What is the Parent Advisory Council?

FRIENDS has established a Parent Advisory Council to provide useful overall program direction and guidance to the activities of the Resource Center. Committee members share their experience and expertise in child abuse prevention and family strengthening through their active participation in FRIENDS workgroups and the annual Grantee’s meeting, development/review of FRIENDS written materials, and by providing resource center staff with consultation and advice. Members of the team include:

Sam Bowman
Charlie Bryan
Nancy Connolly
Eliza Cooper
Stephanie Eckhart
Jill Gentry
Brenda J. Hardy
Art Hernandez
Dawn Patzer
Melony Storm

Sam Bowman is a resource coordinator at the Children's Center of Surry. She is funded by a Smart Start project to help families with children with special needs and families transitioning from neonatal intensive care units back to their home communities. The mother of three boys, her youngest son, Christopher, 19, was born prematurely with multiple medical issues. Since that time, she has served on local coordinating councils, consortium, school advisory boards, hospital advisory boards at Duke University and Wake Forest University Medical Centers, the North Carolina Family Resource Coalition Board, the North Carolina Partnerships for Inclusion Advisory Board, The North Carolina Pediatric Prescribed Child Care Board, the North Carolina Early Intervention Advisory Board, Chairperson of the North Carolina Family Council for Children with Special Health Care Needs, The Governor's Commission on Children with Special Health Care Needs, and is currently the state contact person for Family Voices. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences including the National Smart Start Conference, North Carolina Parent Leadership Training, parent trainer for Family Empowerment Training, the North Carolina Prevent Child Abuse Conference, the Trans-Atlantic Consortium, the Family Support America National Conference, and the International Parent to Parent Conference.

Charlie Bryan and his wife Jennifer Ng have two lovely daughters, a toddler named Bella and an infant named Luca. After attending a Conscious Fathering class and several Circle of Parents “Dads Groups” with Bella, Charlie volunteered to serve as Secretary for Dads of Douglas County, facilitator for the Circle of Parents “Dads Group” and a trainer for the Conscious Fathering classes for expectant and new dads. Charlie is the Community Health Planner at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Urban Studies and Planning at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and a Master of Public Administration at the University of Kansas. Before attending college, Charlie completed a 3-year enlistment in the United States Army. Charlie served on active duty as a basic medical laboratory specialist and was stationed at Kenner Army Community Hospital in Fort Lee, Virginia.

Nancy Connolly has worn many hats within Parents Helping Parents of Massachusetts, including being a support group participant, a parent leader, a facilitator, a trainer, and board president. Currently as the Program Director, she is responsible for 30 parent support groups across the state. She trains facilitators and parent leaders to lead groups and grow within the organization’s governance. She has a Master’s degree in family support and parenting education from Wheelock College. Nancy is the Chairperson of the national Parents as Leader’s Committee for Circle of Parents. She has been a parent’s voice at the table for many years.

Eliza Cooper has more than 10 years of experience as a parent leader and in parent leadership trainings. Eliza co-founded a chapter of Mocha Moms ( a support group for at-home-moms of color) in Washington DC in 1998 and served on their National Board for three years. She served on the Executive Parent Board of her children's Charter School for three years, where she joined a Parents Anonymous® Group in 2001. Eliza was nominated and accepted on the National Parent Leadership Team(R) of Parents Anonymous® where she became a certified parent leader trainer for over 6 years. For four years Eliza worked as a Parent Education Consultant in Washington, D. C. and a member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) and was one of the founders of a BAEO chapter in that city. She also served on the Board of the National Center On Shared Leadership for one year. Currently, Eliza is locally active with The Family Tree of Maryland and nationally with the FRIENDS National Resource Center as a member of their Parent Advisory Council. She is editor of the quarterly Newsletter Parents & Practitioners. Eliza continues to participate in local and national trainings, workshops and conferences. She is also active with University of Maryland Extension, 4-H Baltimore City as a trainer and as the Lead Volunteer Educator for NW Teen Corps.

