LEADING CHANGE FOR WOMEN & GIRLS
Putting My Life To Work
Dual Bachelors · Dual Masters · PhD
Award-winning leader · Founder of an award-winning nonprofit
Applied Sociologist.
Social justice leader.
Academic.
Women and Girls Trauma Expert.
Driving statewide and national systems change for women and girls. I authored the legislation establishing New York’s Missing BIPOC Women and Girls Task Force and was appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to serve on it.
Founder, President & CEO · Girl Vow, Inc. & Founder · The National Task Force for Missing & Murdered Women and Girls
Appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to the New York State Missing BIPOC Women and Girls Task Force.
People. Policy.
Possibility.
01 / THE PERSON BEHIND THE WORK
I work at the intersection of social justice, sociology, trauma, and the institutions that shape women’s and girls’ lives.
I am Dr. Dawn Rowe, an award-winning social justice leader, Applied Sociologist, and Women and Girls Trauma Expert holding dual bachelor’s degrees, dual master’s degrees, and a PhD. I am the Founder, President & CEO of the award-winning nonprofit Girl Vow, Inc., and Founder of The National Taskforce for Missing and Murdered Women and Girls. I am also a faculty member at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to the New York State Missing BIPOC Women and Girls Task Force, I advance work addressing missing Black, Indigenous, and other women and girls of color across New York State. I drive systems change on a national level, connecting direct support for people impacted by systems with teaching, research, and policy advocacy to advance safety, equity, and institutional accountability for women and girls.
My experience includes work at Rikers Island, in juvenile justice settings, courts, and psychiatric wards, and alongside law enforcement. Working across these institutions informs my advocacy for women and girls navigating trauma, violence, and barriers to safety and support.
Through Girl Vow, I advocate for girls and gender-expansive youth impacted by foster care, juvenile justice, and poverty. My broader work centers women and girls navigating violence, incarceration, institutional barriers, sexual violence, and the search for safety.
More about Girl Vow ↗THE QUESTION THAT DRIVES ME
“I am driven to make the familiar strange—to understand how a state of emergency became ordinary, and how we can change a world that has learned to live with it.”
LEADERSHIP & CONTRIBUTIONS
Legislation, institution-building, and direct advocacy that connect the experiences of women and girls to systems change.
I authored the legislation establishing the New York State Missing BIPOC Women and Girls Task Force. Sponsored by Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Karines Reyes, S.4266-A/A.5088-A was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2023.
Read about the legislative origins ↗Explore the law and official announcement ↗STATEWIDE SERVICE
Governor Kathy Hochul appointed me to the New York State Missing BIPOC Women and Girls Task Force. My work centers visibility, equitable responses, safety, and institutional accountability for missing women and girls and their families.
My statewide advocacy ↗BUILDING A MOVEMENT
I founded The National Taskforce for Missing and Murdered Women and Girls, building a platform for advocacy that challenges institutional and structural violence and advances gender-focused policy change.
Explore the National Taskforce ↗COMMUNITY IMPACT
As Founder, President & CEO of Girl Vow, Inc., I connect mentorship and direct support with advocacy for people impacted by foster care, juvenile justice, poverty, violence, and incarceration.
Explore Girl Vow ↗CREATIVE LEADERSHIP / DIRECT ACTION
Under Dr. Dawn Rowe’s leadership, Girl Vow employed a creative recovery strategy, enlisting bounty hunters to help locate missing girls ages 14 and 15 who were being trafficked.
The girls were successfully located and returned.
See the work in public testimony, PBS coverage, and documentary storytelling. Watch & Listen ↗
THE CALL THAT GUIDES THE WORK
“Find Me When I’m Missing,
Not When I’m Murdered.”
Dr. Dawn Rowe · Advocacy for missing women and girls
03 / ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Different spaces. A shared commitment to dignity, safety, and accountability.
