What our Nonprofit State Policy Fellows Learn:

• An overview of the State Legislative Process

• State Budget as a Policy

• Creating Individual Calls to Action & Organization Sign on Letters

• Social Media Advocacy

• Communicating Effectively with Policymakers and Staff

• Administrative Advocacy: Working with State Agency Leaders

• Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System

• Addressing Racial Disparities through Policy

At the Conclusion of the 12 Month Program

At the end of the program Fellows will have developed an action plan presented to their peers and leadership. Fellows will continue to receive support through the group listserv.

Time Commitment

Participants are expected to attend 2 hour-long monthly meetings and spend roughly 1-2 hours outside of monthly meetings reviewing materials, engaging in the online community, and meeting with others they identify as important in their state/county, and developing their action plan.

Meet our 2021-2022 Nonprofit State Policy Fellows

ARIZONA

Elizabeth Wood has a B.S. of Physics from the United States Naval Academy and a Masters in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. While this education did prepare her for a 15-year long career in the nuclear energy industry, none of it prepared her for the radical transition into motherhood. Driven by her own motherhood challenges, she founded Matrescence: 4th Trimester Planning & Support, a unique preventative approach to help expecting parents become more informed, prepared and supported in their 4th Trimester transition. She is also a certified Maternal Mental Health Peer Support Specialist, and serves on the Arizona Maternal Mortality Review Committee as well as Arizona's Maternal Mental Health Task Force.

Jennie Bever is a mother, a healer and a visionary. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University, and the Executive Director of 4th Trimester Arizona.

Cara English is the Chief Executive Officer of Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies (CGI) and Co-Founder of Terra’s Place, a maternal mental health clinical practice in Phoenix, Arizona. Cara served as a Behavioral Health Consultant at Willow Birth Center from 2017-2020, where she provided integrated behavioral health services for perinatal women and their families as part of the medical team of Certified Nurse Midwives and Nurse Practitioners. She also provided integrated behavioral health services to new mothers in partnership with Arizona Breastfeeding Center from 2015-2017. Cara led the Willow integration project to international acclaim through publication of outcomes in the International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) and through presentations at International Foundation for Integrated Care Conferences (ICIC) in 2018 and 2020. She has extensive experience working with women and families with mental health challenges in both acute and community settings. Cara served as Vice-President of the Postpartum Support International - Arizona Chapter Founding Board of Directors, and co-chaired the Education and Legislative Advocacy Committees. She is a member of the Maternal Mortality Review Program and the Maternal Health Taskforce for the Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Women's and Children's Health. She serves as a consultant to the 4th Trimester Arizona nonprofit organization. Cara is a frequent presenter at perinatal health conferences and is an avid advocate for integrated care. Cara directs Culminating Projects in the Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH) program at CGI. For her work to establish Cummings Graduate Institute, Cara was awarded the Psyche Award from the Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation in 2018.

COLORADO

Brace Gibson, J.D., is Policy Advocate for the Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative. In this role, she serves as a liaison between the Colorado legislature, Governor’s office, and state agencies around maternal and infant health policy issues. Brace also provides leadership and support to the Maternal Mental Health Collaborative & Framework, as well as Colorado’s Teen Parent Collaborative.

Brace believes that just opportunities to achieve optimal health are realized when those most impacted by laws and policies are properly represented as stakeholders of such initiatives. She is committed to applying an intersectional lens to perinatal health issues, diversifying participation in decision-making processes, and valuing lived experience at each stage of policy development, implementation, and evaluation.

Brace earned her Juris Doctor from Indiana University Maurer School of Law with a focus on public interest law and policy. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Southern Indiana.

Laurel Hicks is a researcher, therapist and advocate focused on perinatal and infant mental health. She holds a research faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute. She specifically is passionate about investigating resiliency factors and interventions (especially mindfulness-based and peer-led interventions) that improve wellbeing during pregnancy and postpartum for the whole family system. She is also a Board Member of the Colorado State Chapter of Postpartum Support International and teaches prenatal yoga and works in private practice in Denver, CO. In her spare time, she loves hiking, ceramics, and creating.

