Community Action Partnership Staff Members

Phone: (202) 860-1020
Email: dharlow@communityactionpartnership.com

Ryan Gelman serves as the Senior Associate for Public Policy and Advocacy for the National Community Action Partnership. He recently completed a legislative fellowship in the U.S. Senate focusing on pretrial justice and previously served as Legislative Director for a Massachusetts State Senator. He has a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law where he concentrated on constitutional law and public policy.

As the Program Associate for the Learning Communities Resource Center with the Practice Transformation team, Laura Griffin supports the planning and implementation of the national Community Action innovations hub for addressing the causes and conditions of poverty. Previously, she worked as a Program Manager at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee service where she oversaw training, peer learning, and grants management to support a national network of nonprofits.  For over seven years, she supported a wide range of social programs for migrants and refugees, including job development, case management, foster care, and legal programs. As a former business owner and non-profit consultant, Laura’s worked on a range of other topics, including homelessness and housing, public health, sustainable food education, international development, and program evaluation.  She holds a Master of Public Management degree with a focus in nonprofit management and social policy from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and a Bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.

Courtney Kohler serves as the Project Director for Instructional Design & Technology with the National Community Action Partnership. In this role, she leads the design, development, and delivery of the Partnership’s online learning and resource platforms, as well as provides training & technical assistance to the Community Action Network. As a Nationally Certified ROMA Trainer, CCAP, and FDC Instructor, areas of training expertise include community needs assessment, strategic planning, family-centered coaching, board roles and responsibilities, organizational standards, customer satisfaction, ROMA, and leadership development. Previously, she worked as Program Director for the Missouri Community Action Network (CAN) where she did curriculum design, trainings, grant management, and program development. She holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Louisville and Master’s in Public Affairs from the University of Missouri. Prior to Community Action, she worked in the mental health field, hospice research, and coached gymnastics and dance. Courtney lives in mid-Missouri with her husband, Matthew, and 3 children, Emma, Addilyn, and Clarke.

Tiffney Marley is the Vice President for Practice Transformation at the National Community Action Partnership, where she leads training and technical assistance strategies to maximize impact and transform anti-poverty practices of the Community Action Network.  This work has many dimensions including leadership of the National Learning Communities Resource Center (LCRC)—the national Community Action innovations hub for addressing the causes and conditions of poverty, working with CAAs to redesign their programmatic strategies, and collaborating with governmental and private stakeholders on special initiatives to transform organizations and systems.  A Whole Family Approach and Institutional Equity leader, Tiffney has successfully led multiple intensive technical assistance cohorts aimed to transform organizational and anti-poverty practice.  She also serves as a thought-partner to the CEO on national racial equity implementation and other strategic initiatives.

Tiffney is a Head Start Alumni and touts her personal transformation from being Community Action customer to becoming a national Community Action leader. She has close to 9 years of Community Action professional experience, having served as the Training Coordinator for the North Carolina Community Action Association prior to joining the Partnership team.

Tiffney is the former Director of Black Church Studies at Duke University Divinity School and has over 17 years of senior-level experience in the academic, faith-based, and nonprofit sectors.  She is a Certified Community Action Professional, Nationally Certified ROMA Master Trainer, and a Rx Racial Healing Practitioner.  She also holds a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Mathematics Education from North Carolina State University.  Her biggest accomplishment is that she is the mother of twins, Randi and Jesse, whom she is grooming to become future leaders.

Lillie has over 15 years of service with the Community Action Network. She currently serves as the Director of Practice Transformation for the National Community Action Partnership and is a Nationally Certified ROMA Trainer. Prior to joining the Partnership, Lillie worked at a local Community Action Agency where she served as the Deputy Director. In this role, she managed and supported Administrative and Programmatic Operations, including Human Resources, Fiscal, IT, Procurement, Grant Management, Head Start, Early Head Start, and CSBG-Funded Services. Lillie is an avid traveler and enjoys spending time with family.

Gabriel Smith is the Senior Associate for Learning and Dissemination at the National Community Action Partnership. Gabriel brings experiences from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Democratic Coordinated Campaign in Tampa Florida,  the Congressional Black Caucus, and the U.S. House of Representatives to the partnership. Smith holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in History from Tuskegee University and Auburn University respectively, with emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement and economic resistance to White Supremacy. Gabriel enjoys traveling abroad and participating in trivia competitions.

With a passion for increasing the economic mobility of America’s most vulnerable citizens, Jovita A. Tolbert joined the Community Action Network, working with the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP), shortly after graduating college. During her ten year tenure at NASCSP, Ms. Tolbert gained a wealth of experience providing management support and technical assistance to all levels of the Community Action Network. More specifically, she provided policy guidance and advocated for the preservation and advancement of the Community Services Block Grant. Ms. Tolbert coordinated and provided local, state, and national trainings with the goal of increasing the Network’s capacity and effectiveness. She also worked with Community Action to document and disseminate best practices from within Network and the anti-poverty field as a whole.

During her four year tenure as Deputy Director with the national Community Action Partnership, Ms. Tolbert has assisted in managing agency operations and human resources. She also oversees member services, benefits, recruitment and retention. Another key responsibility is the coordination of annual conferences and other training events. Ms. Tolbert also oversees agency and member communications.

Ms. Tolbert holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Public Policy, Management, and Planning from the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, CA.  

Aaron Wicks began his career in Community Action working at Action for a Better Community, in Rochester NY. He credits his passion for Community Action to his mentor, James H. Norman. In his 15 years at this local CAA, Aaron helped support the agency’s strategic plan, community assessment, outcomes reporting, compliance, customer satisfaction, grantwriting, advocacy and other programmatic and organizational needs. Aaron is a Certified Community Action Professional (CCAP) and a Nationally Certified ROMA Trainer. Aaron holds a PhD in political science from the University of Rochester and has worked as an adjunct professor teaching courses in American politics and public administration. Aaron lives in Rochester, NY with his partner, Kelly, and children Dylan and Sydney.

Cashin Yiu comes most recently from a non-profit, Global Integrity, that supports learning centered approaches to complex governance challenges around the world. She served as Operations Associate covering everything from finance to human resources to performance management to communications.

Prior to that, Cashin was with Community Action Partnership for 6 years from 2011 – 2016. She held a variety of roles including Special Assistant to the CEO, Program Associate focused on the Organizational Standards, Program and Events Coordinator for the training and technical assistance (T/TA) team, and Program Support Specialist for the National Training Center. She is excited to return to the Partnership and combine her knowledge of the Community Action Network and T/TA issues with her experience in nonprofit operations to support the grants and contracts teams as they successfully carry out their work.

She is originally from Georgia where she attended the University of Georgia and earned a degree in International Affairs. She worked in the DC area for 8.5 years before moving to Charlotte, NC in 2019 where she continues to work remotely.