Crime, Policing, Mental Health and Racism

Fee:	$39.00

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Creutzburg Center 102

260 Gulph Creek Road
(in Harford Park)
Radnor, PA 19087
Map & Directions

Carolyn Cavaness

Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness is the daughter of the late Rev. Harold Cavaness and Ms. Karen Cavaness. A fourth generation preacher, Rev. Cavaness’ great-grandfather, The Rev. Dr. Joseph Slade, Sr., pastored numerous churches in the Philadelphia Annual Conference and in the New Jersey Annual Conference, including the historic St. James AME Church in Newark, NJ. Her great-uncle, Rev. Walter Slade, founded Union Chapel AME Church in Newark, NJ, where Rev. Cavaness served on the Ministerial Staff. Rev. Carolyn embarked on her ministerial journey at Israel Memorial AME Church, Newark, NJ, where she answered her call to preach at the age of 14, rendered and received her license to preach at the age 15. Rev. Cavaness is a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, with a major in Urban Studies with a concentration in Economics. During her time at Barnard, she served as President of the Student Government Association, Vice President of Student Government, President of the Columbia University Gospel Choir, President of Black Church at Columbia, and was involved in many other activities and boards. Also, she was Programming Coordinator for the 2003 New Student Orientation Program at Columbia University. For her contributions to the Barnard Community Carolyn received the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize the highest leadership award of the College. She was also the recipient of the Barnard Bear Pin for her dedication and commitment to campus life. Rev. Cavaness graduated in May, 2011 from Union Theological Seminary in New York City with a Masters of Divinity degree. In her second year, she was awarded the Hudnut Preaching Award. The award is conferred annually by the faculty at the end of the middler year to a student who, in their judgment, has made the best preparation for the preaching ministry. Prior to enrolling in seminary, Rev. Cavaness was deputy finance director for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic campaign for President. She was employed by Barnard College as Officer to the Barnard College Annual Fund. She was also Finance Director for New York State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Carolyn was also Director of Development for George Jackson Academy in New York City. Rev. Cavaness is fluent in Spanish after spending her junior year in high school abroad in Zaragoza, Spain. Rev. Cavaness served for eight (8) years as New Jersey Conference YPD President of the AME Church. She was also 2001 AME Youth of the Year for the New Jersey Annual Conference. At the age of 16, Rev. Carolyn was admitted on trial in the AME Church. She was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in the AME Church on April 17, 2010 and on April 14, 2012 an Itinerant Elder in the AME Church. On August 15, 2012, Rev. Cavaness was appointed by the Rt. Rev. Gregory G.M. Ingram, pastor of First AME Church, Sharon Hill, PA. On May 18, 2014, Rev. Cavaness was appointed by the Rt. Rev. Gregory G.M. Ingram, pastor of Bethel AME Church, Ardmore, PA, the first female pastor in the church’s 127 year history. Blessed to serve this historic congregation, Rev. Carolyn’s innovative style and initiative has assisted her in leading the congregation to embark on various capital improvements including: upgrade and overhaul of the HVAC system, roofing and renovations of the lower level of the church. In Spring, 2018, the congregation launched the Bethel Community Garden, which in its first year harvested over 1,000 lbs of produce, which impacted local pantries, members and friends. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bethel has been on the front line in service to the community providing food and household supplies support, tutoring, mental health support and resources for children and families and COVID-19 testing and vaccine/booster clinics. In response to the church’s critical presence during the pandemic, the congregation received a $1.5 million dollar grant from the Montgomery County Recovery Office to undergird its vaccine, farm/garden and mental health programs. Additionally, due to this support a capital improvement and upgrade plan has been launched which will include a complete renovation and upgrade of the church’s current fellowship hall/community life spaces, kitchen, exterior assess as well as ensuring that Bethel is accessible to persons who experience mobility challenges. In addition, Rev. Cavaness led the congregation in the purchase of a multi-family unit and commercial business unit located directly on the church’s property line. Literally saving three (3) families from being displaced due to gentrification and development. Paramount to the work has been increasing Bethel’s outreach, evangelism and community engagement - inclusive of expanding Bethel’s opportunities for worship and Christian education. Strategic partnerships have been advanced with the business community and various non-profit agencies and boards across the Main Line, as well. Joining with sisters and brothers of other faith traditions, she helped to form the Lower Merion Clergy Interfaith Alliance and also served as co-convener of the Lower Merion/Narberth Food Insecurity Working Group, which has been at the cutting edge of bridging resources to children and families in need of food and social service access She has been blessed given her commitment to interfaith dialogue, to travel to Israel in 2017 by invitation twice to advance dialogue between the African American and Jewish communities. In 2018, she and the Bethel, Ardmore Family were blessed with the honor and privilege to host the 202nd Session of the Philadelphia Annual Conference - the first time ever held on the Main Line and hosted by a Main Line congregation. On January 1, 2022, Rev. Cavaness was elected the first female president of the Main Line Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. On July 1, 2023, Rev. Cavaness was elected the first African American female president of the Rotary Club of Ardmore. Rev. Cavaness considers herself a bridge connecting people and resources all towards creating the beloved community. She is blessed to serve(d) on various boards and initiatives some including: Chair - Bethel Academy, Board Member - Interfaith Philadelphia, Vice-President- CommUNITY Breakfast of the Main Line, Executive Committee Member - Main Line NAACP Executive Committee, Treasurer - AME Ministerial Alliance of Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Vicinity Treasurer, Financial Secretary - Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, Board Member - Family Promise of the Main Line, Board Member - HealthSpark Foundation, Board Member - Bucks-Mont Collaborative - Board Member - Common Space, Member - Lower Merion Police and Minority Relations Board, Board Member - Ardmore Library, Board Member - Pennsylvania League of Women Voters. This past Spring, Rev. Cavaness was appointed an Advisor to the USDA's Urban Ag County Committee for Philadelphia. Rev. Cavaness has been featured in the CRAINS Business magazine, New York Post’s Page Six magazine. In addition, she has been named a Millennial Superstar by Montco.Today and a Main Line Hero by Main Line Today. Recently, Rev. Cavaness was recognized by Radnor Township for her work in the dedication of a historical panel in honor of Bishop Richard Allen’s walk to Radnor in 1784. She desires to use all of her God-given talents and gifts to reach and help all that she can. She lives by the statement, "Only what you do for Christ shall last."

