Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative
Susan F. Cole
Anne Eisner
Michael Gregory
Alexander Horn
Alexander Horn is the Program Administrator for the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI), a collaboration between the Education Law Clinic of Harvard Law School and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC). Alexander supports the legal and policy work of the Clinic’s attorneys and students, who represent families affected by trauma in the special education system, as well as the Clinic’s broader advocacy for trauma-sensitive schools. Alexander is excited to continue to support TLPI, and help further the Safe and Supportive Schools Framework
Alexander’s background is in libraries and museums, having worked for six years at Houghton Library, Harvard University’s rare books library. Alexander holds a B.A. in Biology and Psychology, from Dartmouth College.
Bettina Neuefeind
Bettina Neuefeind is an attorney with the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative, a collaboration between Harvard Law School’s Education Law Clinic and Massachusetts Advocates for Children. As a longtime direct services attorney and advocate for culture change around trauma, mental health and schools, Bettina assists families of children exposed to trauma in obtaining appropriate educational services, supports the clinical education of law students, and collaborates with the leadership team on achieving systemic progress growing the safe and supportive school culture movement. Prior to joining TLPI, Bettina was a Research Fellow at Harvard Law School investigating what fuels systems change in anti-poverty work, and an affiliate at Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, where she led the School Food Interventions project and focused on food literacy education and school food culture overhauls in applied settings. Before coming to Harvard, Bettina was a fair housing attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, California, serving low-income clients with disabilities and specializing in accommodations where housing was threatened due to mental health issues. Previously, Bettina worked for the International Crisis Group documenting war crimes in Kosovo, and at the United Nations Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court. Bettina received an A.B. in Comparative Literature and History from Washington University in St. Louis, and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she worked at the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic’s Mental Health Project and served on the editorial board of the Roundtable Journal for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies. Bettina clerked for the Honorable Daniel T.K. Hurley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and for the Honorable Susan S. Beck, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. She is a member of the bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of California.
Joel M. Ristuccia
Marissa del Rosario
Marissa del Rosario is a Trauma-Sensitive Schools Specialist for the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI) at Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Prior to joining the TLPI team, Marissa worked for nineteen years in urban and rural public school districts. She began her career as an elementary school educator in New Orleans, LA and then worked as a licensed clinical soocial worker in public schools for a leading educational nonprofit in Austin, Texas. Over the years, Marissa has worked extensively with students, parents and school personnel at all levels to help remove barriers to students’ educational success.
Marissa holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Political Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.