Donna Holland Barnes, Ph.D.
President
Ms. Barnes had a vision. After suffering
from the loss of her son
Marc Jamal Barnes in 1990,
and having feelings of isolation,
she wanted to find those
families of African American descent who
also had lost a loved one
to suicide.
Being aware of the increase in the suicide rates among young African American males, she wondered where those families were and who were they. After four years of searching for black families and being the only black at many suicide conferences and support groups, with the help of two others, she founded NOPCAS in an effort to unite black suicide survivors to share in the fight to do something about this national problem and to understand how to live with the loss. She is currently at work on several studies on the sociological interpretation of black families surviving suicide and reasons for the increase in suicide rates.
Donna is a member of the faculty at Southwest Texas State University's Sociology Department in San Marcos, Texas and works in the area of suicide, deviance, social problems, and urban sociology. She is the founder of the first student chapter of the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention/Central Texas in which she works with students on suicide awareness, education and research. She also a boardmember of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and a member of the Council of National Organizations Partnered for Suicide Prevention -- a newly formed group with a mission to advance creation, implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention strategies.
Doris Smith
1st Vice President & Treasurer
The untimely death of Doris Smith's son marked her ordination into the ministry of education African Americans about suicide and associated brain disorders, such as depression (excerpt from The Atlanta Constitution). Doris is president of SPAN, (Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network, and has founded the first bereavement support group in Atlanta for suicide survivors and anyone who has lost a loved one at the Ben Hill United Methodist Church.
She also established the Mark Alan Smith Endowed Scholarship Fund. Doris tells her story in the cleaners, on airplanes, on the street, anywhere someone will listen. Doris Smith is committed to suicide awareness, education, intervention, prevention and postvention.
Leslie S. Franklin,
2nd Vice President
In 1990, Les founded the Shaka Franklin
Foundation for Youth, in memory of his son. His life's dream is to create
a center where all children in
need will be welcomed, protected, educated and loved.
Les received his B.S in Business in 1962 from the University of Northern Colorado. He was State Director (1991-1996) of the Colorado Governor's Job Training Office. He resigned from this position in March of 1996 to seek political office as Representative from Colorado's First Congressional District.
He has talked nationally via the Montel Williams Show, the Phil Donahue Show, the NBC special "Images Realities" with Lou Gossett, Jr., and the 700 Club. In this national exposure, Les has expressed his concerns about the loss of youth through self-destructive behavior. For several years Les aired a monthly radio program on Denver's inner-city network, KDKO, and has spoken as a "Leading Voice" for KUVO Radio.
Les has served on numerous boards, committees, commissions and councils that address education, youth issues and economic issues such as the AmeriCorp National Civilian Community Corp., Colorado Association of School Counselors, Crisis Prevention Advisory Council, Metro Denver Youth Gang Commission, University of Colorado Student Advisory Council, Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce, Denver Family Opportunity Council, National African American Male Health Coalition, School-to-Work Statewide Initiative, Up With People Leadership Committee, Hispanic Institute for Education and Economic Development, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, State Workers Advocating for Youth (SWAY), Drug Court Advisory Committee and the Governor's Commission on Mentoring and Youth Community Service.
Dr. Dorcas D. Bowles
Board Member