Stephanie Eckhart is a parent of two independent adults with extraordinary needs relating to mental health and developmental disabilities.  Presently, she is the owner of JumpStart Concepts, Inc., a consulting firm whose mission is to promote partnership between families and providers through organizational effectiveness, customer service strategies and staff/family member training.  As such, in 1997, Stephanie designed and assisted in the implementation of the first business model for partnership among family members and providers at Villa Maria Continuum, a behavioral health organization in Maryland now called Catholic Charities Child and Family Services. She continues to work with providers in ensuring their organization is family centered.  Stephanie volunteers her time to participate as the family representative on many State and Local government agencies, as well as work as a board member of several provider organizations. Stephanie grew up in Baltimore and graduated from The College of Notre Dame of Maryland with a BA in Business and from The Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Science in Business.  She lives in Cockeysville, Maryland with her dog, Humphrey and two cats, Henry and Luna.  

Jill Gentry is a national parent leader.  She has been involved with CBCAP programs in Oregon for over 15 years through Parents Anonymous.  Currently, Jill is on the OR State CBCAP Steering Committee for Family Support and Connections.  Jill has been working at the National level for over ten years. She served on the Parents Anonymous National Parent Leadership Team, and with other organizations and programs such as Family Support America and Oregon’s Improving Permanency Options Project.  Last year Jill was selected to be a member of FRIENDS NRC CBCAP Parent Advisory Council. Jill is the mother of two grown children and has guardianship of her 9 year old niece.  She is also a grandmother and able to share all the wisdom she has acquired as a parent leader, not only with other parents and practitioners, but with her children who are now parents as well.   

Brenda Hardy is the mother of 2 beautiful daughters Grace Hardy (27) and Edwina Hardy (17) years old and 4 grands Bryon Jabari (9) Brishonda Jade, (4), Brionna Joy (2) and the newest addition Ms DonJanae JoyAnne Hardy (4 months old). She has previous experience with leadership skills through the U.S. Army (PLDC) Primary Leadership Development School located in Camp Casey, Korea, (BNOCA) Basic Non-Commission Officer Academy located in Tucson, Arizona. She served in the United States Army 11 ½ years, She is currently working with the Federal Government, the VA Medical center located In Montgomery, Ala as an Program Support Assistant in The Engineering Department, she been with the VA now for 15 years, she furthered her leadership skills by attending the Mentoring Course offered at her job on how to be an effective leader and other courses that was offered, and is currently on the waiting list to attend Action Base Leadership that will be offered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Art Hernandez would be proud to be part of the FRIENDS National Advisory Committee. Child Abuse Prevention and Family Strengthening are a passion of his. Art serves on the California Parent Leadership Team and on the National Parent Leadership Team both sponsored by Parents Anonymous. He is also a board member of Prevent Child Abuse Riverside County. The work he does for these organizations is extremely rewarding. Knowing that he is taking an active role as a parent in his community encourages him to engage other parents to do the same. Art has previously presented at the CBCAP grantee’s conference. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at (951)303-4311.

Dawn Patzer is a married mother of three teenage daughters. She has been involved with mutual self help support groups for thirteen years. Currently, she co-chairs the Parents as Leaders team of Circle of Parents. Dawn helped develop the curriculum and is a trainer of the Parent Leadership Ambassador Training presented by Circle of Parents and sponsored by the FRIENDS National Resource Center. She is employed by the Katy Independent School District as a Special Education Adaptive Behavior Paraprofessional in Katy Texas.

Melony Storm is a proud and grateful mother of 2 children, daughter Trinity and son Alex. She has been a full-time Parent Partner in Northwest Iowa since December 2007 and advanced to the Coordinator position in August 2009. Melony also serves on Cherokee Planning Council, Cherokee DEC (Drug Endangered Children) team, and Sioux Cluster Decat Governance Board where she represents the Parents voice. She co-facilitates the Mom's off Meth support group in Cherokee and is also trained in facilitating Strengthening Families, Parent Nurturing, Family Team Meetings, and a Master Trainer of the Building a Better Future curriculum. Melony has an Associate Degree in Nursing.