Our Leadership

Meet Our Staff

Rhyzan Croomes

Director of Capacity Building and Training

Brooke Harris

Executive Director

Emerson “Em” Steen

Administrative Manager

Meet Our Executive Board

Sara McDermott

President
Munger, Tolles & Olson

Meredith Desautels

Vice President
Youth Law Center

Ron Rayes

Treasurer
Private Defender Program in San Mateo County

Laurel Arroyo

Secretary
Office of the State Public Defender

Richard Braucher

First District Appellate Project, Oakland

Elizabeth Calvin

Human Rights Watch

Jonathan Grossman

Sixth District Appellate Program

Francis “Frankie” Guzman

National Center for Youth Law

Karin Huber-Levy

JJDPC, San Mateo County

Corene Kendrick

ACLU National Prison Project

Lana M. Kreidie

Independent Defense Counsel Office, Santa Clara County

Jonathan Laba

Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender

Erin Morgan

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Maureen Pacheco

Los Angeles Alternate Public Defender's Office

Ji Seon Song

University of California, Irvine School of Law

Damian Spieckerman

Solano County Public Defender's Office

Meet Our Advisory Board

Alison Cohen

Cohen Defense Group , Inc.

David Bell

Chair
Sacramento County Office of the Public Defender

Elly Hoopes

Hoopes Law

Eric Arias

Yolo County Public Defender

Harpreet Samra

San Mateo County Bar Association’s Private Defender Program

Lindsey Dazel

San Mateo County Bar Association’s Private Defender Program

Marisol Dominguez-Ruiz

American Civil Liberties Union

Megan Low

Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office

Roshell Amezcua

Loyola Law School's Center for Juvenile Law & Policy

Sara Elturk

County of Santa Barbara

Sarah Beth Rabin

San Bernardino Public Defender Office

Shelan Joseph

Los Angeles County Public Defender

Frank Barone

San Diego County Primary Public Defender's Office

JoAnna Edwards

Fresno County Public Defender's Office

Christopher Hawthorne

Loyola Law School Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic

Stephen Hirsch

Sacramento County Office of the Public Defender

Joni Spears

Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender

Ronda Swenson

Criminal Defense Mitigation Specialist

Emerita

Patricia Lee

President Emerita
San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Sue Burrell

Policy Director Emeritus

CYDC’s mission would be impossible without the 2400 volunteers dedicated to bringing excellent legal representation to all young people in California.

We need your help!

CYDC’s vision is that young people in California have access to excellent legal representation, receive fair and equitable treatment in the courts, and be provided with credible, trauma-informed, and community-supported alternatives to incarceration that foster success. We’ve made progress, but we need your help to turn our vision into reality. Learn how to support CYDC’s mission here.

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