Children’s Advocacy Center members recently voted to welcome Ashley Walkowiak to our PennCAC Board of Directors, for a term beginning in January 2024. Ashley has been an enthusiastic supporter of our work to provide the best possible response to child abuse in Pennsylvania—a Children’s Advocacy Center response—and we are proud to have her on our team officially. “As a member of the Board of Directors for Children’s Advocacy Centers of Pennsylvania, I’m excited to join my prior crime victims’ rights experience with my passion for building equitable and accessible services for children and families,” says Ashley.
Currently serving as Director of Policy, Intergovernmental Affairs & Mediation at Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC)—the state’s civil rights enforcement agency—and formerly working as part of the Pennsylvania Office of Victim Advocate team, Ashley has a deep passion for crime victims’ rights as well as justice and healing for survivors of all ages. Ashley was named a 2023 Forty Under 40 award-winner and has been described as “one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent advocates for violence and trauma victims.” Ashley was also recently elected to serve as the 2024 President of the Cumberland County Commission for Women.
"I’m excited to join my prior crime victims' rights experience with my passion for building equitable and accessible services for children and families."
As a childhood survivor of rape and stalking, Ashley brings valuable lived experience perspective to conversations about improving services and support for children and families affected by abuse. “I think it’s important for survivors to know that other survivors are on the front lines with them,” she says. During last year’s SHINE Campaign, Ashley shared from her personal experience in one of our survivor videos (watch here!)
"I think it’s important for survivors to know that other survivors are on the front lines with them."
Ashley is daughter to two dedicated public servants and resides with her husband (who she says is constantly refilling her coffee and leaving her love notes) and her three sons in Cumberland County, where she grew up.
Want to join Ashley? If you live in Pennsylvania, are committed to helping child victims of abuse, and think you could bring leadership to our Board of Directors, reach out to us at info@penncac.org!