Natalece Washington, JD, CWLS, joined Team NACC in January 2021 as Policy Counsel. Natalece plays an instrumental role in NACC’s national campaign to guarantee youth the right to counsel in child welfare cases. As NACC Policy Counsel, Natalece conducts research on the right to counsel, assesses state readiness for reform, coordinates communications, and provides intensive technical assistance to state advocates and coalitions.
Natalece joins NACC following 10 years of child welfare experience exemplifying her commitment to improved outcomes for dependent children. Natalece most recently served as Policy Administrator with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services where she developed and enhanced child welfare policies to ensure their continued alignment with federal and state laws, organizational changes, and shifts in best practice.
Prior to joining the Division, Natalece held the role of Director of Operations for Fulton County CASA, Inc. where she focused on strengthening volunteer advocacy. Before joining Fulton CASA, Natalece provided legal representation and ongoing holistic advocacy for dependent children as a Senior Child Advocate Attorney at the DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center in DeKalb County, Georgia..
Natalece has been certified by NACC as a Child Welfare Law Specialist since 2015. She earned her law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law.
Sara Willis, MA
Sara joined Team NACC in 2008. As Business and Conference Manager, she is responsible for the daily business of the organization and supporting operations and NACC program areas. Sara is also responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing NACC’s National Child Welfare Law Conference. Sara’s work in early childhood education includes onsite supervision, teacher training, parent education, and contract management, primarily with Head Start, Early Head Start, and State Preschool programs. She continues to present nationally on the importance of self-care for educators.
Sara earned her BA in psychology from the University of San Francisco and her MA in early childhood education from the University of Colorado Denver. She is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Denver. When not at NACC, she can usually be found outdoors, snapping pictures, reading, or visiting the quirkier parts of the planet with family and friends.
Kim Dvorchak, JD
Kim Dvorchak, JD, joined the NACC team as Executive Director in May of 2017. Ms. Dvorchak is responsible for the overall leadership of policy, operations, programs, fundraising, and the strategic development of the organization. Ms. Dvorchak has more than 25 years of experience in direct representation, policy advocacy, and nonprofit management to advance the rights of children and youth. Under Ms. Dvorchak’s leadership, the National Association of Counsel for Children vastly expanded its programs and services, tripled its budget and staff, and was selected to receive a major multi-year grant to launch a national right to counsel campaign for children and youth in the child welfare system.
Ms. Dvorchak has served in Executive Director roles since 2010. Previously, Ms. Dvorchak was the Executive Director of the National Juvenile Defender Center, where she lead the launch of the Gault at 50 Campaign to commemorate the US Supreme Court case establishing children’s right to counsel. Prior to this position, Ms. Dvorchak was the founding Executive Director of the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center, an attorney training and policy center which accomplished monumental reforms to ensure children’s right to counsel, reduce the prosecution of youth in adult court, and build a community of lawyers committed to zealous advocacy for children.
In her legal career, Ms. Dvorchak represented children and youth in delinquency court, criminal court, and on appeal; she has run her own law firm, and served as a public defender in two states. A recognized national expert on juvenile law, Ms. Dvorchak has published multiple policy reports and is a frequent lecturer at policy conferences and continuing legal education seminars. Ms. Dvorchak continues to serve as an expert witness in juvenile law and policy.
In recognition of her advocacy work on behalf of children, Ms. Dvorchak received the Kutak-Dodds Prize for equal justice by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Champions of Children Advocate by the Sewall Child Development Center, the Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense by the National Juvenile Defender Center, and was named a Colorado Woman of Influence by the Denver Post. Ms. Dvorchak also received the Gideon Award from the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar for her work on an amicus brief in a Colorado Supreme Court case establishing the right to effective assistance of counsel in post-conviction matters.
Ms. Dvorchak received her J.D. from the City University of New York College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
After spending six years in the Washington, DC area, Ms. Dvorchak returned to Colorado in 2021 to lead NACC’s expanded operations team in NACC’s Denver headquarters. When she is not working, Kim enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, skiing, and roller skating.
Ginger Burton
Ginger Burton joined the NACC team in May of 2016. Ginger is the Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) Certification Program Administrator and is responsible for day-to-day operations and administrative functions of the program including online platform management; the development of program materials and preparation of documentation for committee review; NACC’s national and state accreditations and compliance; and monitoring the certification program budget and statistics. Ginger also administers NACC’s continuing legal education operations including preparation and submission of CLE accreditation applications, tracking attendance, and reporting credits to applicable jurisdictions.
Prior to joining Team NACC, Ginger managed Medicaid reproductive health benefit policy at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing and served as that agency’s liaison to the governments of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes of Colorado. Ginger has a bachelor’s degree in political science with a law studies minor from the University of Colorado at Denver. She was born in Oakland, California, but has called Denver home since age 4. Ginger is driven by a passion for social justice through informed public policy. When she’s not working, Ginger likes to spend time practicing martial arts, doing origami and other paper crafts, listening to music, and appreciating the humor in life as much as possible.
