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ATTENDEES

Welcome to Summit 2025

Welcome to the attendee page for the 2025 Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit! We’re excited that you’ve chosen to join us to #bethemovement to end youth homelessness in Nevada. Please review this site to learn more about what to expect at this year’s event. Here you’ll find a schedule of the day, along with supplemental information for this year’s program.

Friday, November 14, 2025
Historic Fifth Street School

Schedule of Events

8:00am

Registration Opens/Breakfast

Historic Fifth Street School Auditorium

8:45am

Doors Open

9:15am

Program begins

9:20am

Indigenous History and Land Acknowledgement
Benny Tso, Chairman, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe

9:30am

Introduction of Event Emcee

Taisacan Hall, Lived Experience Specialist, Nevada Homeless Alliance

9:40am

Welcome to the Historic Fifth Street School

City of Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem Brian Knudsen

9:45am

Summit 2025 Welcome and Opening Remarks

Ron Reese, Senior Vice President of Global Communications and Corporate Affairs, Las Vegas Sands

9:55am

Youth Performance

10:05am

The Movement Update: Doubling Down on Nevada Solutions

Arash Ghafoori, CEO, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth

10:30am

BREAK

10:40am

Youth Performance

10:50am

Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Update

Southern Nevada Youth Action Board

11:00am

Youth Experiencing Homelessness Statewide Study

Dominique Mikell Montgomery, Ph.D., AM, Assistant Professor, University of Nevada, Reno School of Social Work

 

Melissa Jacobowitz, Chief of Impact, Systems and Policy, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth

11:25am

Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Update

Arash Ghafoori, CEO, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth

11:40am

Lunch (grab lunch and return to auditorium)

12:10pm

Youth StorySLAM (during lunch)

Young leaders with lived experience of homelessness

 

Lanette Rivera, Chief of Communications and Advocacy, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth


Dayvid Figler, Lawyer and Storyteller

 

Jeffrey Child, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Communications Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

 

Nicholas Barr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Social Work

1:25pm

BREAK

1:35pm

From D.C. to Nevada: What’s Changing in Youth Homelessness Policy

Darla Bardine, Executive Director, National Network for Youth

1:55pm

Nevada Takes Responsibility: Funding, Leadership, and Homegrown Solutions Amid Federal Uncertainty

  • Miles Dickson, CEO and President, Nevada GrantLab
  • Punam Mathur, Speaker/Trainer/Writer, Punam Mathur, LLC
  • Abigail Frierson, Deputy County Manager, Clark County
  • Robert H. Thompson, Administrator, Nevada Department of Human Services, Division of Social Services
  • Darla Bardine, Executive Director, National Network for Youth

3:15pm

BREAK

3:25pm

Movement Microproject Competition

4:30pm

Movement Action Center

5:00pm

VIP Mixer (Invite Only)

Meet the Speakers

Darla Bardine is a dedicated leader and advocate committed to reshaping policies and systems to enhance outcomes for young people and families facing homelessness, poverty, violence, and exploitation. Since joining the National Network for Youth (NN4Y) in 2013 as Policy Director and later advancing to Executive Director, Darla has been instrumental in revitalizing and refocusing the organization’s mission. Her leadership combines her expertise as a public interest attorney with a deep commitment to social justice.

Under Darla’s direction, NN4Y has adopted a comprehensive, intersectional approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness. She has built robust partnerships with key service providers and actively engages youth who have personally navigated homelessness, ensuring their voices are central to policy discussions. This innovative approach has led to the creation of NN4Y’s National Youth Advisory Council, the Policy Advisory Committee, and the annual National Summit on Youth Homelessness, significantly elevating the organization’s profile and impact.

Prior to her role at NN4Y, Darla established herself as a distinguished leader and grassroots organizer. She spearheaded the Fight Child Exploitation in Tourism Initiative in South Africa and led efforts at the federal level to transform policies impacting families disproportionately impacted by the legal courts system and child welfare system. Her advocacy at the federal level included securing assistance for families within the carceral and child welfare systems and working to end the belly shackling of incarcerated pregnant women.

Darla holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Pennsylvania State University, an M.A. in Nonprofit Management from the University of Roehampton, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Nicholas Barr, Ph.D., received his bachelor of arts degree in comparative religion from Columbia University, where he studied Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. As a Princeton in Asia fellow, he worked in education and development in Laos before earning his MSW with a concentration in adult mental health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then worked as a clinical social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for two years before completing his doctorate degree at the University of Southern California School of Social Work. Before joining the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he was a Cohen Veteran’s Network funded postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families.