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Christopher Flanagan

I am currently the Superintendent of Police for Radnor Township and have been with the Department since 1998. I have held valious ranks in the department and commanded various special units. Radnol Township is an upper-class township with home rule status in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It contains the unincorporated communities of Garrett Hill, Rosemont, St. Davids, Straffold, Villanova, and Wayne as well as areas with Bryn Mawr postal addresses and Newtown Square. Its population is 32,000 and encompasses approximately 14 square miles. It includes colleges and universities including Villanova University, Cabrini University, Valley Folge Military Academy and Eastern University. It has 13 outstanding schools in the district ranging from K-12. Radnor Township School District is Radnor Township's only public-school system serving a multicultural population. Radnor Police must be prepared with the latest training and information to protect and serve Radnor Township's diverse community. I am also the current Chief of Operations for the Narberth ambulance service, a volunteer position I have held for over 25 years. The service has 30 paid staffers and over 80 volunteers. The service responds to over 6,100 calls a year and has 2 stations, 7 ambulances, 2 responder vehicles and 1 Mass Casualty/Rehab bus. I am also the Assistant Chief of the Gladwyne Fire Company since 1988 and a volunteer fireman with the Merion Fire Department as well. My commitment to the safety of the community does not end with me. My two sons are also vlunteer fireman in Gladwyne Fire Company. In addition to serving as Superintendent of Police, I have frequently lectured on topics such as Active Shooter, CPR, Stop the Bleed, Vaping and E-Cigarettes for religious institutions, schools, and civic organizations. I am an Adjunct Instructor for the Anti-Defamation League or anti bias in law enforcement training.

