Allie Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T)™, the first and only global initiative working with domestic violence shelters to create on-site pet housing. She is a former prosecuting attorney and an internationally-recognized author, educator and advocate for animals and vulnerable victims. She has been training criminal justice professionals since 1997 and is a legal expert on the linkage between violence to animals and people, therapy animals helping crime victims, sheltering pets of domestic violence and spends her time teaching at conferences and assisting shelters. She has worked for the National District Attorneys Association where she founded and directed the National Center for Prosecution of Animal Abuse and was the deputy director of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. She also worked for the American Humane Association as the Vice President of Public Policy and Human-Animal Strategic Initiatives. In 2015 she was awarded as a Top Defender of Animals. And her work has been featured on The Today Show, by the Associated Press, and in The Washington Post, USA Today and national animal radio talk shows.

The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946 consisting of nearly 15,000 professional women of color in 288 chapters around the world. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. The Links, Incorporated has provided URI shelters with countless goods and supportive services, including legal workshops, financial management and job readiness skills, for over ten years, successfully leveraging public and private partnerships to benefit survivors in need.

Accepting on behalf of The Links, Incorporated is Dr. Donna Jones, President of the Greater New York Chapter and proud member of ten years. As a leader in the field of education for more than twenty-five years, Dr. Jones currently serves as Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the Patchogue Medford School District in Suffolk County and is an active member and Trustee of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral, where she has served as a Trustee for more than twelve years. She holds a Doctorate in Education, Master’s in Public Administration, and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration.

Devon Arnold is an actor, writer, and award-winning talk show host. Born in California in 1997 and raised in New York City, Arnold began acting and writing when he was 10 years old and joined the Relationship Abuse Prevention Program (RAPP) at Manhattan Theatre Lab High School in 2015, where he served as a Peer Leader. Actively through RAPP, he has led and participated in a wide range of workshops, including anti-bullying, LGBTQ acceptance, and healthy relationship initiatives. Arnold currently serves as Creative Director of the Apollo Theater’s Young Producers Club and co-host of the cable access talk show, NIGHTCAP. A passionate artist and youth advocate, Arnold is currently pursuing acting as well as screenwriting in TV and film.