Brian Blalock is Senior Staff Attorney at Youth Law Center (YLC), a national civil rights firm working for and in collaboration with youth in the United States. Before coming to YLC, Brian was the Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, where he oversaw the Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, and Children’s Behavioral Health systems. Brian was also formerly the Law and Policy Director at Tipping Point Community, where he led research and development projects to support vulnerable populations in collaboration with the public sector, and was the founder and director of the Youth Justice Project at Bay Area Legal Aid, providing legal representation to youth in the dependency, juvenile justice, and homelessness systems.