Bureau of Justice Assistance FY 2020 The Kevin and Avonte Program: Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities

Jackie joined the IACP in April 2020, and currently serves as aProject Manager on the Mental Health and IDD team. She also works part-time asa Professor of Law & Psychology in the Master of Arts in ForensicPsychology Program at the George Washington University.

Prior to beginning at the IACP, Jackie worked at theInternational Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), where sheworked on advocating for global legislation protecting children from variousforms of abuse.Jackie is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia. She holds a J.D.from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she studied CriminalLaw and National Security Law.  She also earned a M.A. in ForensicPsychology from The George Washington University, and was hired upon graduatingas a Professor of Law and Psychology. Her undergraduate studies earned her aB.A. in Political Science with minors in Foreign Affairs and Spanish, and aconcentration in Middle East studies. 

Jackie’s career as a public servant began with her clerkshipsduring law school. She started in the Special Victim’s Unit of the Erie CountyDistrict Attorney’s Office, followed by the Cybersecurity Unit at the UnitedStates Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. Jackie also clerkedat the United States Coast Guard’s Office of Legal Affairs, where sheinvestigated internal crimes of a sexual nature. 

Elaine Smokes is a Grant Management Specialist/State Policy Analyst with the Bureau of Justice Assistance/Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice. She has been employed with the Department of Justice managing Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements for specific program areas in Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (JAG), Corona Emergency Supplemental Funding Program (CESF), Intellectual Property, and Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities (Kevon and Avonte) for approximately two years. 

Prior to joining BJA, she worked with the Department of Defense with the Office of Local Defense Community Corporation formerly known as the Office of Economic Adjustment as a Contractor in the Grant Management Section where she provided customer service and grants administration to the States and Military Community. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, she has managed various State and Federal grant awards since 2005 to include State Emergency Management, VOCA, VAWA, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Grant Awards.  

Elaine has completed her master's degree in Administrative Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology with a concentration in Communications from Howard University in Washington, DC.