1:00 pm –2:00 pm 

Click here to register for Webex

Integrated Data Analysis with Open Data to Address Human Trafficking and Substance Use Disorder

Guest Presenters:

• Lyd Paull-Flores, Senior Direct of Healthcare – GCOM
• Leslie A. Egen, MPA, Statewide Criminal Justice Behavioral Health & Substance Use Disorder Response Coordinator, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
• Angella Alvernaz, State Trafficking Response Coordinator, Office of the Director, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
• Mark Jacobs, Technical Lead, GCOM

A Series of follow-up presentations from the Open Data Day webinar that will dive deeper into specific topics like open data publication automation, dashboards, and spatial data.

The Commonwealth of Virginia took on the challenge of addressing the opioid epidemic in 2018 with a collaboration between GCOM and the VADCJS with the support of the Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA) and the VADBHDS to create FAACT. FAACT is a secure data-sharing project that centralizes previously siloed data and automatically delivers analytics and key performance indicators about contributing factors to the crisis, such as poverty, access to health care, public safety, behavioral health, family structures, education, and the COVID-19 pandemic. FAACT is designed to enable non-IT professionals to create and tailor interactive dashboards and analytical applications that promote data-driven decision-making.

In 2022, VAST was created through a collaboration between VADCJS and GCOM to support the need to obtain comprehensive data about human trafficking and analyze it to provide actionable information to state-level stakeholders and legislators. This information allows the Commonwealth of Virginia to understand the scope of the issue; identify the key indicators that are present within the cases; understand trends that are occurring within each region of the Commonwealth; and identify correlations between human trafficking, missing children reports, sexual offender presence, and more.

The data from both projects allows for high-level strategic insights as well as allowing communities to drill down and make decisions about resources from a holistic vantage point but are used in different ways, both for population health resource planning and for front-line tools that Commonwealth of Virginia employee use for daily activities.

Lyd has 20 years of experience utilizing analytics to drive process improvement programs across the healthcare continuum. As the Senior Director at GCOM, Lyd partners with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (VADCJS) and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services   (VADBHDS) to implement the Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) and with the VADCJS on Virginia Analysis System for Trafficking (VAST) projects. These projects allow data to be shared and compiled across government agencies to address complex Social Determinants of Health by identifying need and opportunity for public health and public safety programs. She works with various agencies to realize the opportunities to direct resources in the most efficient manner to help the most people.

Mark Jacobs is the technical data developer with more than 25 years of experience is developing health and human services information and will be presenting the Human Trafficking and the Substance Use Disorder Solutions that were created by GCOM in partnership with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services. He created the presentation layer visualizations that enabled front-line state employees to actively track the number of missing children in the state and that enabled senior leaders to understand the magnitude of the problem.

Leslie Egen has over 25 years of experience in the field of criminal justice and community corrections acting as a Deputy Sheriff, Probation & Parole Officer, Local Pre-trial and Probation Officer, Peer Grant Reviewer, and an EBP/Community Corrections Training and Development Coordinator for the VADOC. She is currently in the role of Statewide Criminal Justice Behavioral Health and Substance Use Response Coordinator for the Department of Criminal Justice Services specializing in work related to Mental Health, Substance Use Disorder, Treatment, and Re-entry initiatives. This includes managing the Framework for Addiction Analysis & Community Transformation (FAACT) project which was created to assist Virginia in utilizing cross-agency data sharing technology to address the addiction and overdose crisis. On her off time, Leslie volunteers as an MRT facilitator for a local women’s detention facility and says it is the best part of her week. 

Angella Alvernaz has 20 years of experience, first joined the Tampa Police Department in 2001 where she worked as a plain clothes officer investigating both narcotics and prostitution cases. Through those positions, she was able to develop first-hand experience within the world of human trafficking. She moved to Virginia and in 2015 accepted a position as the Human Trafficking Specialist with Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS).  During her tenure with PWCS, she successfully doubled the size of the program to serve all of the high schools in the county, strengthened the case management component of the program, and built strong relationships with community partners. In 2019, Angella became the first legislated State Response Trafficking Coordinator in Virginia and works within the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). She enjoys working with stakeholders throughout Virginia to create a unified response system to human trafficking.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE A NEW USER TO THE NYS FORUM YOU MUST COMPLETE AN ACCOUNT PROFILE BEFORE REGISTERING BY CLICKING HERE

Please note: Upon registering, you will receive the webex information within the confirmation email