Nancy Marcus Newman, Esq., CRS, is a public interest, nonprofit and civil rights attorney in Pennsylvania and New York, where she was a former Associate of Skadden, Arps. She founded the Bridge Foundation, a charitable Recovery Community Organization, to support individuals seeking recovery from substance use and their families, with a focus on those for whom current systems have failed due to unmet financial need or lack of recovery support in transitional periods while on the road to long-term recovery. A child welfare and family advocate and certified recovery specialist, Nancy developed the first Tri State area Collegiate Residential Recovery Community in University City, Philadelphia for Penn and Drexel students struggling with substance use. Newman has advocated for the rights of disenfranchised youth who are abused, neglected or otherwise fall through the cracks of government and private systems for support and protection. She served as Chair of Pennsylvania’s Children’s Trust Fund Board, which oversees distribution of Pennsylvania’s child abuse prevention funding, to which she was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge, as well as initiating and Chairing the PA Joint State Government Commission Advisory Committee on Adoption Law, which revised the State’s entire Adoption and Foster Care Law. She has been an active Member of state legislative and administrative initiatives including PA and NJ Parity Implementation Coalitions, the Joint State Government Commission Advisory Committee on Public Health Law and the Commission’s Task Force on Prevention of (Youth) Violence (formed as Pennsylvania's response to the Sandy Hook tragedy) and assisted with development of Pennsylvania’s Peer Recovery Specialist certification credentials and recovery housing licensure requirements. She has had extensive personal experience with systems aimed at treating and supporting youth, adults and families facing addiction and mental health challenges, which inadequately address the needs of disadvantaged populations, persons with disabilities, and individuals and families in crisis.

As Lecturer-In-Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Newman collaboratively created the first Law School course in the country on Professional Responsibility and Lawyer Well-Being, investigating the ethical implications of lawyer competence requirements. She has presented lectures and workshops on areas of law including civil rights of Persons in Recovery, community building, and legislative reform. Her practice includes representing the interests of Recovery Housing owners and operators in Federal Fair Housing and Civil Rights Discrimination litigation in the Federal Circuit Court, Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania. Newman has initiated and put into action legal, nonprofit and public interest programs and collaborative community-based outreach initiatives in a variety of areas affecting children, youth and families, including those in Recovery or struggling with substance use and mental health disorders. In addition to helping individuals and families achieve long term recovery from addiction in their home communities as a Certified Peer Specialist, she helped bring new models for best practices in Recovery to Pennsylvania, introducing the East Coast’s first Residential Collegiate Recovery Community in University City, Philadelphia.

A highly experienced Grant Writer with over a decade in fund development and strategic planning across non-profit organizations focused on recovery housing and recovery support services, Newman specializes in developing competitive grant proposals and leveraging collaborative community partnerships for resource optimization, with a present focus on ensuring state and county disbursements of Opioid Settlement Funds reach community organizations where they are most needed to directly support individuals struggling with substance abuse and those in Recovery.

Nancy Newman is an Alumni of Penn Law School (’87). She is also a person in long-term Recovery.