Kayla Q Frawley (she/her): Kayla is a former Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), has supported the birth of approx 300 babies, was a Midwifery Educator for two MEAC accredited institutions, former family advocate, and now policy manager with Clayton Early Learning. She is a 2021 graduate of EMERGE Colorado and former community engagement chair with the Denver Women’s Commission. She manages the Parent Ambassador Program with Clayton — highlighting parent leadership and voice in state and federal policy. She is a co-author of Diverse Colorado Voices: Community led-solutions in the perinatal period, and co-convenes the Raise Colorado Coalition - a policy & advocacy coalition devoted to equitable state policy for the prenatal to age 3 time period. She has worked with families from the prenatal to preschool age for twelve-plus years in various capacities, completed her BA in Medical Anthropology, and is a current Masters in Public Health candidate with New Mexico State University.

OHIO

Tonya Fulwider (she/her) is the Associate Director at Mental Health America of Ohio where she oversees the Education, Healthy Connections, Support Groups, Get Connected, statewide Mental Health First Aid and POEM programs, and serves as the co-lead on the CLAS Standards project (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care). She leads MHAOhio’s Public Policy and Advocacy work, and is a Certified Mental Health First Aid USA Instructor. Tonya is the co-founder of Perinatal Outreach and Encouragement for Moms (POEM), formerly a nonprofit organization that joined MHAOhio’s umbrella of services in 2013. POEM is one of the largest and long-running programs of its kind in the US, and was the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Programs in Care Award from 2020 Mom and the Marcé Society of North America. Tonya is a Postpartum Support International (PSI) Founder’s award winner in recognition of her outstanding contributions related to mental health and childbearing.

Lisa M Minor, MBA, CPC is Director of Caregiver Development & Communications for the Mandel Global Leadership and Learning Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

Lisa is a certified professional coach. In her 10 years at Cleveland Clinic, she’s provided both performance and development coaching to physician leaders, executives and leaders alike. Lisa holds a Master of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University and an undergraduate degree in Communication and Culture from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Tenisha Gaines, CEO and Co-Founder of Village of Healing was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Tenisha has dedicated her career over the past 22 years to community and healthcare. Through perseverance she has worked her way from medical assistant to now holding a Master’s in Business Administration. In 2017 Tenisha became a Certified Lactation Counselor and in 2018 completed the coaching program through Case Western Reserve and earned her Coaching Certificate. In 2021 Tenisha completed Birthing Beautiful Communities training to become a Doula.

Tenisha’s career has encompassed all levels of leadership, development, and mentoring. Tenisha has the ability to motivate and inspire individuals in identifying their potential. Through her dedication she has been able to make positive changes in the community she serves through advocacy and passion. Tenisha serves on several committees within the community that are dedicated to decreasing disparities that families in the community face daily. The health and wellbeing of her community remains at the core of Tenisha’s beliefs. She has committed her career to serving and advocating for black women.

PUERTO RICO

Marianela Rodriguez-Reynaldo is a mother, postpartum doula, Certified Lactation Educator and Clinical Psychologist specialized in Perinatal Mental Health. She completed her Master’s degree at Xavier University in Ohio and went on to complete her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the Carlos Albizu University in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She has been a PSI Coordinator in Puerto Rico for the past 10 years, has a private practice and led a monthly support group for parents who have experienced perinatal loss for 11 years. She is an activist for reproductive justice and human rights in maternal infant care. Provides training on perinatal mental health and trauma for health and birth professionals, is part of the expert panel for the Observatory of Obstetric Violence in Puerto Rico and serves as a Psychology Consultant for the Puerto Rico Health Department, Mother, Child and Adolescent Division Title V. In the last year she has been collaborating with an interdisciplinary group from the University of Puerto Rico to establish the first Center for Perinatal Mental Health in Puerto Rico.

UTAH

Kristen Schulz coordinates the Early Childhood Alliance in Park City, Utah, which engages, educates, and supports members, children, parents, and the community-at-large to prioritize accessible, excellent, and equitable outcomes for children in the Wasatch Back from the prenatal stage through age three. In addition to her work with the ECA, Kristen has ten years of experience in public policy and government funding with one of the largest Habitat for Humanity affiliates, and ten years of experience practicing government-contract law with large, national law firms. Kristen is an honors graduate from the University of Texas School of Law and holds an LL.M. in Environmental, Natural Resources and Energy Law from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. Kristen lives in Park City, Utah with her husband and three kids.

Heather Dopp is a mother to two children and a survivor of perinatal anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation during her second pregnancy. Learning from her lived experience, Heather’s advocacy has taken her from the halls of the Utah State Capitol to the United States Capitol with the purpose of improving awareness and increasing resources available to mothers facing maternal mental illness within the United States. Heather is currently completing her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and looks forward to counseling mothers, parents, and families facing perinatal mental illness.

Meet our 2020-2021 State Policy Fellows