Barr’s research focuses on enhancing understanding of risk and protective factors for populations with an elevated likelihood of traumatic experiences, like homeless young adults and military service members. His work includes intervention development and implementation leveraging principles of mindfulness to enhance resilience and improve mental and behavioral health outcomes in these populations. He holds certifications in a number of evidence based practices including Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Dr. Child (Ph.D., North Dakota State University) is a professor of communication and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at UNLV. His research explores interpersonal and mediated communication practices, namely how people regulate private information and make disclose choices on social media. He examines how family members influence one another in relation to privacy socialization practices that become a framework for online engagement and how individuals respond to breakdowns in effective privacy regulation and disclosure practices. He has secondary research expertise in family communication, culture, and diversity and instructional communication effectiveness.

Dr. Child has an introduction to communication textbook titled, Experience Communication as well as several chapters in edited books. His scholarship appears in journals like the Journal of Family Communication, Western Journal of Communication, Communication Studies, Communication Quarterly, New Media & Society, Communication Education, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, and Computers in Human Behavior. Dr. Child teaches courses like communication, uncertainty, and privacy management, communication theory, family communication, communication research methods, interpersonal communication, relational communication, small group communication, and high impact professional speaking. Dr. Child is also the former editor of the Journal of Family Communication and has served a variety of administrative and leadership roles prior to joining the faculty at UNLV.

Today, Benny is the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe’s Chairman. His duties include the day-to-day operations of each of the Tribes businesses, which include the Downtown and Snow Mountain Smoke Shops, Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort, Health & Human Services Clinic, Child Development Center, Law Enforcement, NuWu Cannabis Main and North locations and Tribal Membership. Benny has served on the Tribal Council for much of the last 20 years and is serving his fourth term as Chairman, where he has taken a leadership role in the Tribe’s economic development and cultural preservation. He is a true Pittsburgh Steeler fan and a dedicated “student” of the golf sport. The majority of his free time is spent with his family, his children and grandchildren.

Miles Dickson is CEO of Nevada GrantLab, a nonprofit he founded in 2020 with a mission to support nonprofits and their government partners to successfully access and administer federal grants that benefit Nevadans and strengthen their organizations.

Prior to GrantLab, Miles worked as a consultant supporting local governments and nonprofit organizations for more than a decade, and also briefly served as Chief of Staff in the Nevada State Treasurer’s Office. His career started in the region’s world class hospitality and tourism sector.

Miles has a Juris Doctorate from the Boyd School of Law and bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, both at UNLV, and is a graduate of UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Executive Program.

A third-generation Las Vegan, Miles is deeply involved in the community, including serving on the Boards of Directors of Opportunity 180 and Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, the Community Board of Jeremiah Program Las Vegas, and previously on the advisory boards of Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, Teach for America Las Vegas Valley, and William S. Boyd School of Law. He is also a proud tribal member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation. 

Dayvid Figler hosts the award-winning daily podcast, City Cast Las Vegas. A lawyer by training, he was awarded the State Bar of Nevada’s Medal of Justice in 2019 for his work finding fair resolutions for individuals who commit crimes due to gambling addiction and surrounding the population of people in Las Vegas who were unhoused at the time of their offenses. He is a former judge, public defender and lead singer in punk rock polka band, Tippy Elvis. His essays and stories have been widely published in prominent outlets such as NPR and ProPublica. He’s an old pro at storytelling, having performed around the country at events large and small since the early 2000s.

Abigail Frierson was appointed to Clark County Deputy County Manager on Dec. 6, 2022. In her new capacity, Frierson oversees the departments of Social Service, Family Services, Justice Courts, Juvenile Justice Services, Public Guardian, Public Defender, Special Public Defender, and the Office of Appointed Counsel. Prior to her appointment, Frierson was an assistant director in the Clark County Department of Family Services.

Frierson is a seasoned and innovative public administrator who has spent the past 12 years working with Family Services, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, and Clark County Public Defender’s Office. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Nevada and has expertise in child welfare law, criminal law, employment law and labor law. During her tenure as assistant director, Frierson provided supervision to a team of approximately 300 Clark County employees, driving organizational performance improvement through employee engagement, the effective use of data, and collaboration with community partners.

Arash Ghafoori is a social entrepreneur and advocate dedicated to ensuring every young person has a safe place to call home. As CEO of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY), he has led the organization’s transformation into Southern

Nevada’s leading provider for youth experiencing homelessness and a catalyst for statewide systems change.

