Clinton congratulating Dr.  Alvy for an Award for Enhancing the Status of Parents, National Parents' Day, Oval Office, 1995

Dr. Kerby T. Alvy has decades of experience in clinical child psychology.  His approach focuses on preventing child abuse, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and other problems--often intertwined--in which parent-child relationships are deemed a crucial factor.  It is important to note that 2 million kids were abused and neglected in the U.S. in 2008 (1).  Thus, Dr.  Alvy, an advocate of the welfare of children, is the executive director of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring (CICC), based in North Hollywood, California.  The Center provides help to more than 20, 000 parents a year.  Dr. Alvy lends his expertise on child rearing on a regular basis to government and civic bodies.  He also appears on television and radio programs on child, family and parent training issues. In addition, he serves as a consultant to governmental agencies, corporations, news departments, film and television companies on these matters. He is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop leader at events nationwide.

Over the years, Dr.  Alvy has created, delivered and disseminated model parent training programs. All of the activities and projects of the CICC are designed to bring coherence and strength to the nationwide Effective Parenting Movement in order to improve the overall quality of parenting in the United States.  He and his organization work primarily with African-American and Latino children.

Dr. Alvy has been a Principal Investigator on research projects sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  He designed and advocated a federal government-led effective parenting initiative which he presented at a White House Briefing in December 2006.

Dr. Alvy has founded and directed several community service projects to increase parental effectiveness and reduce child abuse, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, school failure and gang involvement. His projects have gained the support of various state and local funding agencies, and the support of over 75 private foundations and corporations, including the Ford Foundation, AT&T, Xerox, Annenberg, Mattel and Hearst.

Beverly Johnson is the first African-American supermodel, as well as an actress, author, activist, businesswoman and TV personality. She was the first Black model to appear on the cover of U.S. Vogue magazine in August 1974. A year later, she became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of the French edition of Elle magazine. Her beautiful face has graced over 500 magazine covers. Before modeling, Johnson aspired to become a lawyer. She was studying criminal justice at Northeastern University when she entered the fashion industry.

In 2006, Johnson was honored at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball along with Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Tina Turner and other female African Americans in entertainment, civil rights, and the arts. Named by one of the 20th Century's most influential people in fashion by the New York Times, she changed the beauty ideal in modeling. As of 1975, every major American fashion couturier began using African American models.  The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. has a portrait of her on display as part of its "The Black List" exhibition, featuring photographs of 50 iconic African Americans.