Girl Vow brings gender-focused mentoring and support to girls and gender-expansive youth impacted by foster care, juvenile justice, and poverty. The work connects relationships, advocacy, and practical support.
I authored the legislation establishing New York’s task force on missing BIPOC women and girls and worked with legislative sponsors to advance it. Signed in December 2023, the law created a framework to examine disparities and recommend policy changes.
Read the official announcement ↗As a sociology educator at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, I connect theoretical perspectives to real social problems, encouraging students to examine institutions, power, inequality, and their own capacity to contribute.
02 / AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Connecting personal experience to the social structures, institutional practices, and policies that shape it.
Trauma-informed approaches to safety, support, and advocacy for women and girls affected by violence and intersecting forms of harm.
Examining how juvenile justice, foster care, incarceration, and poverty influence opportunity, belonging, and access to care.
Advocacy for visibility, equitable responses, and institutional accountability when Black, Indigenous, and other women and girls of color go missing.
Bringing social theory into conversation with lived experience, contemporary social problems, and the possibilities for change.
04 / LEGISLATION & LANGUAGE ACCESS
New York’s task force on missing Black, Indigenous, and other women and girls of color.
MY STATEMENT IN THE GOVERNOR’S ANNOUNCEMENT
“Today is a historic moment for BIPOC women and girls whose stories and lives have been pushed into the shadows. You are no longer silent. We speak for you with urgency to push past disparities and gendered racism until you find safety. This legislation to establish a task force on missing women and girls who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color seeks to remedy the structural harms we have faced for far too long. From this day forward, we work to shatter the barriers until you have visibility.”
The legislation established a task force to examine inequities in responses to missing BIPOC women and girls and recommend changes. Its responsibilities include community education, culturally responsive policy recommendations, data collection, prevention, and public input through regional hearings.
My advocacy for missing BIPOC women and girls connects community experience, legislative action, and institutional accountability. As a Governor-appointed task force member and Founder of Girl Vow, I bring the experiences of women, girls, and families into statewide policy conversations.
The New York State Youth Justice Institute (YJI) at the University at Albany provides research and resources on evidence-informed youth justice practices. These resources offer context for examining the systems affecting young people in New York.
Explore YJI’s BIPOC Girls in New York State study ↗The Governor’s Office published the announcement, including my statement, in the 12 languages below. These are official translations of the press announcement about the legislation; the English bill text is linked above.
05 / WATCH & LISTEN
Watch coverage of the advocacy and the crisis of missing women and girls.
PBS NEW YORK NOW / WMHT
Dawn Rowe speaks about the importance of visibility and change in coverage of New York’s missing BIPOC women and girls task force.
March 8, 2024 · 3 minutes, 36 seconds
Watch on PBS ↗
VICE NEWS DOCUMENTARY / TUBI
The documentary explores disappearances of Black women, the experiences of families, and gaps in media attention and institutional responses.
2024 · 1 hour, 10 minutes
Watch the documentary ↗
JOHN JAY COLLEGE / SCREENING & PANEL
October 31, 2024 · 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Moot Court · John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The Department of Sociology brought documentary storytelling and public discussion together to examine missing and murdered Black women and girls and the responses of law enforcement and the media.
Dr. Dawn Rowe participated alongside NYPD Detective Rose Muckenthaler, WPIX11’s Mary Murphy, Shadira Smothers of Abused & Bruised, and Dr. Elesondra DeRomano of STARS Inc.
View the John Jay event ↗06 / IN CONVERSATION
Read about the experiences that helped shape my work and the founding of Girl Vow.
Read the profile ↗ NEW YORK STATE SENATE · TESTIMONYGirl Vow’s testimony addressing sexual assault in the prison system.
Read the testimony ↗07 / LET’S CONNECT
Speaking. Teaching. Policy dialogue.
Research and community collaboration.
For speaking invitations, interviews, workshops, and collaboration inquiries, connect with me through Girl Vow.
Chat with me ↗CONVERSATIONS I BRING TO THE ROOM