Advocate/E.D.

Cheryl Poe is the founder and Executive Director of Advocating 4 Kids, Inc a Special Education Advocacy organization that provides resources, information, and workshops to parents and professionals with a special focus on addressing the needs of Black and Brown children with disabilities.

She is the past board president of the National Allies for Parents in Special Education NAPSE, a national parent-driven organization that works hard to increase access and quality advocacy resources for special education families from underserved populations to improve educational outcomes.

Mrs. Poe holds a Master of Arts Degree in Urban Education and Counseling. She also has completed over 15 credit hours of postgraduate hours in psychology. In June of 2004, she completed the Nation Group Psychotherapy Institute at the Washington School of Psychiatry in Washington D.C. in the study of Group Psychotherapy. Mrs. Poe completed a two-year term as the Student Outreach and Recruitment Committee Chairperson for the Mid- Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society Board of Directors. She was awarded the Jefferson Cup for leadership in her role.

Mrs. Poe was the Chair of The National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities (NAEAACLD) Parent Network.
Mrs. Poe also served on the board of the Council of Parents, Advocates, and Attorneys (COPAA), where she helped develop strategic goals to address the needs of black people within the organization. Mrs. Poe also served as the Co-Chair for the Social Racial Equity Committee, where is she developed, created, and implemented activities to ensure the needs of Black and Brown Children were addressed and respected within the COPAA organization.

Mrs. Poe completed the inaugural The William & Mary Law Institute of Special Education Advocacy Summer Conference and the first annual class. Eventually Ms. Poe become a presenter for the William & Mary Law Institute of Special Education Advocacy Summer Conferences.
Mrs. Poe has been a presenter at various national disability organizations, such as the Autism In Black Conference, Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children presentation, Council of Parents, Advocates, and Attorney's Philadelphia Conference, and the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities Alumni Development Program (ADP) training session the Arc of Virginia and many many more national and local organizations.

Ms. Poe has work experience that includes over 20 years of working with children with various disabilities and their families as an In-home clinician and a therapeutic foster Case manager.
Ms. Poe is the mother of two boys with learning disabilities & prides herself on understanding the struggles that black parents face when dealing with special education issues. Ms. Poe was diagnosed with ADHD and learning disabilities and received special education services as a Child!