Arash helps lead The Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Nevada, a visionary initiative uniting partners across sectors to address the root causes of youth homelessness through collaboration, advocacy, and systemic reform. The Movement has redefined how Nevada approaches housing, education, mental health, and child welfare to create long-term, equitable solutions for young people. His efforts have also advanced key state legislation removing barriers for youth experiencing homelessness.

Recognized among The Advocacy Association’s Top 20 Advocacy Professionals of 2025, Arash serves on the National Network for Youth Board of Directors, National Safe Place Advisory Board, and the Nevada Interagency Advisory Council on Homelessness to Housing Committee for Technical Assistance. A proud Jameson Fellow, Leadership Las Vegas graduate, and member of the Nevada Community Foundation’s Philanthropic Advisory Council, he is known for bridging public, private, and nonprofit sectors to drive lasting social change.

Taisacan Hall is a dedicated housing justice advocate with over eight years of experience driving change at the intersection of youth advocacy, policy, and program development. She brings a unique blend of lived expertise and professional leadership to her work. Approaching her efforts through an intersectional lens, she has contributed to a wide range of local, state, and national initiatives that center the ability of youth experiencing homelessness to thrive.

Throughout her career, Taisacan has worn many hats as the Champion of the Southern Nevada Youth Action Board, Young Adults in Charge (YAC) and a Diplomat in NPHY’s Ambassadors Program before transitioning into national work as the 2020 True Colors Advocacy Fellow, a member of the National Youth Forum on Homelessness, a Senior Program Officer at True Colors United, and now returning to her home state as a proud Lived Experience Specialist at the Nevada Homeless Alliance. She has played a key role in developing and testifying on legislation to expand access to vital services and strengthen tenant protections, facilitated national trainings to broaden provider capacity, and supported strategic planning efforts to advance equitable systems change. Her work is rooted in a deep commitment to healing, justice, and creating pathways for people with lived experience to lead and prosper.

While dedicating her time to uplifting others, she also nurtures her creativity through singing, poetry, and songwriting. Blending advocacy with artistry, she brings both heart and vision to every space she enters.

Melissa (MJ) Jacobowitz is a dedicated leader and advocate in the fight to end youth homelessness. With over 15 years of nonprofit experience, Melissa brings deep expertise and passion for transforming systems to uplift and empower young people experiencing homelessness.

In their 14 years at NPHY, Melissa has lead efforts spanning development, program creation and evaluation, grants management, impact measurement, strategic partnerships, policy advocacy, and systems change. During their time leading NPHY’s development work, Melissa secured millions of dollars in new federal funding for Nevada, and helped grow NPHY from a small nonprofit into the state’s preeminent organization addressing youth homelessness.

In 2017, Melissa co-founded the Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Nevada, spearheading regional and statewide efforts to reshape policies and systems for vulnerable youth. They are part of the leadership team behind the annual Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit, and have played key roles in developing statewide strategic plans, conducting assessments, and advancing legislation to remove systemic barriers facing young people. Melissa’s work is grounded in intersectionality, data-driven strategies, and authentic collaboration with young people with lived expertise to design innovative, justice-centered solutions.

Melissa holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a BA from New College of Florida. Before joining NPHY, they completed an AmeriCorps year of service at an out-of-school arts education program for underserved youth in Tampa, Florida, and spent a year in Odessa, Ukraine as a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Fellow. Outside of their professional work, Melissa is a passionate advocate for public lands and an active volunteer at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Brian Knudsen was elected to represent Ward 1 in June 2019 and re-elected in the June 2024 Primary Election, enabling him to continue to pursue his passion for public service. Since moving to Las Vegas in 2005, Councilman Knudsen has built programs and services for people and populations in Las Vegas and continues to serve the community as a member of the City Council. Brian was named Mayor Pro Tem on Dec. 21, 2022.

Mayor Pro Tem Knudsen currently serves on many boards and committees directly impacting the growth and infrastructure of Las Vegas. Brian chairs the Recommending committee, and he serves as a proud member of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, Springs Preserve, National League of Cities Large City Council and LGBTQ Council, Network Adequacy Advisory Council, and Regional Flood Control District.

For nearly a decade, Mayor Pro Tem Brian worked in the city of Las Vegas on initiatives that shaped the downtown core, redefined the educational landscape, and rethought how city services are provided to Las Vegas residents. As a Councilmember, Brian now focuses his energy on transforming the landscape of the Las Vegas Medical District to bring world-class healthcare to the Las Vegas Valley, working with key community leaders to overhaul the crisis management system in our community, increasing safety across the city, and improving overall outcomes for Ward 1.

Mayor Pro Tem Knudsen has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah in health education and mass communications. He also has a Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California.

