DANA is hosting our Annual Budget Review for the FY24 Governor’s Recommended Budget on January 30th. Join us for our yearly review of the budget and gain insights from our guest Brenda Wise, Director of Policy and Communications at the Office of Management and Budget on what is behind the numbers and the trends for 2023. This year we are also including Sen. Poore to discuss the Community Reinvestment Fund and process. Lastly, we will end with an update on one of our most anticipated initiatives: Healthcare. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and discover how the budget process presents an opportunity for nonprofit advocacy.

About Our Presenters 

Brenda A. M. Wise is an attorney with experience in litigation, court administration, and statewide policy implementation. She began her legal career as an employment defense attorney in Philadelphia, PA specializing in discrimination claims where she initiated the firm’s plaintiffs practice. She later spent time in Washington, D.C. as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in the School of Continuing Studies teaching Torts and Administrative Law.

Upon returning to her home state, she created Delaware’s first DUI Treatment Court, its first Community Court, and developed Delaware’s Best Practice Standards for Problem-Solving Courts and the Problem-Solving Courts Benchbook. She currently serves as the Director of Policy and Communications for the Office of Management and Budget providing analysis and strategic guidance regarding legislation and statewide initiatives which have a fiscal impact on the State of Delaware. She serves on the board of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League as the Chair of the Governance Committee and President of the Board of Directors of I am B.E.A.U.T.Y. Charities, Inc.

Sen. Nicole Poore represents the 12th Senate District, which includes most of New Castle and Bear, all of Delaware City and Port Penn, as well as communities south of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, including Whitehall, Bayberry, and others.

Raised in New Castle’s Jefferson Farms community, Sen. Poore graduated from St. Elizabeth’s High School in 1990 and later earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Delaware Technical Community College and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Wilmington University.

She joined her brother in building a successful healthcare staffing startup that was later sold to Welsch Carson, one of the largest investment firms in the United States. Sen. Poore then became a senior client services manager for Agile 1, where she handled workforce solutions for the DuPont Co. She also served as a member of the Delaware Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, volunteered the Rape Crisis Center and served as Exceptional Care for Children’s director of development. She is currently the president of Jobs for Delaware Graduates, a nonprofit that helps students connect with sustainable, skills-based career opportunities.

Sen. Poore’s interest in government policy began after the birth of her oldest son Nicholas, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Her activism in the special-needs community led to a successful 2012 bid for the state Senate. Sen. Poore was selected to serve as Senate Majority Whip by her peers. She then served as Senate Majority Leader from 2019 to 2021.

Sen. Poore most recently chaired the Joint Capital Improvement Committee and served as vice chair of both the Senate Health & Social Services Committee and the Senate Labor Committee. She also sat on the Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee.

Sen. Poore continues to serve as a member of the Human Trafficking Interagency Coordinating Council, the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, the Utilities Coordination Council, and the Riverfront Development Corporation.

She and her husband Billy live in New Castle with their three children.

Senator Sarah McBride represents the First State Senate District, which includes Bellefonte, and parts of Alapocas, Edgemoor, and Wilmington.

Raised in Wilmington, McBride has been involved in community advocacy for most of her life, including working for former Governor Jack Markell, the late Attorney General Beau Biden, and as a White House intern during the Obama Administration.

She later served as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ equal rights organization. McBride teaches public policy at the University of Delaware and is the author of the 2018 memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different.”

Prior to being elected to the State Senate, McBride led the successful effort to pass a landmark non-discrimination law in Delaware, worked with state leaders to expand healthcare covered by Medicaid, and championed legislation protecting vulnerable youth from child abuse.

For her work and advocacy, former Gov. Markell awarded McBride the Order of the First State, making her one of the youngest Delawareans granted the state’s highest civilian honor. When McBride was elected to the state Senate in 2020, she became the first openly transgender state senator in American history.

As a state senator, McBride has passed legislation expanding access to health care, requiring mental health and media literacy education in public schools, promoting green technologies, and protecting workers and families. In just her first term, McBride also passed the landmark Healthy Delaware Families Act, providing paid family and medical leave to workers throughout the First State and marking the largest expansion of Delaware’s social safety net in decades.

She currently serves as chair of the Senate Health & Social Services Committee, and a member of the Senate Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology, Education, Executive, and Judiciary committees.

Sarah married her late husband Andrew Cray in 2014 and is the proud aunt of Juliette, Theo, Bennett, Sydney, Teagan, Ben, and Addison.