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Alyssa Dandrea

Community relations SPECIALIST

Alyssa Dandrea is the Community Relations Specialist for NHCADSV. Alyssa assists with the development and implementation of the Coalition’s public communications and fundraising initiatives. In her role, she works to amplify the voices of survivors and broaden the impact of the Coalition and its 12 member programs. Alyssa also routinely consults with journalists and editors about how to responsibility report on stories of domestic and sexual violence and is available to provide that guidance to other interested media outlets.
 
Alyssa earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Franklin Pierce University in 2011 and, upon graduating, joined the reporting staff of the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, a bi-weekly newspaper. In more recent years, Alyssa worked as a courts and crime reporter for the Keene Sentinel and then the Concord Monitor, where she focused extensively on victims’ rights initiatives and legislation and elevating the stories of New Hampshire crime victims and their families.
 
The New England Newspaper and Press Association honored Alyssa’s reporting of a five-part series on sexual violence in 2017 with a Publick Occurrences award, which identifies New England’s most outstanding journalism among newspapers of all sizes. She received a second Publick Occurrences in 2019 for her four-part series on domestic violence, which, through the telling of personal stories, delved into the experiences of survivors in the criminal and civil legal systems, public policy reform, and community-based prevention education programs.
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Alyssa LaFoe

executive specialist

Alyssa LaFoe is the Executive Specialist for NHCADSV. Alyssa assists with providing an advanced level of administrative oversight and coordination of the Coalition's daily operations to ensure effective organization management in conjunction with the Executive Director.

Since starting at the Coalition in 2022, Alyssa has helped update numerous policies and procedures through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has developed multiple new processes and guidelines to assist staff and improve internal communications. Some new processes Alyssa has developed include the hiring and onboarding process for supervisors, an intern onboarding guide, and new employee orientation manuals.

A fun fact about Alyssa is that she owns three dogs: a Golden Retriever named Basil, a Border Collie named Scout, and a Great Dane named Goose! Goose is training to become a service dog, and you will often see him accompanying Alyssa around the office.
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Amanda Grady Sexton

director of public affairs

​​Amanda Grady Sexton is the Director of Public Affairs for NHCADSV.  In this role, she leads the organization's strategic communications, government relations, and stewardship programs.

Amanda works with crime victims and their families to advance the legal rights of victims on the local, state, and federal levels. She has worked to pass dozens of laws in the State of New Hampshire including the first statutes to criminalize the acts of domestic violence and human trafficking, and the first state law establishing specific protections for college students. Most recently, Amanda helped to fully eliminate the civil statute of limitations in sexual assault cases. Amanda also advises NH’s Congressional delegation on federal policy and law and was instrumental in assisting Congress with the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2012, and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s landmark Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016, which created the first federally codified rights specifically for sexual assault survivors
 
Amanda also specializes in media relations, and has worked with some of the nation's top public relations professionals, publishing companies, and filmmakers to help crime victims and their families share their stories in an effort to educate the public and to advance societal change. She provides national training and technical assistance to prosecutors, civil attorneys, law enforcement officials, and victim advocates on crisis communications, message development, and effective strategies for working with the media.

​In 2016, Politico named Amanda one of “the most plugged-in activists and elected officials” in NH, and the Boston Globe called her one of NH’s “most desirable endorsements for candidates seeking the Presidency.” In 2009, Amanda was named one of the New Hampshire Union Leader's “40 Under Forty.” Amanda also received the NH Governor's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence's top honor, the "Honorable William B. Paine II Award”, and was the recipient of the NH Attorney General’s “Sandra Matheson Award for Exemplary Commitment to Victims of Crime.” In 2016, Amanda and a team working to protect NH’s Rape Shield law received the “National Crime Victim Law Institute’s Victims’ Rights Partnership Award”, which recognizes the collaborative efforts of individuals that have devoted their time to advancing crime victims’ rights. In 2020 Amanda was honored by the Concord Regional VNA with their “Kay Sidway Award.” Amanda has been appointed to serve on state commissions and oversight committees by Governors Shaheen, Benson, Lynch, Hassan, and Sununu.

In addition to her work at the Coalition, Amanda is serving as a 4th term City Councilor in Concord where she lives with her husband and their three children.         

Brenda Legare

Grants Administrative Assistant

Brenda Legare is the Coalition's part-time Grants Administrative Assistant, a role she has held since 2021. Brenda is responsible for reviewing member agency grant budgets, processing, and reconciling member program reimbursements, as well as following up with member programs as necessary. She also assists with the subrecipient monitoring of member programs, which includes financial document collection and analysis. Prior to joining the Coalition, Brenda worked in the finance industry for many years as the Senior Operations Assistant for Charter Trust Company and as a Tax Associate/Office Manager for Carri & Pelletier Financial Services.

