On August 2, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Nancy M. Ware to serve as the Director of the District of Columbia Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), a large agency that supervises offenders who are on probation, parole, or supervised release. Although it is a local, District of Columbia agency, the position is subject to federal control under the District’s home rule charter.
Born in 1950, Ware earned a B.A. and an M.Ed. at Howard University. Early in her career, Ware worked as a clinical psychologist for the (D.C.) Public Schools Special Education Department, director of the Paul Robeson Psychoeducational School for emotionally disturbed children, and chief of emergency mental health services and outreach for children in the
District of Columbia.
She was also Executive Director of the District of Columbia Mayor’s Youth Initiatives Office under Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund and executive director of the
Rainbow Coalition.
Her work in the criminal justice field began when she served as the Director of Program Development for the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the
Office of Justice Programs, after which she became Director of Technical Assistance and Training for the
Department of Justice Executive Office for Weed and Seed, where she was responsible for helping local communities implement plans to fight crime and promote public safety.
In 2010, Ware joined CSOSA as a management analyst and wrote its five-year strategic plan mandated by federal law.
According to the
OpenSecrets website, Ware once contributed $250 to the Congressional campaign Jesse Jackson, Jr., who is the son of her former employer, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., who founded the Rainbow Coalition in 1984.