The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson

Executive Director

esimpson@cdfny.org

As Executive Director of the Children's Defense Fund-New York, the Reverend Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson is responsible for leading the organization's strategic direction and day-to-day operations and acting as CDF-NY's lead advocate on behalf of children to New York's elected officials, policy makers and communities. Prior to joining the Children’s Defense Fund, she served as Pastor for Programs at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, NY, as the Executive Director of Girls Inc. of New York City, and as the Executive Vice President for the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fisk University, a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and, Executive Level Certificate in Not for Profit Management from Columbia University Business School, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew Theological Seminary. She serves on the Board of Directors for Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the Weeksville Heritage Society and the Concord Christfund. She is also a member of the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle.

Jennifer Marino Rojas, ESQ.

Deputy Director

jrojas@cdfny.org

As Deputy Director, Jennifer Marino Rojas is responsible for research, policy development, and legislative and administrative advocacy on issues related to the health, early childhood education, juvenile justice and well-being of children. Prior to joining CDF-NY, Ms. Rojas spent nine years at the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS). Starting as a staff attorney in the Bronx Family Court, She spent several years in the Division of Legal Services at ACS focusing on legislative issues affecting children. After working for two years as Chief of Staff to the Commissioner, she was appointed as the Associate Commissioner for Child Care and Head Start. Following a high profile child death in January 2006, Ms. Rojas was asked to move into the Division of Child Protection as the Associate Commissioner for Administration, where she was charged with making changes and improvements to the system that would allow frontline staff to better protect children. Ms. Rojas received her Juris Doctorate from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America and her B.A. from Marist College.

Robyn B. Furman

Director of Development

rfurman@cdfny.org

Robyn Furman has worked at CDF-NY since 2002. As Director of Development, Robyn is responsible for leading the development of resources and relationships to fund, further and strengthen CDF-NY’s agenda. She oversees foundation and corporate relations, major gifts and special events. Previously, she was the Development Associate for The After-School Corporation and Clearpool, Inc. Prior to her career in Development, Robyn taught seventh grade Literary Arts at MS 321 in the Bronx where she also taught after-school and summer remedial literacy and mathematics and advanced mathematics programs. While at MS 321 she served as the Union Consultation Committee Liaison between the teaching staff and school administration. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware and did her graduate work at the College of Mount St. Vincent. She is the former chair of the Junior Advisory Board for the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families and currently sits on the Friends Committee for the Cornelia Connelly Center, a neighborhood-based, independent Catholic middle school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan serving low-income girls. Robyn has also served on the Executive Committee for the Advisory Council of the Children’s Aid Society.

Jaime T. Koppel

Sr. Program Associate

jkoppel@cdfny.org

In March 2009 Jaime Koppel transitioned from serving as a consultant to her role as Senior Program Associate. In her role, Jaime is facilitating our work around education.  She is also involved in policy research and advocacy. Jaime has worked in both the nonprofit and public sectors. In 2007, Jaime was selected as an Education Pioneers Fellow and worked with the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Portfolio Development on charter school development and small school initiatives. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Staff for the Executive Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Administration for Children's Services where she also worked as Director of Development and Special Projects. For the past eight years, Jaime has managed the nonprofit organization she founded in 2001. Bilingual Education for Central America (BECA) provides a quality bilingual education to disadvantaged Honduran children through the recruitment and training of service-minded volunteer teachers. Before moving to Honduras, Jaime worked in alumni relations and development, first for her undergraduate alma mater, Hamilton College and then for Aiglon College in Switzerland. Jaime has a Master degree in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Jaime says she “feels like she has come home” since joining the CDF-NY team as her work allows her to so neatly blend her commitments to child welfare and education.

