In my program manager duties with ICF International, I served as Task Lead for Assessment, Evaluation and Continued Quality Improvement for Training and Technical Assistance to CTG awardees. I led the development of the CDC Division of Community Health’s training plan; facilitating workgroups and strategic meetings in order to determine objectives and a blueprint for how the Division would build capacity for its multiple grantees across all community programs in its portfolio. I designed and conducted needs assessments to determine priorities for technical assistance and resource development, and the appropriate delivery formats for training products and services. I also served as task-lead for the development and execution of training events’ evaluation tools; I synthesized results, produced reports and shared findings as well as developed recommendations with the internal team, client, and network providers. I also led Peer activity efforts, bringing awardees together in various forums to share their practice-based experience and advance each other’s efforts.

While serving as a Country Program Director for Global Citizen Year, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, I managed a cohort of young American fellows distributed in various regions in Senegal volunteering on development projects while experiencing cultural and linguistic immersion (identified partners, host families, designed orientation and trainings, and re-designed the program for future expansion). I planned and implemented community meetings, established linkages between various community organizations and helped fellows design small-scale education, health, economic development and environment projects to be implemented in villages, small towns and rural areas across the country. As part of my duties, I also coordinated and delivered cultural competency training and capacity-building on a regular basis to American and local audiences.

While working as a project manager for YMCA of the USA, I supported a network of community leadership teams working on policy and environmental change strategies to address the obesity epidemic through healthy eating and physical activity initiatives in their respective communities. I developed a technical assistance plan for 3 collective national initiatives, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I also coordinated the Healthy Communities Roundtable, a group of 16 national organizations and 2 federal agencies convened to act as an advisory board and technical assistance provider to the Healthier Communities Network. I developed technical assistance calls, relevant trainings and webinars to address capacity building or content-specific issues for community leaders, grassroots movements and program staff. I translated and disseminated best practices and shared lessons learned within a network of over 138 communities.

While working at the Duval County Health Department (DCHD) in Jacksonville, FL, I designed and implemented a highly visible and successful community health worker initiative to combat health disparities in diabetes and related chronic diseases in Duval County, A New DEAL. I consistently exceeded state deliverables by as much as 400% and successfully developed curriculum and trained over 60 lay educators in the community. I created several community-based health initiatives which were featured as oral and/or poster presentations at state and national conferences (two of which were for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and replicated both in and outside Florida. I was responsible for managing the effective integration of DCHD clinics and communities served through the use of grassroots and community health navigators for improved healthcare delivery and access. As an experienced partnership development and coalition building professional, I also provided community initiative consulting to major local leaders such as the First Coast YMCA, the American Diabetes Association, and the Faith-based community in Duval County.

I redesigned the foundation' program portfolio, created and delivered extra-curricular activities for elementary school children in 3 partner schools located in low-resource areas of the city. I formed and maintained strategic partnerships through the community. I designed and delivered adult development workshops in corresponding communities, mainly at school meetings, in order to ensure a continuity in the programs delivered to foundation kids. I organized and ran a summer camp every year for foundation kids. I supervised a tutoring staff of 33, including 3 school liaisons with which I maintained constant communications about school programs and event planning. I also designed and delivered a young girls’ mentoring course for low income tweens as a volunteer to the National Council for Negro Women as part of my role as Program Director at a local nonprofit in their service area.

Pfizer “Know Your Health” Minority Health Literacy Improvement Study – Diabetes and Hypertension Program, 2004-2005: I served as a study coordinator and health educator for the Northeast Florida Healthcare Institute and implemented a diabetes and hypertension study geared at increasing health literacy among minority patients in North Florida. I handled a cohort of 150+ participants and delivered self-management education workshops as well as maintained communication and partnership with a large consortium of minority physicians.

Solar Energy and Rural Development: Constraints and Insights from the Developing World, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), 2002-2004. While working as part of a group of 3 consultants for SEIA in Washington DC, I developed best practices in designing solar energy projects for developing countries by researching and identifying relevant challenging areas such as financing, quality control and capacity building. My team demonstrated the relevance of renewable energy to the Millennium Development Goals and co-authored a manual SEIA, the national trade association for the solar industry, used to support design, implementation and monitoring efforts of its members in the field of rural electrification for developing countries. Members of SEIA include SHARP, BP, SHELL, KYOCERA and GE. The selected pilot sites to support this project were in rural Kenya (East Africa).