Deborah Dancer, MPA

Executive Director 

Deborah Dancer, MPA, has been named executive director of the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Coalition. An enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation (also known as the Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe), Dancer comes to the coalition with a range of skills including facilitation, mediation, strategic planning, grant writing, public administration, and advocacy

Samantha Magpie, MSW

Administrative Assistant 

Samantha is Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, she grew up in New York and moved to Iowa at 15 years old. Samantha graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2015 with a Bachelor’s in Social Work. Samantha recently graduated from the University of Iowa with her Master’s in Social Work. She currently works for the State of Iowa as the ICWA Tribal Liaison 

Kitty Washburn, LMSW, LSW

Tribal Liaison

Kitty Washburn has been with NICWC since November of 2021. Previously, she worked for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska’s Child and Family Services Program for 11 years.  In her current role as a Tribal Liaison, she is working to develop supports and access to services for tribal youth who are aging out of the child welfare system. Kitty has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Briar Cliff University and is currently enrolled in the University of Iowa’s MSW program.

Grace Johnson, MS, LADC, LIMHP

Education and Training Director 

Mrs. Johnson grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. She has worked as an Outreach worker, Family Support worker in the foster care system and QEW, Qualified Expert Witness for the ICWA Law . She is a dual-licensed Mental Health Therapist and Drug and Alcohol Counselor. She was Director of Behavioral Health and The Umonho Nation Alcohol and Drug Program at the Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska in Macy. She was on the Board of NICWC, Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Coalition. She sits on the Mayor’s Native American Advisory Council for the City of Omaha, NE. She owns her own business Red Nation Healing. She worked with the Nebraska State Attorney Generals office as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Tribal Liaison. She is an adjunct professor at Nebraska Indian Community College.