Expert Profile

Avis Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the National Council of Negro Women. She served previously as NCNW's Director of the Research, Public Policy, and Information Center for African American Women. She is also an affiliated scholar at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, where she was formerly the Director of Poverty, Education, and Social Justice Programs. Her work examines the causes and consequences of poverty on the well-being of low-income women and families while identifying effective programmatic strategies that result in poverty reduction.

Dr. Jones-DeWeever has authored or coauthored numerous publications including When the Spirit Blooms: Acquiring Higher Education in the Context of Welfare Reform; Saving Ourselves: African American Women and the HIV/AIDS Crisis; and The Women of New Orleans and the Golf Coast: Multiple Disadvantages and Key Assets for Recovery.

A highly sought-after speaker, Dr. Jones-DeWeever's policy perspectives have been distributed through a variety of media outlets including CNN, ABC News Now, National Public Radio, BBC Radio International and The New York Times. Her areas of expertise include poverty in urban communities, inequality of educational opportunity, and the impact of welfare reform on women and communities of color. Dr. Jones-DeWeever received her Ph.D. in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund.
 

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