Diana MTK Autin, JD, is Senior Director for Organizational Capacity-Building for the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), a family-serving, parent-led organization located in Newark, NJ, which houses NJ’s federally-designated Family-to-Family Health Information Center and the state’s Parent Training and Information Center. SPAN is the NJ affiliate for Family Voices, Parent to Parent USA, and the National Federation of Families. SPAN operates the National Center for Parent Information and Resources and the National RAISE Transition Parent TA Center. Autin served as Executive Director/Executive Co-Director of SPAN for 28 years.
For almost two decades, Diana has provided technical assistance (TA) and support to the 26 parent centers in Region A of the US (including the territories of Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands) under the NE-PACT Regional Parent TA Center funded by the US Department of Education. Autin also directs the National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment (National PLACE, a membership organization of family-led, family-serving local, state, and national organizations dedicated to strengthening the family and family organization voices and impact at decision-making tables. Since 2005, Ms. Autin has provided TA and support to other F2Fs and Family Voices Affiliates, first as a Regional Coordinator, then as a National TA Coordinator, and over the past 7 years as Co-Director of the National Center for Leadership in Family Professional Partnerships, a project of Family Voices in collaboration with SPAN, which is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services.
Working regionally, nationally and in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Diana provides support to F2Fs/FV State Affiliates, Parent Centers, and other family-led organizations on issues related to family engagement, parent and youth leadership development, health and mental health, cultural competence, early childhood, education, and transition to adult services for youth. She is on the Advisory Committee for the Region 1 Equity Assistance Center and the Board of the National Federation of Families (FFCMH). She is the recipient of numerous awards including most recently the CADRE Keys to Access Award (2022), NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities Lifetime Achievement Advocacy Award (2022), Family Voices Champion of Health Equity Award (2021), NJ Women Leading the Way for Immigrant Justice (2020), and National FFCMH Reclaiming Children Award (2018).
Diana and her husband have raised four adult children from diverse backgrounds, and have a 16-year granddaughter. Autin is of Cajun and Native American background. She received her BA degree with Honors from the University of Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1977. She also was a Revson Fellow at Columbia University and a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School.