Brenda enjoys spending time with her two adult sons, gardening, and seeing beautiful flowers.
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Christine LaCourse

office manager
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​Christine LaCourse is the Coalition’s Office Manager and has been in this role since 2012. She manages the office's daily operations, assists with public inquiries, and supports staff. Christine plays a vital role in the Board of Directors’ work, including the coordination and preparation of meetings, recruitment and retention, and with board committee assistance. Christine also works heavily on grants management and reporting and manages multiple databases, including the Coalition’s statewide database on education and outreach, which is used by all 12 crisis centers and the Coalition office. In 2017, Christine undertook the months-long project of coordinating the move of the Coalition office into a new building. She also managed the migration of the Coalition’s electronic file structure and oversaw the installation of state-of-the-art technology in the office’s current conference room.

She has lived in New Hampshire nearly her entire life and resides in Southern NH with her husband, daughters, and dogs.
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Emily Provencher

prevention Specialist

Emily Provencher is the Coalition's Prevention Specialist. In her role, Emily is responsible for providing technical assistance and support to the 12 crisis centers in delivering school-based and community primary prevention programs. She ensures that programs have the most up-to-date curriculum and resources. Emily also represents the Coalition on several statewide committees that work to further our mission to prevent violence and abuse before they occur. These include the Wellness and Primary Prevention Council, the ​RSA 188-H Task Force on Sexual Misconduct at Institutions of Higher Education, the NH Injury Prevention Advisory Council, and the NH Campus Consortium Against Sexual and Interpersonal Violence.

Emily began her career at the Meelia Center for Community Engagement at St. Anselm College in 2020. Emily supported developing an online tutoring program designed to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of underserved students in Manchester. Emily began her work at the Coalition as AVAP Manager in 2021 and transitioned to the role of Prevention Specialist in 2022. As the Prevention Specialist, Emily has aimed to create a collaborative and supportive environment for prevention educators and has researched and provided training on equity-driven primary prevention strategies to ensure that everyone in the Granite State has access to sexual violence prevention education that is representative of their experiences.

Class-based fitness is Emily’s favorite form of self-care. She recently completed her 200th barre class!

Janet Carroll, RN, CEN, SANE-A, SANE-P

sexual assault nurse examiner (sane) program Director

Janet Carroll, RN, CEN, SANE-A, SANE-P, is the Program Director of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program. In this role, she coordinates the NH SANE Program in conjunction with the Sexual Assault and SANE Advisory Board.
 
Janet has been a Registered Nurse since 1999. Since becoming a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner in 2005, Janet has conducted over a thousand sexual assault medical forensic evaluations in New Hampshire and Vermont hospitals. She is also board certified in Emergency Nursing (CEN), as an Adolescent/Adult Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-A), and as a Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-P). In addition to her role as the Program Director for SANE, she has also served as the Nurse Manager of the Sexual Assault and Forensic Nurse Examiner Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center since 2008.

Janet has worked with various medical systems to improve their response to survivors of sexual violence and domestic violence by providing education, technical assistance, policy development, and community outreach. Janet has received national and regional award recognition for her work as a SANE in the state of NH, including the Frontline Forensic Nurse Examiner of the Year by the International Association of Forensic Nurses and NH Magazine’s Emergency Nurse of the Year, among others. She also received the Hands of Hope Award and the Unsung Hero Award for her work as a SANE in treating children that have experienced abuse. Janet has provided expert witness testimony during court proceedings and been published in the Journal of Forensic Nursing. In addition, she assisted in the development of the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women National Intimate Partner Violence Medical Forensic Examinations Protocol and worked on and was a highlighted examiner in the SANE Virtual Practicums by End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI).

In her free time, you will find Janet enjoying motorsports of all sorts.
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Joan Madore

bookkeeper

Joan Madore is the Coalition’s Bookkeeper. In this role, she performs bookkeeping functions, maintains financial and data records in line with the Coalition’s mission and vision, and works with the Coalition’s Administrative Team. 
 
Joan has been with the Coalition since 2001 in her current role. Prior to working at the Coalition, she worked as a bookkeeper in the healthcare field. Joan provides critical technical assistance to the member program crisis centers on financial issues. 
 