Brian is happily married, and he and his husband have adopted two children. Mayor Pro Tem Knudsen believes that his children, and all Las Vegans, deserve leadership committed to making Las Vegas an even better place to live, work, and play. He plans to continue to build a community that ensures equal opportunity, has great schools, provides strong public safety, preserves our neighborhoods and strives to be world-class in all we do.

Kessa Lee is passionate about youth in Northern Nevada. As the Community Engagement Director of Eddy House, she works to bring partners in the community together to support unhoused and at-risk youth as well as helping youth to find their own voices in advocacy. She began with a degree in secondary education from the University of Nevada Reno, and for the last 10 years has been working with youth in Washoe County through the school district and various nonprofit organizations. She is excited to have the opportunity to be part of the solution to help youth in our community thrive.

Currently, Punam operates her own business as a speaker, trainer and writer. For the last 13 years, she served as Executive Director of the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation, a private foundation that existed to advance fundamental change, primarily related to public education and the arts.

From 2009-2012, she was an officer of NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NVE), a vertically-integrated statewide electric utility with 2,700 employees, serving as vice president of people resources and as vice president of employee and community engagement.

She joined NV Energy following 13 years in the gaming industry, most recently serving as an officer and senior vice president, corporate diversity and community affairs, for MGM MIRAGE, now MGM Resorts Int’l (NYSE: MGM).

During her tenure, MGM MIRAGE received numerous awards in her areas of responsibility, including being ranked among the “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” by DiversityInc magazine, one of the “Top Corporations in the U.S.” for multicultural businesses by DiversityBusiness.com and as one of the “Most Admired Companies in America” by Fortune magazine. Additionally, under her leadership the Company’s philanthropy program, including its centerpiece employee-directed foundation, set new standards for strategic philanthropy and employee engagement within the gaming industry.

Prior to joining the gaming industry in 1996, she had been with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce for six years, holding a variety of management positions, the last of which was Senior Vice President of Government Affairs.

Dominique Mikell Montgomery is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dominique Mikell Montgomery’s agenda as a researcher and an educator is deeply informed by her experiences as a member of and supporter of communities surviving and thriving despite state-sanctioned oppression in the wake of slavery and colonization. All her scholarly work attempts to push forward the social work discipline in terms of its content knowledge on the experiences and resistance of those impacted by state interventions such as child welfare interventions and housing interventions and its epistemological frameworks regarding what constitutes knowledge and methods for knowledge generation. A significant portion of her work focuses on working with young people impacted by interventions to build knowledge and create social change based on their priorities and passions.

Ron Reese joined global integrated resort developer Las Vegas Sands in 2003 and has led a variety of strategic communication, corporate partnership, new business development and corporate responsibility programs at the leading hospitality company.

In his role as the senior communications executive for Sands, Ron oversees the company’s global communications strategy and provides direction on communication and marketing issues to the company’s global business units.

As head of corporate affairs, Ron oversees corporate partnership engagements and the company’s corporate responsibility program, including primary responsibility for corporate philanthropic giving through the Sands Cares global community engagement program. Ron also chairs Sands’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council, which executes the company’s DEI strategy and initiatives. In this role, he has been integral in helping accelerate the company’s DEI initiatives to build a more comprehensive approach and better address changing needs, viewpoints and developments.

Ron also is responsible for overseeing the company’s sports partnerships and brand ambassador program, which includes engagements with sports icon David Beckham and professional golfers Collin Morikawa and Minjee Lee. He also has executed strategic partnerships in the U.S. and Asia with Ferrari, Formula 1, the PGA Tour and the LPGA.

In early 2024, Ron guided the public transition of the Dallas Mavericks ownership change from Mark Cuban to Dr. Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont, the majority shareholders of Sands.

During his tenure at Sands, Ron has provided counsel on initial public offerings in the U.S. and Hong Kong; developed a strategic communications program that aided the company’s successful quest to secure a highly competitive license in Singapore; managed multiple grand opening launches for the company’s properties in Asia and the U.S.; and built coalitions of business, labor and community leaders to support the company’s development efforts in various regions.

Prior to joining Sands, Ron worked for three members of the U.S. House of Representatives and held senior positions with two Washington, D.C.-based trade associations. In his last role on Capitol Hill, Ron served as a senior staff member for the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by former Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Born and raised near Seattle, Washington, Ron graduated from Eastern Washington University with bachelor’s degrees in communications and radio-television. Ron serves on the board of directors for Clean the World/The WASH Foundation. He is a former board member of the American Gaming Association, the Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas and Nevada Succeeds.

