Bich Ha Pham, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research

Ms. Pham is the Director of the Policy, Advocacy and Research. She has fourteen years of experience conducting policy analysis, research and advocacy in New York City and State.

Ms. Pham has co-authored a number of research and policy publications including, “The State of NY's Social Safety Net for Today's Hard Times, ” “Improving TANF in New York State: New TANF Regulations and Opportunities for State and Local Advocacy,” “Job Creation and Housing Capital Programs,” “Lack of Skills and Education in the Empire State: Low-Income New Yorkers Need Increased Access to Education and Vocational Training Programs,” and “Assessing the Effectiveness of Welfare-to-Work Programs in New York State: A Survey of the Performance of New York State’s Welfare-to-Work Programs According to Its Participants.”

Ms. Pham was invited to testify at the U.S. House of Representatives Human Resources Subcommittee hearing on the reauthorization of the federal welfare law and has delivered numerous testimonies on the city and state levels. She is also on the Steering Committee of the Welfare Reform Network and the Coordinating Committee of the Empire State Economic Security (ES2) Campaign. She received her Juris Doctorate from New York University School of Law.

Esther W. Y. Lok, Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst for HIV and AIDS

Ms. Lok is the Assistant Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research. She also serves as the Senior Policy Analyst for HIV and AIDS. Prior to focusing on HIV and AIDS policy and budget advocacy in New York City and State, Ms. Lok provided capacity building technical assistance to faith and community-based organizations to develop HIV prevention programs in the South Bronx and Southeast Queens.

Ms. Lok is the co-author of “HIV Prevention for Women and Girls in Communities of Color: Reframing HIV Prevention Strategies.” She also managed the development of a training manual, which was designed to facilitate HIV prevention education in Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities among Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Ms. Lok’s work focuses on promoting the development of HIV prevention and intervention strategies that address societal stressors in disadvantage neighborhoods, with an emphasis on women and girls of color. She develops and pursues opportunities to highlight the multifaceted issues faced by persons living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Ms. Lok received her Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York. She also holds a graduate degree in Education from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Ms. Lok served as a Board member of the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater New York between 2007 and 2009. She has served as a voting member at the Policy Committee of the New York City Health and Human Services Planning Council since 2008. In January 2010, she was elected as a Member-at-Large at the New York Association of HIV Over Fifty.

Liz Accles, Senior Policy Analyst for Income Security and Early Childhood Education

Liz Accles is the Senior Policy Analyst for Income Security and Early Childhood Education. She has been conducting social welfare policy analysis and advocacy work since 1991.

From 1991 to 2004, Ms. Accles worked as a welfare and food stamp rights advocate at the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC) in New York City and worked on policy issues on the federal, state and city levels. In 1999, as a project of CFRC, she developed and directed the Welfare Made a Difference National Campaign, a coalition-based public education and legislative action campaign geared toward challenging stereotypes about people needing public assistance. The campaign focused on bringing the personal experiences of current and former welfare recipients into the public opinion- and policy-making arenas.

After leaving CFRC, she served as the National Outreach Coordinator for Lambda Legal. She was responsible for developing and overseeing national educational and advocacy campaigns related to Lambda Legal's priority issues, including marriage equality.

Ms. Accles' publications have included “Workfare the Real Deal” with Liz Krueger, “What Does Welfare Have to do with Reproductive Rights?” with Linda Gonzalez, “Heather’s Time Warp – Who is Heather Mac Donald and why is Mayor Giuliani Listening to Her?,” “Welfare Made A Difference – Investing in People to End Poverty” and “Welfare Made A Difference – Escaping Violence, Finding Safety.”

Ms. Accles has served on the boards of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Patsy Takemoto Mink Foundation for Low Income Women and Children.

Kathleen Fitzgibbons, Senior Policy Analyst for Elderly Welfare and Youth Services

Ms. Fitzgibbons is the Senior Policy Analyst for Elderly Welfare and Youth Services. She has over twenty years of combined social service administration and public policy experience throughout New Jersey and New York City.

Ms. Fitzgibbons has developed a number of reports and analyses on the city’s restructuring of aging services. In addition she was a contributing writer for FPWA’s “New Directions for Disconnected Youth” Forum Brief. She served as Co-Chair and contributing writer for FPWA’s “Youth Workforce Toolkit, A Standard Employer Guide to Support Youth and Young Adults in the Workplace.” She has authored policy briefs on the Enriched Model for Social Adult Day Services as well as worked on enriched model social adult day services and subsidized guardianship campaigns.

Ms. Fitzgibbons is a member of the Board of Directors for the New York City Citizens Committee on Aging (NYCCOA) and for the New York State Coalition on Aging (NYSCA). She is also a member of the NY Connects State Long Term Care Advisory Council and the New York City Youth Alliance. She received her Masters in Public Administration from Rutgers University.

Noah Franklin, Senior Policy Analyst for Child Welfare and Workforce Development

Mr. Franklin has 12 years of experience leading research and advocacy efforts on complicated policy issues, most recently as the Senior Policy Analyst for The Committee for Hispanic Children and Families (CHCF), an organization focused on the issues of child welfare, early care, education, juvenile justice, and the well-being of Latino children.

Previous to this position, Mr. Franklin served as the Director of Political Affairs at the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) and the Director of Policy at the Office of Bronx Borough President. He has a B.A in Spanish from San Francisco State University and a M.A. in Public Administration from American University’s School of Public Affairs.

Greg Richane, Legislative and Policy Organizer

Mr. Richane is the Legislative and Policy Organizer. In this capacity he coordinates FPWA's key policy advocacy events, supports policy initiatives across FPWA’s issue portfolio and empowers FPWA members and partners to participate in FPWA campaigns and organizing activities. His background includes work on various electoral and issue-based campaigns, and he has extensive experience in constituent mobilization and volunteer management.

Prior to his role at FPWA, Mr. Richane worked as an advocate for affordable homes in San Mateo County, California with the Housing Leadership Council. In that position, he coordinated a variety of partners in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to support the development of affordable homes. His work at HLC included grassroots organizing and policy advocacy in support of project entitlements, legislation and major zoning changes in diverse jurisdictions. He also led a significant organizational strategic planning effort, and organized numerous policy conferences, events and trainings.

Prior to his work in San Mateo, Mr. Richane worked as a field organizer on a variety of campaigns, including the New York City Mayor’s race in 2005 and the Presidential Election in 2004. Greg graduated from Boston University School of Fine Arts with a degree in Theatre Studies.