MASTER TRAINERS

Jennifer Watson
Kentucky Child Now Senior Training Manager
Jennifer has dedicated her professional career to helping Kentucky's youth reach their full potential! A graduate of the University of Kentucky, with a Master's Degree in Education, Jennifer has built a stellar reputation as a knowledgeable and compassionate leader. Jennifer has nine years of experience training thousands of educators, youth workers and school administrators. A bold advocate for youth, she has tackled tough topics that affect our youth today, including safe schools and crisis response, school security, sexual harassment and anti-violence. During her career Jennifer developed a passion for fostering safe and positive learning environments for youth - healthy environments in which youth feel empowered to reach their full potential. It is with Kentucky Child Now that Jennifer is able positively impact the lives of Kentucky's youth by training adults who work with youth on a daily basis!

Jennifer's knowledge and experience encompass the vision of Kentucky Child Now, playing critical roles in ensuring that Kentucky's youth have access to the 5 Promises, fundamental resources that every child needs to make a successful transition from childhood to adulthood. With her contribution, Kentucky Child Now has been nationally recognized by the National Training Institute for Community Youth Work as a BEST (Building Exemplary Systems for Training Youth Workers) Site. Jennifer and Kentucky Child Now are diligent in their work, illuminating and eliminating unseen barriers that prevent children from achieving their full potential with productive, successful lives!

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TRAINING INSTITUTE CADRE

Deborah Arthur-Stone
As a native of Louisville, Kentucky, Deborah comes from a strong background of educators, musicians, public service providers, faith-based and community leaders. She has numerous years of combined experience within the school district as a teacher assistant, social service provider, and manager in early childhood; a resident counselor and social service administrator in one of Louisville's top residential and independent treatment facility for infants, children, teens, and young transitioning adults; and as a youth worker and acting supervisor in juvenile detention services. She thoroughly understands the role she plays in serving our neighborhood families, communities, and institutions through the pro visions of empowerment tools that reaffirm individual and collective strengths, cultures, values, and traditions for increased levels of individual and family self-sufficiency. She strives for continuous improvement of knowledge, skills, while maintaining a pro-active attitude and disposition. Her commitment is evident by her active involvement with such community organizations as: Kentucky PTA as a Program Commissioner; Community Collaborations for Children - Parent Representative; Jefferson County Network for Child Safety, Chair, Training and Development; Louisville Urban League Community Agency Board, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Parent Advocate Program.

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Charlotte Jones
Charlotte is a Murray State University alumnae, and is to date our most westerly located trainer. She is currently working as a staff member of the Hardin County Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Council, a role in which she wears a lot of hats. Charlotte brings a vast array of training experience to the KCN Cadre of Trainers. She has trained for Paducah Community College, KCTCS, managed her own cadre of trainers, and wrote curriculum for her roles. She has the ability to adjust her training style to the situation and needs of whichever audience she finds herself before. Charlotte has also worked extensively with youth, spending 9 years at residential summer camps, working in delinquency programs, the teens at her local church, and has been a grant writer for several youth programs. She strongly believes that youth are assets, not problems to be fixed, which she admits sometimes puts her at odds with other DJJ workers, but such an attitude is exactly what we promote at Kentucky Child Now.

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Dr. Kenneth Jones, PH.D.
Dr. Kenneth Jones is an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky. He also has a joint appointment with the state 4-H office as an extension specialist, where his work includes providing resources, through publications and trainings, relating to youth development principles. His research interests include assessing youth-adult relationships within community contexts, the role of youth-adult partnerships in nurturing youth leadership, positive youth development, and theoretical approaches to community youth development. A former county extension agent, his research employs quantitative and qualitative methods that aim to address specific issues that affect youth-serving practitioners. He also served as a 2003 Forum for Youth Investment Fellow.

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Barbara Norris
Barbara comes from a very strong background in promoting children's issues. She has worked extensively with the Cabinet for Families and Children. There she worked for 25 years to promote healthy, functional families which protect, nurture, socialize, educate, and support children to become competent, caring, productive citizens with opportunities to reach their full potential and live fulfilling lives. Barbara also brings to the table a diverse collection of trainings that she has facilitated over the years such as Cultural Diversity for social workers, child care workers, and corporate clients such as Toyota, the city of Cincinnati, and Frisch's. She has also trained on topics like prejudice reduction, positive, nurturing parenting, and child abuse/neglect issues. These, combined with her experiences presenting at state and national conferences promise that Barbara will be great addition to our own Cadre at Kentucky Child Now.

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Jill Orthman-Hatch
Jill has lived in Letcher County, Kentucky for 36 years. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Jill received her Bachelor's degree in History from Regis College and a Master’s in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College. An educator by profession, she was employed by the Leslie, Knott, Letcher and Perry Counties Head Start program for many years, serving as a teacher, education coordinator and, in the last ten years, as manager for child development and health services. From 1999-2005, Jill also served the Head Start as grant writer and coordinator for the Free To Grow initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Jill's specialty areas are assessment of young children, literacy and program evaluation. Currently, Jill serves as a consultant to the James Still Learning Center, a Knott County school for students with dyslexic characteristics, and as a grant writer for the Appalachian Artisan Center of Kentucky, located in Hindman. Jill is a member of the Board of both UNITE Letcher County and the Letcher County Prevention Project, a SPF-SIG grant. Jill is also a member of the Early Childhood Trainer's Credential Panel and holds a Level 5 EC Trainer's Credential.

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Denise Wilson
Denise hails from Lexington, KY, and has spent many years working education, social services, and management. Throughout the years, she has frequently been called on to teach and train both children and adults. She is particularly good at being able to successfully interact with people from all stage of life and in all types of situations. Her professional work includes spending many years as a middle school teacher, knowing that that age group was her personal niche. Denise brings an unparalleled amount of energy to our team and we are looking forward to working with her.