Speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Laura E. Zárate
The daughter of parents from la frontera, Laura E. Zárate is a Latina advocate, bilingual training specialist, artist, and writer with over twenty-six years of experience in promoting sexual violence victim rights and prevention, both in the U.S. and Latin America. While living in South America, Laura worked as a consultant for Peace Corps as well as a child human rights campaign, and co-founded BECA; an agency for trafficked and homeless girls. Laura is Founding Executive Director of Arte Sana (arte heals) a national Latina victim advocacy agency. For over a decade she has led Arte Sana’s bilingual training and materials development projects including the Existe Ayuda (Help Exists) Toolkit. She is also co-founder of ALAS, the national Latina alliance against sexual violence. In 2004, Laura was one of five recipients of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's first national Award for Outstanding Effectiveness in Raising Awareness and Promoting Prevention of Sexual Violence. She was recognized for "her dedication in promoting bilingual resources and the impact of her work in sexual abuse prevention." Laura was also the recipient of the 2009 “Community Empowerment Award” from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. She earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, and is the proud madre of two incredible young adults.
WORKSHOP PRESENTERS:
Carmen P. White
Carmen P. White is the Chief Prosecutor of the Child Abuse Division at the Dallas District Attorney Office. She is a graduate of both Baylor University and Harvard Law School. She has been a prosecutor since 2001. She is very knowledgeable and has spoken at Crime Victim's Conference since 2006. Ms. White has participated in over one hundred plus felony jury trials in Dallas County. Chief White supervises and trains local prosecutors and Investigators on successful child abuse prosecution techniques and practices.
Patricia Boyle
Patricia Boyle is the Clinical Director at Neighborhood Youth and Family Counseling of Richardson, Inc. She has worked with NYFC for the last 7 years providing clinical support and guidance to staff and interns. In her work at NYFC Patricia serves victims of domestic violence by providing individual and family therapy. Patricia has served as a director at Buckner Children and Family Services,The New Place, and Family Focus (The Ounce of Prevention Fund) in Chicago, Illinois.
Melissa Weaver
Melissa Weaver is the Women and Children's Program Attorney at HRI, providing legal services to victims of domestic abuse, trafficking and violent crimes and their families.
Melissa first began working with children at the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Child Advocacy Clinic at Southern Methodist University School of Law. She also interned for Texas Lawyers for Children.
While in Law school, Melissa interned with several federal agencies. She assisted in a landmark human trafficking / national origin discrimination case at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Dallas. She also assisted in several civil and criminal cases with the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas.
Chris Mansour
Chris Mansour joined HRI in April 2008 in the role of staff attorney. In May 2009 she assumed the expanded position of Legal Director. In this role she is responsible for the overall quality of all legal services provided to HRI's clients. This includes HRI's Asylum Program and the Women & Children's Program.
While managing the Legal Services Department, Chris remains involved in direct legal services to the HRI clients as well. She also actively participates in the recruitment and training of volunteer attorneys and provides assistance to legal volunteers with HRI cases.
In addition, Chris leads HRI's Advocacy Program, which works to create systemic change in areas of human rights and immigration law that affect our clients and people like them. Chris has also developed HRI's Human Rights Curriculum and presented it to several high schools in the D/FW area.
Stella Rodriquez
Stella Rodriquez, LMFT has been in practice with bicultural and bilingual families since 1984, Ms. Rodríquez is Director of Counseling Services at the Irving Family Advocacy Center. She has been actively involved in the Dallas/Fort Worth community as a therapist, consultant, trainer, supervisor, and public speaker. She has presented over 32 presentations at state and national conferences as well as local universities and churches. Her areas of interest include developing practices which nurture the best in children, families, and communities. Developing what Ms. Rodríquez describes as culturally resonant therapies is a professional passion.
Meghan Abigail
Meghan Abigail is a Staff Attorney at Catholic Charities of Dallas, Inc., Immigration and Legal Services. She earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin and specializes in immigration benefits for victims of domestic violence and other qualifying crimes.
Jose Juan “JJ” Lara Jr.
Jose Juan “JJ” Lara Jr. has been involved in the movement against gender violence for eleven years and has presented workshops at national, state and local conferences on crisis intervention, legal advocacy for victims of family and sexual violence and LGBT victims of inter-personal violence. Aside from J.J.’s experience in systems and community advocacy he serves on the board of directors for Texas Victim Services Association, allgo-a statewide queer people of color organization-and is a consultant for Office for Victims of Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Monica Urbaniak
Monica L. Urbaniak is the Bilingual Sexual Assault Therapist for the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center. Ms. Urbaniak holds a Master of Science Degree from New Mexico State University and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board Approved Supervisor. She has worked with survivors of trauma for the past 10 years and is a member of the Dallas County Sexual Assault Coalition, the Dallas County Domestic Violence Awareness Coalition, and is a former board member for the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center. Ms. Urbaniak has been an advocate for the rights of sexual assault survivors for many years and currently serves as the President of the Board for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. Ms. Urbaniak is committed to helping survivors of sexual abuse and assault heal from trauma.
Jessica Trudeau
Jessica Trudeau, MPH, Child Abuse Prevention Center Executive Director, formerly worked with the the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas, where she chaired multiple family violence prevention coalitions and managed family violence and unintentional injury prevention programs. She has ten years of experience managing and evaluating community-based interventions to reduce the incidence of unintentional injuries, family violence, teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS and has managed a statewide social marketing campaign on teen pregnancy prevention. She holds a Masters of Public Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.