In her free time, she enjoys time with her family and her poodles.
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jOI SMITH

PROGRAM director

Joi provides support and leadership in developing and administrating member services, training and technical assistance, prevention, statewide programming, and other special projects of the Coalition in line with its mission and community needs. Joi began this work as an activist through V-Day: A Global Activist Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls Worldwide. Joi organized several V-Day & One Billion Rising events throughout the NH Seacoast benefiting HAVEN. Working so closely with HAVEN inspired Joi to join the organization as a volunteer advocate in 2011, which launched a career dedicated to supporting survivors of trauma and providing guidance, training, and technical support to first responders and victim service providers to strengthen collaboration and provide consistent, compassionate, and comprehensive support and services to anyone who has been impacted by domestic and sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking.
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Kathleen Mcdonald

data projects coordinator

Kathleen McDonald is the Data Projects Coordinator at the Coalition. She coordinates the Coalition's statewide training, technical assistance, and reporting of victim services, education, and outreach data collection systems. She works closely with our state's 12 crisis centers to achieve accurate data collection and timely reporting, while safeguarding survivor data privacy and confidentiality.

Kathleen has managed data management systems in various fields in the nonprofit sector. Her professional background includes programming, technical writing, and training for complex data management systems, as well as directing web content development and information design.

Kathleen is a quiltmaker and leads quilt workshops with veterans as part of the Operation Horse Power program at Touchstone Farm in Lyndeborough, NH.
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Kristen barnett

system response specialist

Kristen Barnett is the System Response Specialist at the Coalition. She provides statewide trainings, resources, technical assistance, and support for our state's crisis centers and allied professionals.

​Kristen attended Boston University where she served as the Social Media Chair for 16,000 Strong, the university’s student government committee against campus sexual assault. As a chairperson, Kristen planned fundraisers for local sexual assault response agencies, advocated for improvement of the university’s Title IX policies, and helped develop and present prevention workshops for different campus organizations. Kristen went on to attend law school at Northeastern University. During her time at Northeastern, Kristen served as a student attorney for three semesters for the university’s Domestic Violence Institute, securing restraining orders for survivors of intimate partner violence in the Greater-Boston area. Kristen expanded her work and interned at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services Legal Department, the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, and clerked at the Hillsborough North Superior Court in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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Lyn Schollett, J.D.

executive director

Lyn Schollett is the Coalition’s Executive Director. In this role, she collaborates with member programs to advance trauma-informed services for victims, fosters statewide collaborations to advance the interests of victims and crisis centers, and is a strategic leader in public messaging and awareness regarding victims’ rights and experiences.
 
Lyn began this work as one of only two sexual assault coalition attorneys in the country.  Prior to working at the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Lyn served as the General Counsel for the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault for over 16 years, where she played a key leadership role in the drafting, passage and implementation of numerous laws impacting rape victims, including the first stand-alone protective order for rape victims in the country and a civil cause of action for gender-based violence. Lyn was honored for her groundbreaking advocacy with the Outstanding Legal Achievement to Victims of Crime Award from the National Crime Victim Law Institute.
 
Lyn recently completed a six-year term on Planned Parenthood Federation of America board of directors, where she spearheaded adoption of core medical service standards for all Planned Parenthood affiliates.  Prior to joining the violence against women field, Lyn was in private practice in Chicago, and clerked for the Honorable Harold A. Baker in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of Illinois. 
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Lyn loves New England and has discovered the joys of splitting wood and using a roof rake!
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MEG Chant

Program director

Meg Chant is a Program Director at the Coalition. In this role, she provides strategic oversight for Coalition programs, specifically human trafficking, prevention, and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) Program. Meg liaises with partners and stakeholders around the state to ensure that the Coalition’s mission and work are represented and integrated across our communities.

Meg has previous experience in direct service and worked with both victims of crime (with the NH Department of Corrections) and refugees/asylum seekers (with the British Red Cross). Prior to becoming a Program Director, she coordinated the state’s human trafficking response as the Coalition’s Human Trafficking Project Specialist and the Director of the NH Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force. Meg has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and French from Bates College and a Masters of Arts in Law from the University of Bristol (UK).

Meg enjoys cooking, hiking, and spending her free time with her husband and their two children.
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Meghan Jenks

Program specialist

Meghan Jenks is the Program Specialist at the Coalition. In this role, she manages the administrative and organizational duties the SANE Program and coordinates the work of the New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force (NHHTCTF). Meghan works closely with partners around the state and provides training and technical assistance to crisis centers and allied professionals regarding both SANE and human trafficking.

