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Josh Dohan is the former Director of the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD), the juvenile defender branch of the Massachusetts statewide public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Using a Positive Youth Development Approach, YAD, a team of 70 staff members (including lawyers, social workers, and administrators) and about 500 private assigned counsel works with children and youth in the Massachusetts juvenile justice system to advance their legal and human rights, promote their healthy development, and help them achieve their legal and life goals. YAD has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Juvenile Defender Center, the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, the MacArthur Foundation, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, the Medical Foundation, the Youth Service Providers Network, and others for excellence in child advocacy and juvenile defense.  Josh also served as President and CEO of the Youth Advocacy Foundation, cofounded the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Leadership Forum, and was a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University. A returned Peace Corps volunteer (Ghana 1982-84), Josh served as an ILF International Fellow in the West Bank in 2019. He has since provided training and/or mentoring on the application of the science of adolescent development to child and youth advocacy, as well as leadership and management skills in, or through Zoom, Jordan, Tunisia, Myanmar, South Africa, and Israel. He received his A.B. from Harvard College and his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

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