About Us
OUR STORY:
In 2012, our three founders came together in shared frustration about how each system re-traumatizes children and families. We began a brave conversation about shifting the whole system and Home for Good Coalition was born. It took five years to create our translocal-community organizing strategy. Micro changes at the local level can HAVE A ripple-effect into national impact.
We are building a coalition of parents, young adults, service providers, funders, lawyers, advocates, administrators, activists, community members, political leaders, joined in the purpose of system-wide transformation who practice being the community that we are building our nation to be.
Why a trans-local Coalition?
Why a Co-op
We wanted an organizational structure that represents equity at the core. We know it takes a long-term commitment to make lasting transformation. Our shared governance allows us to be in integrity with our own values of equity, community, and transformation.
Why wait six years to build a coalition?
We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. There are lots of systems-change initiatives that simply tweak bits and pieces here and there. We grounded our learning in 20 years of first-hand research with families with children in foster care. Before becoming a coalition, we spent six years think-tanking a radical system-wide transformation strategy.
Our Team
Rita Sinorita Fierro, Ph.D.
President and Co- founder of Home for Good
I have spent 20 years learning from families who lost their children to foster care. HfG was born as the strategy arm of my book Give Me Back My Child: How the USA System Kidnaps Children. With a Masters in Sociology, a Ph.D. in African American Studies, and a certification as a Reiki Master Teacher, I am deeply committed to a world of unconditional love and freedom, where everyone belongs to everyone. I have also founded and lead Fierro Consulting, LLC, a organizational development, firm that brings community engagement to evaluation. You can learn more about my speaking and writing at Ritafierro.com
Joy Strategy: Dance, Sculpture, and Singing.
Email: president@
Katie Boone
Co- founder and Board Member
My work is rooted in my experience growing up as a teen mother and growing into the profession of co-designing innovative breakthrough systems that enhance the access, equity, and vitality of families, organizations, and communities. I’m a life-long learner who brings a social-entrepreneurial mindset to my work and have a passion for discovering collective impact through collaborative, multi-sector strategies. I am an Innovation Manager at Future Services Institute in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Joy Strategy: Making Music with Friends in Nature.
Email: advocacy@homeforgoodcoalition.com
Dave Ellis
Co- founder and Board Member
I have fostered over 150 kids short-term across 14 years. I am Certified Master Trainer on the impact of trauma on the neurobiology and brain development of children prenatal through 3 years of age, epigenetics, the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACE Study) and individual and community resilience and capacity building (NEAR Science). I engage others in creating system-wide, community-based and culturally-specific approaches to address trauma- and stress-induced health issues in the lives of individuals and communities. I am a local, national and international planner/trainer on topics including the impact of trauma, trauma informed care, worldview intelligence, equity and community engagement strategies. I also founded and lead Dave Ellis Consulting, LLC, a group dedicated to using Worldview Intelligence and the Art of Hosting Conversations.
Joy Strategy: Grandkids, gardening, and BBQ.
Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo, Ph.D.
Board Member
I am a children’s book author, consultant, and ORISE economics fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. My Ph.D. in Management and Health Policy, from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, is the foundation for my innovation, creativity, and technical support to organizations using analytics, critical research, and evaluation. I have worked at the University of Cape Town as the lead investigator on an international research fellowship studying media coverage of a national human papillomavirus vaccination campaign and evaluated a mobile technology program for rural pregnant women. I also serve on the Board of AcademyHealth. I am deeply committed to a passion for public health and the involvement of individuals and communities in innovation and health.
Joy Strategy: Singing, Breaking down Silos, and Binge-Watching Netflix Shows
Email: invest@homeforgoodcoalition.
Jeannette Vega
Equity and Parent Advocacy Chair
I am a proud mother of four boys and a proud parent advocate in NYC. I had my own personal experience with child welfare in 1999 and it was over in 2002. I started contributing to Rise in 2008 and began as a Training Director in 2018. I specialize in presenting parents’ perspectives to child welfare professionals and training other parents to become advocates. I lead Rise’s work consulting with the Administration for Children’s Services and other agencies on their internal staff trainings. I graduated from the Child Welfare Organizing Project’s Parent Leadership Training in 2005 and was one of the first parent advocates to staff Child Safety Conferences in New York City.
Joy Strategy: Have the weekend for those that matter the most to me: my boys and my husband. Having our time brings me to complete happiness and peace.
Email: advocacy@homeforgoodcoalition.
Alli Shurilla
National Team member
I am the founder and Lead Consultant of AS Community Consulting, providing research, evaluation, and other consulting services with nonprofits, school districts, hospitals, and other public organizations. My work is rooted in the belief that information is an important and powerful tool in social change. When communities have control and ownership over their own knowledge and information, they can more effectively create change. I hold a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and have backgrounds in education, public health, community engagement, and the arts in a local, national, and international capacity.
Joy strategy: loved ones, movement, stillness, nature, personal reflection, sunsets.
Helen Mallon
Collective Power Publications Manager
Super Power: Helping people to fly through their words Kryptonite: Clothes shopping!
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