F20-Critical Convo: Defunding the Police and Social Work

Lydia Watts Related Seminars and Products

Lydia C. Watts, Esq.
Executive Director, The Rebuild, Overcome, and Rise (ROAR) Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Lydia has spent the past 30 years working with survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. While in her third year of law school, Lydia — along with three fellow clinical students — founded Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), where she served as Executive Director from 1995-2005. WEAVE was a multi-disciplinary agency that provided teen and adult victims of domestic violence in Washington, D.C., including an innovative range of services including legal, counseling, clinical case management, economic literacy and empowerment, outreach and education. Lydia is also the founding board chair of the Network for Victim Recovery (NVRDC) in D.C., which serves survivors of all types of crime with a strong emphasis on serving survivors of rape and sexual assault. Lydia served on the board of NVRDC from March 2012 to August 2015. Other leadership positions she has held include: CEO of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN); Deputy Director of the DC Access to Justice Commission; Director of Quality and Program Enhancement of the Civil Programs of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA); Executive Director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy and the Victim Rights Law Center, both based in Boston. Lydia earned her J.D. summa cum laude from American University, Washington College of Law, and her BA in English from Boston University.

Lori James-Townes, MSW Related Seminars and Products

Lori James-Townes, LCSW-C, MSW ’91 
Executive Director at National Association for Public Defense/President, Expand-Now 

Lori James-Townes is President & CEO of Expand-Now. She also serves as an Assistant Training Director for National Association of Public Defense. Lori’s passion is adding value to others. Lori has over 25 years of teaching, clinical practice, leadership, and management experience in juvenile justice, mental health, and public defender settings. Her most recent public defender position was Director of Social Work, Leadership and Program Development, with Maryland Office of Public Defender. With over more than 800 employees, she served as one of the first Directors of Leadership in a public defender setting. While in this position, she demonstrated her ability to help others grow in the areas of teamwork, leadership, and management. She also led the agency’s social work staff, consultants, and interns. 

Lori is certified John Maxwell Trainer, Coach and Speaker. She has developed programs that are now national models for other agencies. In 2015, The Daily Record Newspaper named her as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women. As a speaker, she is requested both nationally and internationally. 

Lori has held various leadership positions on national organizations and Boards of Directors. Her commitment to growth has been recognized as organizations have appointed her to serve as Conference Chair for several national conferences and training programs. Lori also serves as a faculty member for national and regional leadership development, trials skills, training, and programs, including but not limited to: National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialist Gideon’s Promise, National Legal Aide and Defender Association, Administrative Offices of the Courts (Training Branch), MD Department of Human Services, and other private and non-profit entities.