Mark Soler is President of the Youth Law Center, which leads the Building Blocks for Youth Initiative for a fair and effective youth justice system. Soler joined the Youth Law Center as a Staff Attorney in 1978, became Executive Director in 1980 and President in 1994. Soler has worked with public officials, agency administrators and staff, parents, community groups, attorneys and other children's advocates in more than 40 states on juvenile justice, child welfare, health and mental health and education issues. He has been the lead attorney in many major class actions on behalf of children whose rights have been violated in the juvenile justice system. In the Washington, D.C. office, Soler leads the Center's work with Congress and federal agencies on national juvenile justice policy issues.

Michael A. Jones, Senior Researcher
National Center on Crime and Delinquency,
(510) 208-0500

Michael Jones is a senior researcher and director of forecasting with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) and the co-author of And Justice for Some. Jones has conducted numerous research, evaluation and population projection studies in the areas of juvenile justice and adult corrections in over 25 states across the country. Jones directs NCCD’s offender population projections program and since 1990, has developed offender simulation and projection models for numerous state and local agencies across the country and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the areas of sentencing guidelines and reform, Jones completed formal assessments of recently enacted truth-in-sentencing proposals for the Oklahoma and Nevada legislatures and is presently working with the Arkansas and Kansas Sentencing Commissions. In the area of juvenile justice, Jones has conducted major detention utilization studies in some of the nation’s largest juvenile secure detention systems including New York City, Cook County (Chicago), and Sacramento. Jones has conducted planning studies of state youth systems in Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Louisiana.

Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
(202) 638-2269

Hilary Shelton presently serves as Director to the Washington Bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Washington Bureau is the Federal Government Affairs and legislative policy division of the 600,000-member national civil rights organization. Shelton is responsible for providing legislative advocacy to the issue agenda of the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. His government affairs portfolio includes Affirmative Action, equal employment protection, Access to Quality Education, stopping gun violence, abolition of the death penalty, voting rights registration and enforcement, federal sentencing reform and a host of civil rights law enforcement, expansion and protection legislative vehicles.

Hiewet Senghor, National Director
NAACP Youth and College Division,
(410) 358-8900

At 24 years old, Hiewet Senghor serves as the National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division responsible for the over 500 Youth Councils and College Chapters across the country. As National Director, Senghor is responsible for all matters of program development, training, and mobilization of the NAACP youth arm. The youth component is challenged to “develop the strong and militant youth leadership” to lead the NAACP, their local communities, and this nation in the next millennium. Senghor plans and implements the youth program for the NAACP’s Annual Convention, which plays host to over 1000 young people from across the country. One of Senghor’s greatest goal as Director is to oversee the development and implementation of a five-year strategic plan for the Youth & College Division.

Brent A. Wilkes, National Executive Director
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),
(202) 408-0060

Brent A. Wilkes is the National Executive Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) this country's largest and oldest Hispanic organization. Mr. Wilkes manages the operations of the LULAC National Office in Washington, DC with primary focus on tracking federal policies and legislation, membership development, program development and fundraising.

A graduate of Dartmouth College in 1988, Mr. Wilkes majored in Government and Philosophy and studied Spanish in Morelia, Mexico. He has worked in various capacities for LULAC since 1988. He went to work for the LULAC National Office in 1996 and assumed the newly created position of Executive Director in April of 1997.

As the LULAC National Executive Director, Mr. Wilkes is working hard to improve the quality of life for Hispanic Americans by guiding LULAC on its way to becoming a million-member organization with extensive legislative, public policy, and service activities in every Hispanic community throughout the United States.

William E. Spriggs, Director of Research and Public Policy, National Urban League,
(202) 898-1604

Dr. William Spriggs was hired a Director of Research and Public Policy of the National Urban League in September 1998. In that position, he directs the National Urban League’s Washington Operations office and is responsible for the planning and administrative management of the League’s research, legislative, public policy and advocacy efforts. He is a graduate of Williams College and holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Spriggs joined the League following a career in government service and academia. He served a Senior Advisor to the Associate Deputy Administrator for Government Contracting and 8(a) Business Development of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Before joining SBA, he was an Economist and Special Advisor in the office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Before his Commerce position, he was a Senior Economist for the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.