Susan Golonka
Susan Golonka is the program director for human services at the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. She directs NGA's research and technical assistance efforts for governors' policy advisors and states around issues related to child welfare, welfare reform, low-income working families and poverty. Ms. Golonka will soon be directing a policy academy on safely reducing the number of children in foster care and a learning network on youth transitioning out of foster care. Publications include Building Bridges to Self-Sufficiency, State Strategies to Reduce Child and Family Poverty and the forthcoming, Ten Things Governors Can Do to Build Effective Child Welfare Systems. Prior to this position, she was the director of human services legislation at NGA. In this role, she lobbied on behalf of the nation's governors on issues including welfare reform, child care, child welfare and food stamps. In this capacity, she was the principal staff representative for NGA during the national debate and passage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. Before joining NGA in February 1995, Ms. Golonka worked with the Family Impact Seminar, a small nonpartisan public policy institute. She has also worked as a policy advisor to former Governor Kean of New Jersey and for the United States Senate. Ms. Golonka received an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.