Staff

Dr. Lawanda Ravoira, Director, is a national expert, researcher, published author and trainer on issues specific to justice- involved girls and systemic reform. She is the director of the National Council and Crime and delinquency’s Center for Girls and Young Women and serves as a consultantwith Children’s Campaign, , Office of Justice (OJJDP) and Health and Human Services (OAPP), Washington, DC and numerous state and local jurisdictions and youth servicing agencies throughout the country. Her work includes the provision of training and consultation services in numerous states including California, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas. Dr. Ravoira serves as the Vice Chair of the State of Florida Blueprint Commission convened by Governor Charlie Crist and Secretary Walt McNeil and she was appointed to co-chair the State of Florida’s Girls Advisory Council. She serves as the project director for Children's Campaign, Inc. Justice for Girls statewide advocacy initiative and authored the soon to be released: Justice for Girls: A Blueprint for Action. Funded by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, she co-authored and served as one of the primary researchers for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) recently released research report entitled, A Rallying Cry for Change: Charting a New Direction in the State of Florida’s Response to Girls in the Juvenile Justice System. Additionally, she authored, Social Bonds and Teen Pregnancy, Greenwood Publishing, that includes her original research on homeless and runaway pregnant and parenting teenage girls. Dr. Ravoira wrote and worked for the passage of HB1989 which amended the State of Florida’s juvenile justice statutes to mandate gender specific services. Florida became the second State in the nation to pass this groundbreaking legislation. For over 13 years, Dr. Ravoira served as the President & CEO of PACE Center for Girls, Inc., a state wide not-for-profit organization that provides gender responsive, comprehensive educational, therapeutic and transitional support services to 4,500 at risk girls annually. Prior to her tenure at PACE, she was the Director of Program Services for the National Network of Runaway and Youth Services in Washington, DC and she served as an administrator with Covenant House/Florida, Ft. Lauderdale, an international child-caring agency that provides residential and non-residential services to homeless and runaway youth. Previous experience includes working as a social worker with inner city youth in New York City with Catholic Guardian Society.

Vanessa Patino Lydia is a Senior Researcher. She has worked at NCCD since 2001 and is currently coordinating the research efforts of NCCD’s newest division, the Center for Girls and Young Women which was launched in October 2008. Her research interests focus on the juvenile justice system, specifically girls and minority youth issues and the policies and practices that criminalize youth behavior. She is particularly interested in bridging the gap between research and practice. She was part of the team to develop the gender-specific version of NCCD’s Juvenile Assessment and Intervention System (JAIS) and has worked on several national and state juvenile justice related projects. Patino Lydia has co-authored three major juvenile justice studies: What Kind of Future,?” a comprehensive juvenile justice system study; Detention Reform in Florida, which examined conditions of confinement with a sample of 300 youth; and, A Rallying Cry for Change, the largest profile of girls in juvenile justice.   Before joining NCCD, she worked in state government as a research assistant and life skills group facilitator, and in local government as a case manager for a juvenile diversion program. She received her Bachelor degree in Criminology and Master in Public Administration, specializing in juvenile justice policy from Florida State University.

Threasa Miller has over 20 years experience in the juvenile justice and child-welfare fields. In her past position as founding Executive Director of the PACE Center for Girls, Inc. - Immokalee as well as her prior work with the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Boys and Girls Club, she created an extraordinary connection with the local community-based organizations. Additionally, she has a standing reputation as an advocate for girls and young women and is personally involved on the local juvenile justice council as well as numerous local boards. Ms. Miller will serve as the onsite JAGS Program Director at the SW Florida Detention Center. She will continue her involvement in the community by presenting and educating local organizations about the needs of girls in detention, engaging the media as appropriate to recruit local support, and utilizing her extensive network to ensure a diverse array of services and support for the girls and their family members. Ms. Miller is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project including the supervision of staff and volunteers, and direct services to the girls.

Bonnie Rose has over 25 years experience working with youth. Over the past 15 years, she has focused her professional work with youth in the juvenile justice system with a special emphasis on girls and young women of promise. Her background includes both administrative and direct care with girls and young women at the university level as well as youth in the juvenile justice prevention, intervention and commitment programs throughout Florida. Having been the State Operations Director for PACE Center for Girls for 8 years, she is able to bridge both research and theory with practical skills for both administrators and direct service staff. She is the program director for the Girl Matters™: It's Elementary project and provides national training, and technical assistance in the implementation of the Juvenile Assessment Intervention System (JAIS™) and Girl Matters™. She holds a graduate degree in counseling and an undergraduate degree in criminal justice.

Beth Daniel provides support to The Center as office manager. For over 20 years she worked in the private sector providing graphic design, marketing, and management support. Her non-profit experience began six years ago when she joined the state office of PACE, Inc. There she provided support to the headquarters as well as individual centers throughout the State of Florida. Ms. Daniel has also served as a consultant to several non-profits in the areas of strategic planning, marketing, development, and website design.

Juliette Graziano, PhD is a Research Associate. She has worked for NCCD since 2004 and her research interests include racial/ethnic health disparities, inequality and incarceration rates, gender and juvenile justice and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. She worked for many years providing direct service and care management to youth in a variety of settings such as shelter care, treatment foster care and alternative education programs. She currently enjoys teaching the social work course, Human Behavior in the Social Environment at FIU.

Angela Wolf is a senior researcher at NCCD and is the director of NCCD’s Center for Women and Girls. Dr. Wolf has over 15 years of experience in community-based program evaluation and public policy research and has directed research on child abuse, intimate partner violence, female offenders and their children, and delinquency. Recent gender-specific projects include The California Women in Prison Study which examined women in prison in California with a special emphasis on health care; the Florida Girls Study, a project examining girls in the juvenile justice system which assisted the state of Florida is closing their largest facility for girls, and The Delaware Girls Initiative, a project working with key leaders and stakeholders to implement a research-based, comprehensive strategy for girls in the juvenile justice system in Delaware. Dr. Wolf also directs NCCD’s work on the topic of gangs including The California Gang Prevention Network, a network of California cities implementing comprehensive gang prevention, intervention, and suppression plans and The Street Outreach Project, a research project focusing on the gang intervention strategy using street outreach workers. Previous projects included serving as the Principle Investigator for the OJJDP-funded National Evaluation of Parents Anonymous®, the only federally-funded child abuse prevention program in the United States. Through evaluating a network of community-based social support groups, this longitudinal research project assessed the effectiveness of Parents Anonymous® in reducing child abuse. Other efforts include the National Evaluation of the National Resource Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents, the Workforce Turnover Study, the Nationwide Human Service and Employment Study, the National Evaluation of Community Assessment Centers, and the Hawaii Youth Recidivism Study. Angela has authored peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other publications on juvenile offending, incarcerated women and girls, and domestic violence. Her areas of expertise include social change and justice system reform for female offenders; violence against women and children; children’s exposure to violence and trauma, interventions and advocacy for delinquent youth and abused children, and strategic planning and community mobilization strategies. Dr. Wolf has an in-depth understanding of the Michigan criminal justice system gained from six years of research and community work at the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency and Michigan State University. Angela holds a Masters and a Doctoral degree in Ecological/Community Psychology from Michigan State University and received her Bachelors degree from the Texas A&M University.