Introduction to Social Current’s First-Ever Federal Public Policy Agenda

Jody Levison-Johnson is a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 30 years of experience in the field of human services.

Jody is a longstanding champion for systems change that results in the ability for individuals and communities to thrive. She is deeply committed to advancing policy that ensures equitable access to quality services and supports. Previously, Jody served as the assistant vice president of practice improvement at the National Council for Behavioral Health, where she oversaw the organization’s consulting portfolio and a large, privately funded adolescent mental health initiative.

She has also served as the chief clinical officer for a multi-state children’s care management organization, as the deputy assistant secretary of the Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health, and as the vice president of Coordinated Care Services Inc. (CCSI), a nonprofit management and consulting services organization, where was responsible for all of CCSI’s service quality, system development, and evaluation activities including oversight of the county administered children’s mental health system. Her experiences leading system reform efforts across the country prompted her interest in the environmental contexts that surround deep change in social and public systems.

Jody holds a master’s in social work from Syracuse University and a master’s and doctorate in leadership and change from Antioch University.

Derry Kiernan is the field mobilization and policy manager at Social Current. He is responsible for mobilizing the network to promote and protect key public policies that are part of Social Current’s federal policy agenda, with the goal of advancing policy outcomes and increasing the network’s influence on policy and systems change.

Derry comes from a background in electoral and issue-based organizing in over 10 states across the country. He is passionate about mobilizing people around issues and policies that matter to them and their communities. After running canvass offices in the Philadelphia area on behalf of environmental and human rights groups, he worked on the Obama 2012 and Hillary 2016 campaigns, as well as the 2014 Midterms elections. His responsibilities focused on recruiting, managing, and training staff and volunteer teams to engage local communities, implement communications campaigns, register voters, and execute Get-Out-The-Vote programs.

Derry received his master’s in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, focusing on social welfare policy. He earned his bachelor’s from Oberlin College, majoring in religion and politics.