Emily Dufour
Emily joined NACC in June of 2021 with 5+ years of experience in nonprofit management, specializing in membership. At NACC, Emily is the direct line of support for members and any membership questions for both individual and organizational members. She supports the state coordinator program, and can also be found on the other side of the Zoom screen during NACC’s annual virtual conference. In partnership with the National Law School Student Organizer, Emily aims to support and connect the child welfare community.
Prior to NACC, Emily worked for an association management company where she oversaw membership for five state and national nonprofits. Emily received her Bachelor’s in Marketing Management from Thomas College in 2018. She is working towards getting her Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification.
Out of the office, Emily enjoys spending time with her dog Wilbur, growing herbs and veggies in the summer, and attending live music.
Leyda Garcia-Greenawalt
Leyda Garcia-Greenawalt joined the team in January of 2022 as NACC’s inaugural National Law School Student Organizer. Currently, Leyda is a Civitas Child Law Fellow and first-year student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Her first law school internship was at the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian where she observed child protection and juvenile justice hearings and conducted research on the Indian Child Welfare Act and its implementation across the United States.
In March of 2021, Ms. Garcia-Greenawalt was published in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law: Guilty: How Immigrating to the United States Became a Life Sentence to Child Welfare. The article was part of the Symposium: Strengthened Bonds: Abolishing the Child Welfare System and Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being, where Leyda was a speaker and responder to the opening panel.
Previously, Leyda served as President of the Foster Care Alumni of America – Illinois Chapter. In that time, she assisted with policy and legislative initiatives alongside other county-wide, statewide, and national organizations. She advocated for the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, IL HB 5122, which allows students with lived experience in child welfare to attend in-state colleges tuition-free.
Prior to law school, Leyda attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. As a student she conducted and published research on the intersection of the child welfare system and intimate partner violence, as well as juvenile justice reform. Ms. Garcia-Greenawalt also served as the Undergraduate Representative for the Illinois chpater of the National Association of Social Workers.
When she is not working or studying, Leyda enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies, and cooking.
Allison Green, JD, CWLS
Allison Green, JD, CWLS joined Team NACC in 2019, and now manages the organization’s policy advocacy, oversees amicus work, and provides training and technical assistance to child welfare practitioners nationwide. She previously served as a Foster America Fellow at Missouri’s Children’s Division and as Senior Supervising Attorney at the Children’s Law Center of Washington, D.C. Allison started her career as a Jesuit Volunteer at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco and also worked as a counselor at a youth shelter. She earned her law degree at Georgetown, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and recipient of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic Public Service Awards. She is a certified Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) and has volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. She is currently licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C.
Jonathan Green, JD
Jonathan Green, JD, joined the NACC team in October 2022. He is a member of the senior management team and provides leadership and accountability in the areas of finance, operations, and human resources. A key aspect of his work is to support the organization’s continued growth and sustainability. As a member of the senior management team, Jonathan is involved in strategic planning, program evaluation, and professional development initiatives.
Jonathan has years of experience managing complex nonprofits with national and international reach. Before joining NACC, Jonathan served as vice president and director of finance and operations for the Yale-China Association at Yale University. He was a member of the executive team and worked to ensure the success of a wide programmatic portfolio in the areas of health, education, arts, and public service. Prior to Yale-China, Jonathan served as an associate director of Kidsave. There he oversaw the fiscal and administrative functions for offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Moscow, and Bogotá. Before his work at Kidsave, Jonathan served as a divisional accountant at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and as a financial and legal compliance auditor for the State of Tennessee. Jonathan holds a degree in accounting from the University of Memphis and a degree in law from Northeastern University. He studied as a Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow at the University of Michigan Law School.
In his free time, Jonathan enjoys building LEGO sets, studying World War II history, and hiking wooded trails. He has served on several boards, including as treasurer and secretary of the Memphis Crisis Center and as a founding officer and treasurer of the Family and Youth Initiative in Washington, D.C.
Christina Lewis, JD, CWLS
Christina Lewis, JD, CWLS, joined Team NACC in January 2021 as Staff Attorney. In this role, Christina works closely with NACC’s Training Director in developing curriculum for and presenting at state custom trainings, organizing NACC monthly webinars, and editing NACC’s quarterly publication, The Guardian.
Christina previously served as a public defender with the St. Charles Parish Public Defender’s Office in Louisiana. During her twelve years as a public defender, Christina represented adults charged with misdemeanors, served as the defense attorney for the St. Charles Parish Adult Drug Court, and represented juveniles charged with delinquencies in juvenile court. She also provided high-quality legal representation to parents whose children were removed from their custody due to abuse and/or neglect. Christina graduated from Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center with a Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Civil Law. She began her legal career as a judicial law clerk with the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal for the Honorable Marc T. Amy for three years. She is licensed to practice in Louisiana.
Evan Molinari
Evan Molinari joined NACC in June of 2021. Evan develops and coordinates internal and external communications, including NACC’s web content, media relations, marketing, and social media. He also contributes to NACC’s national right to counsel campaign to guarantee legal representation for youth experiencing the child welfare system and provides technical assistance to advocates at the state level.
Prior to joining NACC, Evan worked for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, where he amplified the voices of low-income residents in need of legal help and contributed to a team that increased state funding for civil legal aid. He earned a degree in history from Bates College and interned for Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine. Evan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
