Dawn Cherry Email & Phone Number

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Serve in new role of marketing consultant that executes and oversees marketing strategies to align with organizational objectives.• Act as agency liaison and build working relationships with local community service boards, Departments of Social Services, Justice Services, Probation and Parole, and other mental health agencies to aid in yielding positive youth and family treatment outcomes.• Create targeted partnerships with local agencies servicing individuals with mental health challenges to include: Tucker Pavilion Psychiatric Hospital, Poplar Springs Psychiatric Hospital, Virginia South Psychiatric Services, and Crossroads Payee Services based on comparable accreditation criteria as of Dec. 2013.Return On Investment (ROI) – Increased exposure and identified with outside entities resulting in successful referrals of clients for services with new partners.

Richmond, Virginia Area

Design, develop, and implement sexuality education services for youth between the ages of 13-21 in foster care. Two-hour sessions, taught twice month based on need and social services assessments to cover topics including Sexual Transmitted Infections, Personal Hygiene, Healthy Relationships, Preventing Pregnancy, and Birth Control. Approximately 10-15 youth engage in colorful, no-nonsense and informative hands-on group activities that addressed real issues and challenges faced by youth to allow for interpersonal development and community problem solving. Return On Investment (ROI) - Program is most highly requested training by youth when surveyed.

Richmond, Virginia Area

Instrumental in the development, editing, and refinement of the 14-module Health for Success cross-discipline curriculum in 1998. Facilitated over 100 sessions (6-8 trainings/yr) within school districts and localities within Commonwealth of Virginia. Taught teachers, school board members, nurses, coaches and staff on successful teaching methodologies in sexuality education. Merged Family Life Education programs and Health for Success trainings in accordance to state’s Standards of Learning (SOLs). Conducted “Train-the-Trainer” sessions once work exceeded capacity with other educators across the state. Facilitated yearly on-site trainings with summer weeklong Heath for Success Summit training at Longwood University where 1500+ teachers received additional training and qualified for Continuing Education Credits (CECs). Program funding ended December 2013.

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Managed job readiness/employability training programs servicing 100+ clients (ages 16 to 24) per year.• Facilitated all job readiness training, job location and placement services with 100% placement rate for clients. • Identified, wrote, and managed seven grants in excess of $290K annually to include programmatic reporting, budget administration, data collection and analysis, interpretation of data, and outcome measurement. • Coordinated youth referrals from programs funded by Department of Social Services, Department of Juvenile Justice, and Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services in the amount of $350K annually.

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Reorganized non-profit mentoring and prevention services organization resulting in peak efficiency in human resources, accounting and finance. • Pioneered The Youth Entrepreneurs Program, the WOOD program, Health Relationships, and the opening of the Manterfly Thrift Store during leadership. Sound management structure developed for each program.• Revitalized Food Bank feeding program; expanded Boys and Girls Circle program with new service area, Caroline County. • Designed and structured summer program for 25 youth in partnership with Camp Diva. • Revamped and aligned mentoring programs and services, and increased the number of youth served by 60% from 10 youth per week to 65 youth per week within 6 months. • Leveraged strong community and organizational relationships to attract new client base and funding sources resulting in an increase in state and local grant funding of programs by 50% with new funding from the Virginia Department of Health in the amount of $15,000 to fund a healthy relationship program, and $10,000 in funding from a local printing company for printing equipment. Return on Investment (ROI) - Promoted organization as spokesperson at Michael Baisden Million Mentor program held at the Trinity Baptist Family Life Center. Recognized and awarded $5,000 for outstanding mentoring programs in the area. Interviewed on Radio One’s Community Awareness radio show hosted by Clovia Lawrence prior to event.

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Owned and operated a mental health services corporation providing programs and services (counseling, case management, therapeutic day treatment, after school programs) for more than 450 at risk youth and families in Richmond Metro area. • Managed all operations and human resources of an 85 member staff, and successfully executed a $2.5M budget.• Established longitudinal evaluation of evidence-based services, supervised data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and participated in a national evaluation of mental health programs.• Spearheaded annual Christmas gala for staff and agency partners to highlight success and express gratitude. Organized independent vendor fair to expose services of agency to new client markets (i.e. Petersburg, Caroline County, and Ashland).

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Provided technical oversight to key initiatives of the Mayor to ensure effective implementation and management of localized prevention services, programs, and activities. • Recruited for, provided training and development and helped to guide the 15 member Advisory Board to continually assess the role of pregnancy prevention services in the community, and to establish the Board as community leaders on the issue of Teen Pregnancy Preventive which was a catalyst of Mayor Wilder’s campaign platform. The 15-person advisory board was the precursor to The Richmond Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.• Spearheaded the development of public service announcement with the Martin Agency on teen pregnancy prevention.• Monitored service delivery systems and developed formal reports for the Mayor, City Council and external sources.• Integrated prevention services throughout the City’s Human Services portfolio (Social Services, Parks & Recreation, and Juvenile Justice).

Richmond, Virginia Area

• Effectively managed a staff of 40 with an operating budget in excess of $500K.• Provided oversight for evidence-based prevention programs, including healthy lifestyles and relationships, conducted at the middle and high school levels in Richmond Public Schools, for more than 2,000+ participants.• Acquired federal and state grants that resulted in a 50% increase in program funding from $110 K to $200K in 8 months.• Synchronized prevention instruction with the standards of learning (SOLs) to ensure maximum impact in an academic environment by augmenting lesson plans to include cross curriculum lessons in the pregnancy prevention sessions. • Selected from a pool of 500 national and international candidates to attend the 20-day Advocates for Youth, Adolescent Sexual Health and Pregnancy Prevention - European Study Tour of the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Collected and examined information on the pregnancy rates in Amsterdam, Paris, and Cologne, and the history of legislation and advocacy that resulted in the current laws regarding birth control, abortion, and the role of sexuality education in the schools and communities. Return on Investment (ROI): Information was integrated into local grassroots efforts and educational services to decrease teen pregnancy rates in Virginia.

Grant Writer Training Program

Bachelor'S Degree, Business Administration And Management, General