Meghan graduated summa cum laude from Keene State College with a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and Communications. She was president of the college’s Feminist Collective and won the 2016 Ann Britt Waling Women’s Studies Recognition Award for excellence in academics and community activism. During her time with the Coalition, Meghan has assisted with the creation of the online SANE training and been part of efforts to reduce the state’s sexual assault kit backlog.
 
Meghan loves cooking, crafting, and spending time with her husband and their dog, Maximus.
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Pamela English

administrative & finance director

Pam English is the Coalition’s Administrative Director. In this role, she is responsible for the financial management of the Coalition, including budgeting, financial statement preparation, and policy development.
 
Pam has more than twenty years of experience in the areas of non-profit administration, finance and human resources.  Pam has worked for the Coalition since 1993 and has been in her current role as the Administrative and Finance Director since 2006. Pam works in collaboration with the Coalition’s national partners to provide technical assistance on implementation of new data or financial systems. Additionally, the National Network to End Domestic Violence contracted with Pam in 2015 to create and present two national webinars on financial management and oversight for Coalition financial staff, and for Board of Directors.
 
Pam has written many grants and annually manages between 11 and 15 federal, state, and private grants or contracts. Pam has experience in NH employment law, regulations and rules. She has working knowledge of federal and state grant compliance requirements, including specific knowledge of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) code of federal regulations that govern cost principles for non-profits.  Pamela manages the collection and reporting for two of the Coalition's statewide databases.
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PAMELA kEILIG

pUBLIC POLICY SPECIALIST

​Pamela Keilig is the Public Policy Specialist for NHCADSV. She is responsible for supporting the development and implementation of public policy and legislative initiatives of the Coalition.
 
Pamela earned her bachelor’s degree in International Studies, History and German from Susquehanna University, and later received her Master’s in Intercultural, Service, Leadership and Management from SIT Graduate Institute. She served as a Youth Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Eswatini, advocating for equal access to education for deaf youth, in addition to coordinating a national girls leadership and empowerment program. During her time there she organized several awareness campaigns and community initiatives to address gender-based violence, promote reproductive health, and encourage positive self-esteem among youth.  
 
After returning to the United States, Pamela served as a Research Assistant at Population Council, supporting three implementation science studies examining health behavior and relationships between male partners of adolescent girls and young women in Uganda, Eswatini and South Africa.
 
Pamela has also served as a victim advocate with the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention supporting the crisis hotline for Cheshire County. 
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rachel duffy 

HOUSING AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE manager​

Rachel Duffy is the Coalition's Housing and Economic Justice Manager, a role she has held since 2020. Rachel supports the 12 member programs in implementing the Coalition’s Rapid Rehousing, Housing First, and other shelter and economic justice programs by providing technical assistance, training, and advocacy. Rachel sits on the Balance of State Continuum of Care Executive Committee and The New Hampshire Council on Housing Stability, established by the Governor's executive order, where she speaks to victims' and survivors' specific housing needs and concerns. Rachel is actively working to build relationships with community partners to expand our economic justice work and to enhance equity and access for survivors in underserved communities, including for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ survivors.

Rachel, a former AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program alumnae and Granite State College graduate, has spent the last eight years working to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. Her journey began through her service at an AVAP at Bridges: Domestic and Sexual Violence Support crisis center in Nashua. Rachel later went on to work the crisis center's shelter manager and then as their transitional housing advocate, where she oversaw three federally funded housing programs and supporting survivors in securing and maintaining housing.

​In her spare time, Rachel loves to hike, kayak, and camp with her Boston Terrier, Otis. 
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Sarah Seeley

Public Affairs coordinator

Sarah Seeley is the Public Affairs Coordinator for NHCADSV. She provides support and coordination to the Coalition's public policy, communications, and development efforts as a member of the Public Affairs Team. In her role, she monitors legislative and donor trends to ensure the Coalition's approach to supporting survivors remains efficient and proactive.

Sarah graduated Magna Cum Laude from Connecticut College and received her bachelor’s degree in Economics and Gender Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. Throughout her undergraduate experience, she participated in the Women’s Empowerment Initiative and worked closely with other passionate activists to fundraise for Safe Futures, New London, CT's crisis center. In 2021, Sarah lived in Copenhagen, Denmark and collaborated with The Nest International, an independent institution combating human trafficking and providing basic healthcare to survivors. Sarah also led a Red Umbrella Campaign to raise awareness about violence in the sex trade with a specific, intersectional focus on the victimization of marginalized groups. 
Last updated: November 2023