally and nationally. Outside of CHA she is the owner of Dash Dezignz, a small business inspired by her lived experiences and pride for her Samoan culture. She hopes to use her platform to encourage more young people to fight and strive for success. She asks herself every day, “Are you going through it or are you growing through it?” Live your truth and do the damn thing!

Casey Trupin, Director, Youth Homelessness, Raikes Foundation

Casey Trupin is the director of the Raikes Foundation’s youth homelessness strategy, which supports efforts in Washington state as well as national approaches to ensure that all youth have a safe and stable place to live. Casey Trupin joined the Raikes Foundation in 2015. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Trupin was the Directing Attorney for the Children and Youth Project at Columbia Legal Services, where he engaged in litigation, legislative advocacy, and other systemic initiatives to improve outcomes for children, youth, and adults experiencing homelessness, as well as those in foster care and the justice system. Casey has chaired a number of national initiatives related to children and youth, including the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and the ABA’s Children’s Rights Litigation Committee. He has authored and edited numerous books and articles on at-risk, homeless, and foster children and, in 2011, was awarded the ABA’s Child Advocacy Award—Distinguished Lawyer. Trupin has worked on issues related to youth experiencing homelessness since 1994 in Seattle, California, Washington, D.C., and throughout Latin America.

Rexanah P. Wyse Morrissette, Esq. (she/her), Director of Legislative Affairs, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness

Rexanah P. Wyse, Esq., is a former Maryland prosecutor dedicated to changing the narrative for vulnerable populations. She served as a policy advisor for the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. She led efforts to address truancy as an assistant state’s attorney for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and has served as a law clerk for the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. Rexanah holds leadership positions on numerous boards, including the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services State Advisory Board and CARECEN DC. Rexanah earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law with a concentration in Public Service.

Richard Cho, Senior Advisor for Housing and Services in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Richard Cho, Ph.D., serves as Senior Advisor for Housing and Services in the Office of the Secretary. In this role, Richard advises the Secretary on HUD’s efforts to end homelessness, protect HUD-assisted households from COVID-19, advance the community integration of people with disabilities, connect housing with health care, and create housing options for formerly incarcerated and other justice-involved people. Richard brings to this role two decades of experience at the community, state, and federal levels building collaboration between the housing, health care, social services, and criminal justice sectors to address the housing and services needs of vulnerable Americans. He served as Deputy Director at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness during the Obama Administration and has held positions at the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Council of State Governments Justice Center, and the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. He has a Ph.D. in Public Administration from New York University, a Master in City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago.

Caroline Crouse (she/her), Senior SNAPS Specialist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Caroline is a Senior SNAPS Specialist in the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) at HUD. She works primarily on youth homelessness and coordination between Continuums of Care and Public Housing Agencies.

Veronica Helms, Social Science Analyst, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Veronica Eva Helms Garrison is a researcher with HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research. Mrs. Garrison leads in-house research initiatives focused on substandard housing, housing as a social determinant of health, and data linkage. Prior to joining HUD in 2014 as a STEM Presidential Management Fellow, Veronica was a Program Manager at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). She received a Master of Public Health from the George Washington University in 2013. In addition to her role at HUD, Veronica is also a part-time Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate in the health equity and social justice (HESJ) concentration at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Kevin Kane, Chief Housing Market Analyst, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Kevin is a Senior Economist in the Office of Economic Affairs (OEA) in HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research. He serves in the role of Chief Housing Market Analyst, a position he has held since 2006. In this position, he has technical oversight of the HUD field economists in the Economic and Market Analysis Division (EMAD), whose primary mission is to monitor housing market conditions across the country and provide market intelligence to senior level HUD staff to assist with policy decisions and the successful implementation of HUD programs, most notably the FHA mortgage insurance programs for rental housing. Kevin serves as an editor for EMAD’s many publications including Comprehensive Housing Market Analyses, Housing Market Profiles, and Regional Narratives, which can be found on the PD&R website (www.huduser.gov). Kevin is also responsible for maintaining and updating the techniques and methodologies used by the field economists in their analyses, assisting in training the staff on housing market analysis techniques, monitoring changes in housing market conditions, and researching data sources that could be beneficial in market analysis. He also provides regular updates to senior HUD staff on economic and housing market conditions around the country and since 2009 has provided a quarterly update on U.S. housing market conditions that is available on a webcast for the public as part of PD&R’s Quarterly Briefings.

Kevin has been with HUD since 2002, beginning his career as a field economist in Philadelphia, where he analyzed housing markets primarily located in HUD’s Mid-Atlantic Region. He has authored numerous Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis Reports and Housing Market Profiles. Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Mathematics from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Washington University in Saint Louis, MO.