Gabriela Silverio

Youth Justice Organizer

gsilverio@cdfny.org 

Gabriela Silverio has worked with CDF-NY since 2007. Gaby specializes in outreach and organizing around critical supports for working families including public health insurance, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit and child nutrition programs.  Her work includes providing technical support trainings and outreach to community-based organizations as well as analyzing the impact public health policies have on enrollment and retention. Gaby also manages CDF’s various youth leadership development programs involving youth throughout NYC she co-designed and led CDF-NY’s inaugural summer youth project and she represents CDF-NY on a number of taskforces and coalitions including the Campaign to Close Spofford and The Juvenile Justice Coalition. Gaby comes to CDF-NY with over six years of experience with Alianza Domincana Facilitated Enrollment Program where she served as Project Coordinator and supervised the work of 10-12 personnel who staffed programs including a facilitated enrollment program for Medicaid, Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus; the Healthy Heart program and the Community Health Workers program at the Center for Health Promotion and Education. Gaby holds an Associate degree from Katherine Gibbs School in New York and she is currently a student at John Jay College for Criminal Justice, where she is working toward her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration with a minor in Criminal Justice. She was honored, in June 2008, by Casa Atabex Aché as a Women’s Warrior (Mujer Guerrera) for her demonstrated commitment to social justice, human rights & world peace.

Avery Irons

Director of Youth Justice Programs

dirons@cdfny.org

Avery Iron's work focuses on policy research, legislative advocacy and community organizing around reform of state and local youth justice policies and practices. Prior to joining CDF-NY, Avery was the Associate Director of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York. While at the Correctional Association she coordinated the NY Juvenile Justice Coalition and developed and ran a youth leadership training program that taught LGBT youth and straight-allies to advocate for the rights of court-involved LGBT youth Avery received her Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Lorraine Gonzalez, LCSW

Director of Health Policy

lgonzalez@cdfny.org 

Lorraine Gonzalez has been working in the arena of public health for the past 8 years, focusing on initiatives to provide access to affordable, quality health care for children and families, while ending racial/ethnic disparities in the health care system. Most recently, Lorraine managed a facilitated enrollment coalition and Community Health Advocate program at the Children’s Aid Society. These initiatives serviced low-income families in Manhattan and the South Bronx through health insurance enrollment, navigational assistance, and short-term case management. On average, more than 8,000 individuals were served annually through these programs. Prior to working in public health, Lorraine provided services as a social worker to children in foster care, helping support reunification for families. While not operating in health policy and program administration, Lorraine is a psychotherapist with a part-time clinical practice in the New York City metropolitan area. She specializes in offering bereavement support for families dealing with loss through separation, divorce, death, and illness. Lorraine is also an active Board Member of the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and the board liaison to the PACE (Political Action for Candidate Election) Committee for the chapter.

Jasbir Singh

Youth Justice Organizer

jsingh@cdfny.org 

Jasbir Singh has been working with CDF, elected officials and other various organizations on various issues as an Advocate since the early 2000 and has always been in the front lines speaking his mind and making sure his generation has a voice in any matters that affects our communities and young people. Being that he knows firsthand the issues plaguing our communities because of his past and struggles he’s went through, he uses that as fuel to help as much as he can in our communities. As our current Youth Justice Organizer and YALT Alumni, Jasbir’s position is a key role in CDF-NY’s efforts to dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline.  Through community organizing, engagement and mobilization, the youth justice organizer will support the work of CDF-NY to create systemic changes that will improve outcomes for young people.  Everything from establishing connections with community members and organizations to create an on-going strategy for engagement to working closely with the policy and organizing staff to educate the community around efforts to keep youth out of the pipeline with a focus on Juvenile justice, education and other related issues that affect young people, this unique position will furthermore help CDF-NY’s position of helping the community get more involved in dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline.

Erin Hoben

Health Policy Associate

ehoben@cdfny.org 

Erin received her Juris Doctor from the Cardozo School of Law in June 2011. During law school, she focused on serving low-income populations through her work with the Cardozo Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic where she worked with clients seeking social security, Medicaid and housing assistance.  She followed her work at the clinic with a summer internship at Volunteers of Legal Services where she advocated for individuals appealing unemployment insurance decisions. Prior to law school, Erin worked for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after receiving her Masters in Health Promotion from Indiana University. It is this combined education and experience that has led her to pursue a position in health policy. At CDF-NY, Erin is involved in advocating for healthcare reform legislation to be passed in New York, educating community-based organizations about the Affordable Care Act and working to ensure that every child in New York has access to quality health insurance.