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Brian Gordon

Brian A. Gordon is a shareholder in the firm of Gordon & Ashworth, P.C. which began in Philadelphia in 1879. Brian served as a Lower Merion Township Commissioner from 2006 to 2018. In 2015 and in 2016, he co-lead community dialogues on policing and race in Lower Merion. The dialogues resulted in the hiring of a race relations consultant which led to significant reforms involving race relations and use of force. Brian helped author Lower Merion’s Equal Protection Ordinance forbidding discrimination based on race, creed, color, and sexual orientation. The ordinance passed unanimously with a bipartisan Board. Brian co-founded Concerned Citizens for Democracy, a non-profit think-tank devoted to ending partisan gerrymandering. Brian helped develop a method of redistricting that is resistant to partisan gerrymandering. Brian served as co-lead counsel in the 2017 federal case regarding the highly gerrymandered 2011 Pennsylvania Congressional map in Agre v. Wolf, 284 F. Supp. 3d 591 (E.D. Pa. 2018). Brian and the CCFD team then wrote two amicus briefs to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on fair redistricting in the state case regarding the 2011 Pennsylvania Congressional map in League of Women Voters v. Commonwealth of Pa., 645 Pa. 1, 178 A.3d 737 (Pa. 2018). The remedial congressional map issued by the Supreme Court in League of Women Voters reflected CCFD’s methodology for drawing fair districts. Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in Labor Relations from Cornell University and the London School of Economics and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

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Candice Player

In her role as the Vice President of Outreach at Project HOME, Candice Player provides mission-focused leadership for the Outreach Department. Through the Outreach Coordination Center, the Hub of Hope and the Ambassadors of Hope, Outreach engages individuals who are living on the streets of Philadelphia and provides vital linkages to housing, health care, food, clothing, meals, and other necessities. In this role, Player also leads the Advocacy Department with a focus on removing systemic barriers to exiting homelessness. Prior to joining Project HOME, Player was an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern Law School, where she taught classes on health law, health policy, mental health law, torts, and bioethics. Player holds an A.B. from Harvard College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. in Ethics and Health Policy from Harvard University. In 2003, Player received an M.Phil. in Criminology from the University of Cambridge. Player is an expert on the law and ethics of civil commitment. Her thought-provoking articles have appeared in publications including the Stanford Law & Policy Review, The International Journal of Law & Psychiatry, and The Rutgers Law Review.

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Kathleen Powell

Kathleen Powell is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Criminology and Justice Studies, with a joint affiliation with the Center for Public Policy. Broadly, her research examines the various impacts of involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. She focuses on identifying person-level outcomes of being arrested, on community supervision, or incarcerated. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, her research is often grounded in the life course paradigm and/or the social stress process. Her recent scholarship includes an investigation of age-based variation in mental health following justice system involvement that highlighted the concentrated adverse consequences of incarceration during late adolescence and the transition to adulthood for individuals’ depression and anxiety. Similar papers include a study of occupational stress among public defenders and inequality in earnings following arrest and incarceration in early adulthood. Recently, her research agenda has expanded to include applied projects tackling issues of central importance to criminal justice policy in Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania. This work includes a study of legal financial obligations in community corrections; higher education in correctional contexts; and reentry assistance programs. In conjunction with agency and community partners, this line of research seeks to better understand the daily operations of the justice system and their impact on social and criminological outcomes for persons involved with the system. Kathleen Powell earned her PhD from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers – Newark, her MS from the University of Pennsylvania, and her BS from The College of New Jersey. Selected Publications: Powell, K. (2021). The Age-Graded Consequences of Justice System Involvement for Mental Health. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278211023988 Powell, K., Hyatt, J. M., & Link, N. W. (Forthcoming). Implementing reforms in community corrections: Lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crime & Delinquency. Link, N, Powell, K., Hyatt, J., and Ruhland, E. (2021). Considering the process of debt collection in community corrections: The case of the Monetary Compliance Unit. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 37(1), 128-147. Bacak, V., Lageson, S. E., & Powell, K. (2019). “Fighting the good fight”: Why do public defenders remain on the job? Criminal Justice Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403419862317 Apel, R., and Powell, K. (2019). Level of criminal justice contact and early adult wage inequality. “Criminal Justice Contact and Inequality,” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. Wakefield, S., & Powell, K. (2016). Distinguishing petty offenders from serious criminals in the estimation of family life effects. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 665(1), 195-212. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0002716216633078

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Date	Day	Time	Location
11/30/2023	Thursday	7 PM to 8:30 PM	Creutzburg Center 102