Casey Gwinn
Casey Gwinn, Esq. serves as the President of Alliance for HOPE International.
Casey has been recognized by The American Lawyer magazine as one of the top 45 public lawyers in America. He is an honors graduate of Stanford University and UCLA School of Law. Casey served for eight years as the elected City Attorney of San Diego from 1996 to 2004. Prior to entering elected office, Casey founded San Diego’s Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Unit, leading the Unit from 1986 to 1996 – prosecuting both misdemeanor and felony cases. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges honored his specialized prosecution unit as the model domestic violence prosecution unit in the nation in 1993.
In 2002, Casey led the effort to open the nationally acclaimed San Diego Family Justice Center with professionals from 25 agencies together under one roof. His leadership as a prosecutor has been widely credited for the 90% drop in domestic violence homicides in the City of San Diego since 1985. In October 2003, President George W. Bush announced a national initiative to begin creating Family Justice Centers across the country and asked Casey to provide leadership to the effort. Today, Casey and his team support more than 130 open and developing Family Justice Centers in the U.S. and around the world including Centers in Shawnee, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
His work has been profiled nationally on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS The Early Show, USA Today, The Huffington Post, New Yorker Magazine and a host of other news outlets. Most recently, Casey received the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime.
He has authored or co-authored a host of articles and media commentaries and ten books on domestic violence and childhood trauma. In 2015, he authored Cheering for the Children: Creating Pathways to HOPE for Children Exposed to Trauma, a clarion call to all caring people to become cheerleaders for children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In the book, Casey explains why childhood trauma should be the preeminent public health issue in America today. This book was the result of one of Casey’s great personal passions, Camp HOPE America, the unique camping and mentoring initiative he founded at the San Diego Family Justice Center that is now expanding across the nation. Camp HOPE America is the first specialized camp in the country focused exclusively on children exposed to domestic violence and child abuse. Casey describes the publication of Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life with Chan Hellman as the most transformative work he has ever done.
Casey and his wife have three grown children. He is a proud grandfather of three grandchildren.
Chan Hellman
Chan Joined the University of Oklahoma in 2002. Chan is a professor in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and Founding Director of The Hope Research Center. Chan holds Adjunct Professor appointments in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Pediatrics for the OU College of Medicine and the Department of Health Promotion Sciences for the OU College of Public Health.
Chan has numerous scholarly publications in scientific journals, technical reports, books and has presented his research at both national and international conferences. Chan’s research is focused on the application of hope theory to those impacted by trauma and adversity. He is also interested in the impact of prevention and intervention services on increasing and sustaining client hope.
Chan teaches master’s and doctoral level students primarily in the areas of positive psychology, research methods, and statistics. He also directs student research in the areas of hope and nonprofit organizations.
Chan is a lifelong Oklahoman, and lives in Tulsa Oklahoma with his wife Kendra. They enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren, traveling, and reading.