A communications leader translating lived experience into a new vision of systems change for children and families.
Takkeem Morgan is Senior Director of Communications at Prevent Child Abuse America, where he leads national campaigns, executive communications, and impact storytelling for the country's oldest child abuse prevention organization. He is a board member of Foster America, contributing to cross-sector systems modeling work with Casey Family Programs, Washington DCYF, and the University of Washington.
A former foster youth who arrived at Penn State University with limited resources and left as a founding student of the Africana Research Center, Takkeem has spent two decades turning personal testimony into public strategy. His work spans international plenary keynotes on the practical use of AI in human services, congressional briefings on permanency, university lectures livestreamed nationally, and closed-door convenings with foundation, provider, and government leaders.
In 2026, Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts named him the recipient of its Outstanding Alumni Award, and he returned to guest-lecture SOC 119 — a course reaching more than 700 students and a national livestream audience. He is currently writing a memoir on family, foster care, and the systems that shape both.
Request full biography & press kitA candid look at how data infrastructure, AI, and cross-sector modeling can compress decades of incremental progress into a decade of measurable change for families. Drawing on the AI-in-human-services plenary delivered to provider leaders from twelve countries, Takkeem shows funders, policymakers, and agency leaders where practical investment now unlocks generational impact.
Beneath most family conflict, shutdown, and crisis is an unnamed, under-supported mental-health burden. Grounded in his forthcoming memoir on family, foster care, and the systems that shape both, Takkeem reframes family struggle from failure to language, support, and safe spaces — and challenges funders, clinicians, and communities to make mental-health access the core infrastructure of family well-being. Especially resonant for audiences working on men, boys, kinship care, and the criminalization of poorly supported family need.
Millions of families carry the mental-health burden of poverty without a first door they trust. This talk lays out a new front-door doctrine — one that helps families understand what they are experiencing, meet support with dignity, and enter care through pathways rooted in their communities. It draws on Takkeem's lived experience, the memoir's four-part architecture (House / Field / Room / Ask), and prevention strategy honed over two decades of national child-welfare communications.
Penn State College of the Liberal Arts · University Park, PA · 700+ students plus national livestream
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute · U.S. Senate Dirksen Building, Washington, DC
PCA Iowa · CAP Month Virtual Keynote
Penn State University · Invited panelist
Foster America · Featured contributor · Washington ecosystem modeling ongoing
Association of Children's Residential & Community Services · Phoenix, AZ · Leaders from 12 countries
Indiana GAL/CASA · Fort Wayne, IN · September 14, 2024 · Shared the stage with author and advocate Andrew Bridge
National Conference of State Legislatures · Indianapolis, IN · Panel with Dr. William Bell (Casey Family Programs) and Dr. Bart Klika (Prevent Child Abuse America) · ~5,000 legislators, staff, policymakers, funders, and partners
Hands of Hope Indiana · Indianapolis, IN · Faith-community foster and child-welfare audience
Don't judge a family by where they are — judge them by how far they've come.
— Takkeem Morgan, PCA Iowa CAP Month keynote, 2026
Broadcast segment on Foster Together Indiana — a collaborative, multi-sector approach to recruiting and retaining foster families with an equity lens and a wrap-around support network.
Watch the segmentNational Foster Care Month broadcast interview calling for better compensation, wrap-around support, and world-class professional development for foster parents — addressing the 50% first-year attrition rate head on.
Watch the segmentLanguage and metaphors leaders can use in the next board meeting, op-ed, or budget conversation — not just applause lines.
Cover for hard prevention choices: shifting dollars upstream, trusting families, telling the truth about the system's history.
Concrete AI, comms, and modeling practices Takkeem's own team uses at PCA America and Foster America.
Personal testimony that connects policy to a child on a porch step — earned, not performed.
Takkeem accepts a limited number of keynote, panel, workshop, podcast, and university engagements each year. Requests typically receive a response within two business days. Fees vary by event type, location, and audience; nonprofit and university rates are available.