Us Army National Guard

Colonel Rick Noriega Awarded Brigade Command in Texas National Guard

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Colonel Noriega will continue to serve as national president and CEO of Avance, Inc., a community-based organization that offers early childhood education, and parenting and comprehensive family services to predominantly Hispanic families.

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State GAL Executive Director visits Monroe volunteers | Florida ...

The third time was a charm for Alan Abramowitz.

The seasoned juvenile justice attorney and long-time program head for the state’s Department of Children and Families applied for the Executive Director position with the state Guardian ad Litem three times before he finally got the job late last year

“The first time I applied through People First, and failed to see that they were only accepting applications by fax,” he laughed. “I knew then that it just wasn’t the right time yet.”

This week, he traveled to Monroe County to meet with volunteers in the 16th Judicial Circuit to discuss obstacles they face when advocating for abused, abandoned and neglected children when navigating the court system.

“A child in foster care may have 18 case workers, but they have that one Guardian ad Litem volunteer who is a constant,” he conveyed, commending the program for providing a sense of stability in the midst of often incredibly tumultuous living situations.

His pre-destined path perhaps began in college when both his chemistry professor and familiar acquaintance both committed suicide. Abramowitz, a product of a military family accustomed to frequent moves, began volunteering with the college’s suicide hotline at Kansas State University where he earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. At 48, his resume also includes service in the U.S. Army Reserve and Florida Army National Guard as well as two years with the Peace Corp in Thailand.

After serving as an assistant public defender for the 10th Judicial Circuit from 1992 to 1996 and then advancing to assistant general counsel for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, at Bob Butterworth’s urging, Abramowitz transitioned into his previously held Florida Department of Children and Families post.

He pointed to the case of 6-year-old Lake County girl Kayla McKean who was killed by her father on Thanksgiving in November of 1998 as the impetus for his pursuit of a career in juvenile justice.

“You especially don’t turn down an opportunity when Bob Butterworth [the state’s longest serving Attorney General, 1986-2002] is asking you to do something,” the father of two professed.

Shortly after his arrival in Miami Wednesday afternoon, Abramowitz joined a host of volunteers and employees of the Monroe County Guardian ad Litem program at the home of Florida Keys Voices board chair Kathy Lasseter. Voices is the volunteer fundraising arm that supports the GAL in helping send kids to summer camp, purchase back to school clothes or fulfill any needs of a child in the system.

The U.S. Army National Guard

Reserve forces actions needed to better prepare the National Guard for future overseas and domestic missions

Transforming the US Army National Guard

Army National Guard, hearings before the subcommittee ... Eighty-sixth Congress, first session

Reorganization of the army, Hearings before the subcommittee of the Committee on military affairs, United States Senate, Sixty-Sixth Congress, first session, on S.2691, a bill to provide for universial military, naval, and vocational training and for mobilization of the manhood of the nation in national emergency; S.2693, a bill to create a department of aeronautics, defining the powers and duties of the director thereof, providing for the organization, disposition, and administration of a United States air Force, creating the United States Air Reserve Force, and providing for the development of civil and commercial aviation, S. 2715, a bill to reorganize and increase the efficiency of the United States army, and for other purposes ...