Speakers
14th Annual Commonwealth of Virginia CSA Conference - The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center - Roanoke, Virginia - October 15-16, 2025
As of October 9, 2025 please check the 14th Annual CSA Conference Guidebook App for the information relating to this conference.
Keynote Speaker
Melvin Roy is a nationally recognized youth advocate, speaker, and founder whose journey from the foster care system to leadership and public service has inspired audiences across the country. A proud Virginian and alumnus of the foster care system, Melvin has devoted his life to centering lived experience and reshaping systems to better serve young people.
Known for his unique blend of policy expertise, lived experience, and faith-driven purpose, Melvin brings powerful insight and heartfelt inspiration to every room he enters. As keynote speaker for the 14th Annual Commonwealth of Virginia CSA Conference—"Elevating Youth Voices: Stepping Into the Future"—Melvin invites us to reimagine what’s possible when we not only listen to youth, but trust them to lead.
Pre-Conference Session
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ashley is the Partner Engagement Director for the Center for Evidence-Based Partnerships of Virginia. Following receiving her Bachelor's degree in Social Work from Longwood University, Ashley worked for 15 years to connect families to resources by fighting to reduce barriers and streamline access to services. Historically, Ashley served her community as CSA Director, where she had the opportunity to support providers in their efforts to deliver evidence-based services, while also working to connect families to those services. Her primary interests continue to be reducing systematic barriers that individuals and families face regarding access to mental health wellness, in addition to improving outcomes for children within the child welfare system
Dr. Southam-Gerow is a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the director of the Center for Evidence-based Partnerships in Virginia. His research focuses on the partnership-driven implementation of behavioral health treatments in community-based, publicly-funded settings. Dr. Southam-Gerow also studies emotion processes (e.g., emotion regulation) in children and adolescents and treatment fidelity. He is Associate Editor of the Implementation Research and Practice, the author of scores of scholarly papers, and is the author of Practitioner’s guide to emotion regulation in children and adolescents, now available in paperback (translated into Dutch and Korean) and Exposure therapy for children and adolescents, both published by Guilford Press
Please join Ashley Sandman, Partner Engagement Director for Center for Evidence-Based Partnerships of Virginia and Michael Southam-Gerow, professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the director of the Center for Evidence-based Partnerships in Virginia for the pre-conference session from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. In this seminar, the Center for Evidence-based Partnerships of Virginia (CEP-Va) will help participants advance their knowledge and skill in the use of data to build evidence-based service plans for families and for their communities. Specifically, the presenters will provide a snapshot of evidence based programs in Virginia. They will also guide participants in the use of statewide, multi-system data tools and resources.Attendees can expect to learn more about:
- EBPs in Virginia,
- New ways to access and analyze statewide and local data,
- Valuable tools and resources to promote prevention and improved locality specific outcomes related to child welfare and family wellbeing
CONTACT: Liz Fillman, Virginia Tech Richmond Center
Email: lfillman@vt.edu