Leadership and Partners

Leon Aragon, LCSW

Leon has worked in state, medical, school based, and clinical outpatient & inpatient social work field since 2010 in urban, rural, and Tribal settings serving several populations to include: Native Americans, Hispanics, Immigrants, Children, Adolescents, Adults, Elders, Veterans, Developmentally Delayed, Individuals with TBI, and Reintegrated Citizens with individual, couple, family, and group therapies along with strategic community prevention work as a clinician, case manager, presenter, program director, and grant writer.

Cindy Myers, LCSW

Cindy has worked in residential, and clinical outpatient social work field since 2010 in urban, rural, and Tribal settings serving several populations to include: Native Americans, Hispanics, Immigrants, Children, Adolescents, Adults, Elders, Veterans and
Reintegrated Citizens with individual, couple, family, and group therapies along with strategic community prevention work as a clinician, case manager, presenter, program director, grant writer, deputy director.

Together with Leon Aragon, she has started, developed, and implemented intervention and prevention frameworks; implemented SAMHSA sponsored services for Indigenous and Native Elders, Children, and Families to address Trauma at varying levels; and written for and been awarded over 10 million dollars of program development.

Margaret Flynn-Khan, MS

Margaret is a founding partner of Mainspring Consulting, a national consulting firm that works with foundations, policymakers, and state and community leaders to design effective investments for families and communities. She has provided training and technical assistance to hundreds of public and private leaders around the country focused on financing and sustaining effective initiatives. To support this work, Margaret has conducted research and produced publications exploring funding sources and financing strategies to support education, youth development, prevention and child welfare initiatives. She is a former Practice Group Leader for Vulnerable Children and Youth at The Finance Project, a national policy research and technical assistance organization. Margaret holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut.

Roberto Gonzalez

Bitten by a Radioactive Spider, Roberto had to learn very early... With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility. In Providence, Roberto uses his extra-ordinary powers to empower the youth. Roberto founded STEAM Box, where the youth are the boss. He develops STEAM programs based entirely on their interests. Their victories have reached outer space, ridden self-made hover-boards, developed apps, videos, websites and virtual reality, and kept their school open in the face of adversary. His favorite part: hiding the learning in all the fun. All this, and he smells like peaches.

Susan Follett Lusi, PhD

Sue has worked in both urban and suburban settings, and in practice, policy, and research, during her over 30-year career. She has led Mass Insight Education & Research for six years. Prior to joining Mass Insight, she most recently served as Superintendent of Schools in Providence, R.I., where she was credited with increasing student achievement and opportunity. Most notably, she improved graduation rates as well as reading proficiency scores for Grades 4 and 11, particularly among English Language Learners. Sue was a champion for Providence students. To enhance their college and career readiness, she and her team increased Advanced Placement, Career and Technical Education, and dual credit offerings in all high schools, as well as established partnerships with institutions of higher education. Sue also collaborated with the Providence School Board and Providence Teacher’s to develop board policy and teacher contract language supporting increased school autonomy.

Sue previously served as Superintendent of Schools in Portsmouth, R.I., Chief of Staff for Providence Schools and Assistant Commissioner for the Rhode Island Department of Education. She started her career at Brown University working for the Coalition of Essential Schools and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, as well as serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Taubman Center for Public Policy.

Sue is the author of The Role of State Departments of Education in Complex School Reform (Teachers College Press, 1997). She holds a B.A. in Economics and a M.A. in Teaching Social Studies from Brown University, and a M.P.P. and Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Britton Steel, JD

Britton is a technical editor specializing in training and curriculum materials and user education. A former math teacher with the Milwaukee Public Schools, he has served as lead editor on two technology websites for K–12 teachers and has taught technical communications at Bellevue College in Washington. As publications manager at Casey Family Programs, he edited a line of products and tools for social workers and administrators in the child welfare system, as well as research reports and white papers for congressional briefings. He is currently developing training materials for the Social Development Research Group (sdrg.org) of the University of Washington School of Social Work.