Lanette brings nearly 15 years of communications experience and over a decade of nonprofit service dedicated to supporting under-resourced communities. With a foundation in corporate communications, Lanette transitioned to the nonprofit sector driven by her passion for social impact and informed by her own lived experience, fueling her commitment to supporting under-resourced communities.

For over a decade, Lanette has focused her career on addressing youth homelessness. At NPHY, her work spans corporate and community engagement, marketing and communications, event production, youth leadership development, policy communication, and strategic partnerships. She played a pivotal role in establishing The Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Nevada and the annual Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit, uniting cross-sector leaders to advance systemic solutions for youth experiencing homelessness.

Lanette’s commitment to community extends beyond her professional role. She serves on the TEDxLasVegas Leadership and Curation team, working closely with speakers to prepare and finalize compelling talks, and she also served as an MC for TEDxLasVegas in 2022 and 2025. Additionally, she is active in climate action efforts as a member of the Climate Reality Las Vegas chapter.

Her volunteer service includes leadership roles on local and national boards, including the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN) National Membership Committee and Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee. A graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Mass Communications and Media Studies, Lanette is a 2025 Jameson Fellow and was honored as one of Las Vegas Weekly’s 2022 Top 40 Under 40 Most Influential Young Professionals. She has also been recognized by the NBA Summer League’s Noche Latina celebration for her work supporting the Latino community.

Robert Thompson serves as Administrator of the Nevada Division of Social Services, the state’s largest human services agency responsible for administering programs that promote stability, self-sufficiency, and well-being for Nevada’s most vulnerable populations. Under his leadership, DSS administers essential programs such as SNAP, TANF, Child Support Enforcement, Child Care Development, Energy Assistance, and Medicaid eligibility, reaching hundreds of thousands of Nevada families each month.

With nearly 30 years of experience in social services, Robert has dedicated his career to advancing policies and programs that address the root causes of poverty and homelessness. His work emphasizes trauma-informed care, cross-agency collaboration, and long-term prevention strategies that help youth and families break cycles of instability.

When he’s not working, Robert enjoys traveling Nevada’s small towns, volunteering with community initiatives, and spending time with his granddaughter.

Benny Tso was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada on the Las Vegas Paiute Indian Colony. He then moved to the Northwest part of Las Vegas and eventually moved to the Navajo Reservation with his Aunt and Uncle in Tsaile, AZ. He moved back home to Las Vegas, attending JD Smith Jr. High School, and Rancho High School, joining the work force as a rough/finish carpenter.

Today, Benny is the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe’s Chairman. His duties include the day-to-day operations of each of the Tribes businesses, which include the Downtown and Snow Mountain Smoke Shops, Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort, Health & Human Services Clinic, Child Development Center, Law Enforcement, NuWu Cannabis Main and North locations and Tribal Membership. Benny has served on the Tribal Council for much of the last 20 years and is serving his fourth term as Chairman, where he has taken a leadership role in the Tribe’s economic development and cultural preservation. He is a true Pittsburgh Steeler fan and a dedicated “student” of the golf sport. The majority of his free time is spent with his family, his children and grandchildren.

Youth StorySLAM: INSPIRE

Each year, the Movement team collaborates with young leaders to develop a creative project aimed at raising awareness about the Movement and the issue of youth homelessness. The goal is to inspire and encourage action from the community.

With the theme INSPIRE, this year’s event will showcase youth taking the stage to share stories: their own powerful stories, stories that have inspired their journeys, shaped their challenges, or that they hope will inspire YOU to take action. Over the past few months, participants have worked closely with mentors from UNLV’s Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and storytelling expert, Dayvid Figler, carefully crafting the narratives you will experience on the Summit stage.

We can’t wait for you to hear these stories unfold at the 2025 Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit!

Learn More About Our Sponsors

The Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Nevada

Over the last nine years, The Movement to End Youth Homelessness has made extraordinary progress in bringing solutions to Nevada. Now, we are excited to take bold next steps towards ending youth homelessness. 

Check out more information about The Movement!

As always, this year’s Summit is part of The Movement to End Youth Homelessness’ work to implement the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness.

Read the Plan

In June, the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services (DWSS) released a two-year study on the youth homelessness crisis across Nevada, which serves as the Movement’s statewide needs assessment. The study highlights will be presented at this year’s event, but the entire study can be found by clicking below.

Read the Study

We look forward to working together to kick off our statewide Plan process this year!

Contact Us

For assistance with Summit 2025, please contact the following:

General Questions: summit@nphy.org; 702-969-3947

Media Inquiries: lanette@nphy.org; 702-688-1013