Bonnie Politz
Associate Director
Center for Youth Development and Policy Research
Academy for Educational Development

Bonnie Politz is Associate Director of the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research at the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, she coordinates the Center's Youth Development Mobilization, an effort to strengthen the youth development infrastructure at the local, state and national levels. Proposal development, project management, enhancing organization and community linkages, and meeting facilitation are tasks associated with this position.

For 29 years, Ms. Politz has been actively engaged in efforts to improve community and public systems serving children, youth and families. Prior to her tenure at AED, she served as a site manager for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's New Futures Initiative, a multi-year comprehensive reform effort designed to improve school achievement, reduce adolescent pregnancy and school dropout rates, and increase employment skills and opportunities for youth. Over an eight-year period, Ms. Politz worked in several capacities for the District of Columbia government, including: Deputy Director of the Mayor's Policy Office; Special Assistant on Human Services to the City Administrator; and Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Social Services focusing on child welfare, juvenile justice and children's mental health systems. Prior to this, Ms. Politz had several years of experience at both the D.C. Public Defender Service developing sentencing alternatives for juvenile clients and the National Child Day Care Association working as a developmental teacher/tester on a federally funded research project.

Ms. Politz holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maryland.

Back to participants>>