Announcing our 2019 "Champions for Change"
September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month, and to honor the work being done in our community, we are celebrating individuals who are positively impacting the lives of moms and babies. Here are our 2019 “Champions for Change" award winners.
Champion for Policy: Matt Davis, BA Matt Davis, co-founder and president of DSD Advisors, is committed to making system changes for the health and wellbeing of families in Hamilton County. Matt was instrumental in forming the structure of the Cradle Cincinnati Policy Committee. As an advisor, he has fostered key connections with Ohio senators and representatives as well as Governor DeWine’s staff to advocate for and inform policies that support maternal and infant health. He was instrumental in developing the provisions in House Bill 11, which furthered the spread of group prenatal care efforts locally. His impact will help families both locally and across the entire state.
Champion for Knowledge: Dr. Jennifer Williams, BS, MEd, EdD Dr. Jennifer Williams brought together healthcare professionals and teachers from Cincinnati Public Schools to develop and implement the first comprehensive health and wellness curriculum for grades K-12 that is age-appropriate, medically and scientifically accurate, and adopted by the Board of Education. When implemented, this curriculum will reach over 35,000 students in Cincinnati Public Schools. This was not an easy feat; it required a creative and determined leader to bring professionals from different disciplines together. Dr. Williams is also leading the first annual Health Fair & Exploration for all 10th grade students in Cincinnati Public Schools later this month.
Champion for Better Care: Dr. William J. Moravec, MD Dr. William Moravec is a University of Cincinnati Medical Center physician who specializes in obstetrics-gynecology. He is heavily involved in community health initiatives, including the All Children Thrive Learning Network and the former StartStrong, a partnership that led to the reduction of extreme preterm births in Avondale. He and his team actively employ quality improvement efforts to increase early access to prenatal care, reduce maternal smoking and mitigate social barriers that negatively impact birth outcomes.
Safe Sleep Champion: Tamieka Gray, MNCM, CCHW As many as 13 babies have died of from preventable sleep-related death in Hamilton County this year. Tamieka Gray is the coordinator for Cribs for Kids at the Cincinnati Health Department. Since 2016, Cribs for Kids has distributed more than 1,700 cribs to families in Hamilton County. Tamieka has developed a network of agency partners and safe sleep advocates who disseminate infant safe sleep information, connect more families with crib resources and promote safe sleep in the community.
Champion for Equity: Brice Mickey, BS Black women, regardless of socioeconomic status, are 2-4 times more likely to experience infant loss. As a facilitator with Avant Consulting, Brice helps organizations become more inclusive through diversity and equity training. He partners with local organizations to foster open, intergroup dialogues around equity and has provided implicit bias training with some of the biggest health systems locally that serve pregnant women. His passion for social justice is at the forefront of his work; he was a student participant, staff participant and later a facilitator of the Social Justice Training Institute. In 2018, he was awarded the University of Cincinnati’s Dr. Marian Spencer Equity Ambassador Award as well as the Student Affairs Equity & Inclusion Award.
Champion for Smoke Free Women: Julian Collins, MS, CHES, TTS Smoking is a difficult habit to break. But, if a woman quits smoking in the first trimester of her pregnancy, her risk of preterm birth is that of a nonsmoker’s. As Community Outreach Officer at Interact for Health, Julian provides guidance to area organizations (like Planned Parenthood and Cincinnati Metro Housing Authority) on tobacco free housing, smoking cessation programming and prevention education. He advocated on behalf of the successfully passed Tobacco 21, which raises the age of sale of all tobacco products from 18 to 21.
Community Health Worker Champion: Sharon Johnson, CCHW At the heart of our work to reduce infant mortality is building relationships with moms and removing barriers to good health. Sharon Johnson has been a Community Health Worker with Healthy Moms & Babes for five years. She helps families hone self-sufficiency skills, access needed resources. She tailors her support based on the unique situations that impact each family and is a dependable advocate for her clients, often attending doctor appointments, maneuvering the mental health system and assisting with Medicaid benefits. She has the experience and background to provide families with excellent, nonjudgmental guidance. By supporting newer community health workers, she extends her reach beyond just the families she works with to make a bigger impact in our region.
Home Visitor Champion: Tricia Shaffer, LSW Home visitors help foster positive parent practices and support healthy child development. Tricia Shaffer has been a home visitor with Every Child Succeeds for 20 years. In this role, she builds strength-based and empowering relationships with the families she serves while acting as a knowledgeable resource of infant care practices like safe sleep. Tricia’s ability to grow relationships transcends her work with families, and she is considered an expert in home visiting by her peers. She is a strong advocate for home visitation and was recently featured in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Community Activist Champion: Dameta Wright, MSOL Dameta Wright is a program facilitator with The Society of Inner Arts, who has more than a decade of experience in mindfulness and yoga. She brings these practices to Black moms living in some of Cincinnati’s most under-resourced neighborhoods. Her wellness programs are designed to help moms both de-stress and build a community of support. Dameta is also an active participant in the Queens Village advisory board, a supportive group of powerful Black women who come together to build relationships and take action in their community.
This year, there was also a special "Founder's Award" bestowed upon Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune. Commissioner Portune has been a passionate advocate for infant mortality reduction for two decades. In 2011, he helped create Cradle Cincinnati as a collaborative approach to our community's infant mortality crisis. This award represents a small token of our appreciation for the great debt we owe to his tireless leadership.
Congratulations to our champions – your efforts are making Cincinnati a healthier city for moms and babies.