Justice for Children is pleased to announce that James A. Shields has accepted the position of Executive Director for our organization.
Before coming to Justice for Children, Jim spent fifteen years in senior financial management with a large engineering and construction firm. For the past fourteen years he has been in business for himself as a Certified Financial Planner and Registered Representative.
During his 30 year professional career, Jim has been very active with organizations involved in hunger and poverty and child welfare.
He is a long time member of Bread for the World serving as a district coordinator and then as a member of the executive committee and the national board of directors. Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian movement that seeks justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers.
Jim is a founding member of the board of directors for the Houston/Harris County Coalition for the Homeless and continues to sit on that board and serves on the executive committee and chairs the public policy committee. The Coalition for the Homeless coordinates the activities of more than 150 direct service agencies in Houston/Harris County and leads the
collaboration effort to secure federal funds for homeless projects and programs. Jim represents the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on this board.
Back in the early 90's, Jim also represented the ELCA as a volunteer for the Houston Campaign for the Homeless and chaired its allocation panel. During that time he also served on the City authorized committee for the homeless.
In the mid 80's, he served on the Houston Committee for UNICEF, chairing its education and advocacy committee and organizing the Houston Summit for Children held at Rice University.
For many years, Jim served on the technical advisory committee of Children at Risk, a Houston based advocacy group dedicated to changing public policy on behalf of the children of Houston and Texas.
Jim also served our country as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with assignments in Germany and Vietnam where he received the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
In addition to volunteer activities, Jim sings in the choir and plays the trombone in the brass choir at Christ the King Lutheran Church where he and his family are members and he is a member of the Houston Philosophical Society at Rice University.
He is a graduate of Lehigh University with a B.S. in Business Administration and he received his MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). He is married to Rebecca and they are the parents of two grown daughters, Catherine and Alyce.
Justice for Children is a national child advocacy organization headquartered in Houston. Justice for Children advocates for victims of child abuse when the system fails to protect them by providing a full range of solutions including free legal assistance and paid therapy for the child. JFC also has offices in Phoenix, Arizona and Washington, D.C.