Staff
Select a staff member's name to read their bio.
Christine Abaté
Josefina Bastidas
Jeffrey G. Leibo
Max Lindeman
Emily NaPier
Alan Rosenthal
Patricia Warth
Marsha Weissman
Christine Abaté
Christine Abaté, Deputy Director (Syracuse) is responsible for programs and services in the Syracuse office. Ms. Abaté has extensive experience in comprehensive, collaborative approaches to addressing urban issues and empowering disenfranchised populations. Creative problem solving, creation of partnerships, and involvement of citizens and program participants are hallmarks of her perspective. Prior to joining CCA in 1997, Ms. Abaté designed and directed the original NYS Economic Development Zone in Syracuse, NY, creating a unique and comprehensive inner city redevelopment program addressing a disadvantaged population and the integrated redevelopment issues of business entrepreneurship, job creation, employee development and affordable homeownership. As Deputy Commissioner of Syracuse Department of Community Development, Ms. Abaté was responsible for the development and submission of the City's HUD block grant program, increasing community-based organizations' involvement in program implementation and involvement of citizens in program planning and review. Ms. Abaté has a Master's Degree in Regional Planning from Syracuse University and a BS in Sociology from the University of Iowa.
csabate@communityalternatives.org
Josefina Bastidas
Josefina Bastidas, Esq., Deputy Director (NYC) joined the Center for Community Alternatives in 1999. Ms. Bastidas provides the leadership and oversight of all services in the NYC office. Ms. Bastidas has considerable experience in criminal law both in the United States and in Venezuela, where she was a District Judge. She has also taught at the law school at the University of Caracas and worked for the Pan American Health Organization Staff Association in Washington, D.C., where she assisted in preparing cases to be decided by The International Labor Tribunal. Ms. Bastidas has a law degree from Santa Maria University, Caracas Venezuela and a Master's of Law Degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
jbastidas@communityalternatives.org
Jeffrey G. Leibo
Jeff Leibo practiced as a criminal attorney for over seven years before joining CCA as Senior Project Manager for Justice Strategies in April 2011. Mr. Leibo’s work at CCA is funded through a grant awarded to CCA by the Open Society Institute to facilitate the full implementation of the New York Drug Law Reform Acts of 2009. After graduating from the Syracuse University College of Law in 2003, he spent two years working as a prosecutor in Tompkins County, NY before joining the Anelli Xavier law firm. In this position he practiced criminal defense statewide representing hundreds of defendants, and conducting dozens of trials. He is also involved in coaching the Syracuse University College of Law’s intercollegiate trial advocacy teams.
Jleibo@communityalternatives.org
Max Lindeman
Max Lindeman comes to the Center for Community Alternatives as Senior Director of Court Services after working with the Fortune Society for more than 11 years, most recently as Associate Vice President. Max also has extensive experience in substance abuse and performance-based programming, clinical and quality assurance skills, and has worked in private practice providing individual and group psychotherapy. He has served on the New York County Democratic Nomination Committee for Supreme Court Judges. Max has an undergraduate degree, as well as Paralegal and Criminal Justice certificates, from Marist College; an MSW from Yeshiva University; and is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Welfare at Yeshiva, examining the factors associated with successful re-entry into society following incarceration.
mlindeman@communityalternatives.org
Emily NaPier
Emily NaPier joined the Center for Community Alternatives in 2006. As a Research
Associate, she is a co-coordinator of the Justice Strategies initiative to facilitate the
reduction of disproportionate minority contact with the Onondaga County juvenile
justice system. She holds an M.A. in sociology from Syracuse University and is
currently working on her dissertation in the same program. As an adjunct instructor at
Syracuse University, she teaches courses on the criminal justice system, racial and ethnic
inequalities, and research methods. She is actively engaged in a variety of community-
based initiatives, including the Justice Taskforce of the Alliance of Communities
Transforming Syracuse and the Racial and Social Justice Committee of InterFaith Works.
enapier@communityalternatives.org
Alan Rosenthal
Alan Rosenthal is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney with over 28 years of experience. A graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, he has litigated cases involving police misconduct and violations of civil rights in both jails and prisons. He has lectured on such topics as "Race and the Criminal Justice System", "Race and the Juvenile Justice System", "Treatment Courts", "Community Justice", "The Prisons Industrial Complex" , "Police Misconduct Litigation" , "Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions", "Working with a Criminal Record", "Sentencing Advocacy and Mitigation" and "Incarceration and Violence." He has drafted legislation on "Racial Profiling and Data Collection" and "Citizen Review Board."
As the Director of Justice Strategies, Alan undertook a study of race and the local criminal justice system for the Onondaga County Chapter of the NAACP and the Alliance Network. He has presented training for lawyers for both the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and New York State Defenders Association on sentencing, sentencing advocacy, and the collateral consequences of criminal convictions.
arosenthal@communityalternatives.org
Patricia Warth
Patricia Warth joined the Center for Community Alternatives in January 2008, as Co-Director of Justice Strategies where she will use her experience representing those accused of crimes who have not yet been convicted, as well as those convicted of crimes and serving their sentences. Patricia Warth has devoted her legal career to criminal justice issues. After graduating from Cornell Law School in 1996 and clerking for a federal district court judge, Ms. Warth worked for the New York State Capital Defender Office, representing individuals charged with first degree murder and facing a possible sentence of death. In 2005, after New York's highest court invalidated the death penalty in New York, Ms. Warth spent a semester at Syracuse Law School's Office of Clinical Legal Education as practitioner-in-residence. Interested in continuing her work on behalf of those involved in the criminal justice system, Ms. Warth spent two years working for Prisoner's Legal Services of New York as Managing Attorney of the Buffalo office until joining the Center for Community Alternatives.
pwarth@communityalternatives.org
Marsha Weissman
Marsha Weissman is the executive director of the Center for Community Alternatives. She has established model programs for youth and young adults in the juvenile and criminal justice system including New York's only alternative to incarceration program for "juvenile offenders", i.e. children under the age of 16 who are treated in the adult criminal justice system, New York State's first alternative-to-incarceration treatment program for women in the criminal justice system and a unique collaboration with the Syracuse City School District to reduce suspensions and expulsions of high risk youth. In 2002, Ms. Weissman was testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee about the program's success.
Ms. Weissman holds a Ph.D. with distinction in Social Science from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. She serves on numerous Boards of Directors and policy bodies including the National Sentencing Project. At the state level, Ms. Weissman was appointed by Governor Paterson to New York State’s Transforming Juvenile Justice Task Force. She has also been appointed to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) Commissioner’s Advisory Committee. Ms. Weissman publishes widely. See the publications pages of this site for copies and links to her publications.