Choices Training Conference 2024

Jocelyn Hayward, MPH

Grants Program Manager | Michigan Farm to Family: CSA

Michigan Fitness Foundation

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• 3:30 - 4:45 PM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Application in Your Work

• 10:00 - 10:15 AM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Welcome & Opening Remarks

Anna Baeten

Principal & Director of Organizational Training

Failure Lab Training

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Anna Baeten is the principal of The Human Solution, a consultancy collaborative that focuses on human operations, organizational/operational scaling & founder/principal evolution. She also serves as a Senior Consultant with Ktisis Capital, a progressive philanthropic consultancy dedicated to reframing philanthropy through a justice-forward lens.

Her areas of passion include founders & organizational scaling, organizational and operational strategy, women & BIPOC leadership development and amplification, justice forward systems change, human centered leadership and organizational culture, participatory curriculum design, and marketing and communications.

Baeten holds a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Professional & Applied Ethics from Western Michigan University. She sees her educational journey as evidence of the value of a liberal arts education.

She enjoys audiobooks, fine-tipped ink pens, sneaking nutritional relevance into her children’s food, and learning about what motivates people to do better and be better.

• 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Failure Lab: Navigating Discomfort Part I

• 1:15 - 3:00 PM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Failure Lab: Navigating Discomfort Part II

Courtney Simmons

Affiliate Facilitator & Equity and Inclusion Consultant

Failure Lab Training

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As the Founder & Principal of Inclusive Insight Group, Courtney Simmons is dedicated to transforming systems to make requisite changes for true inclusion, equity, and belonging. For nearly two decades, she has shared her expertise to help leaders and teams grow in diverse corporate spaces from Fortune 500 companies to craft brewing and non-profit organizations across North America. Her areas of passion include inclusive leadership, women & BIPOC leadership development and amplification, human centered design, psychological safety, and truth telling. She is skilled in co-creation, design, and facilitation of DEI strategy, implementation, and learning with a unique blend of candor, vulnerability, and expertise.

In her personal life, she is a dedicated mom to three incredible and independent daughters. Her other passions include tasty foods and cocktails with friends...ideally on vacation.

• 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Failure Lab: Navigating Discomfort Part I

• 1:15 - 3:00 PM, Mar 20, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons CD

  Failure Lab: Navigating Discomfort Part II

Rachael Dombrowski, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

California State University San Marcos

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Working in the public health field for nearly two decades, Rachael Dombrowski, PhD, MPH designs, implements, and evaluates multilevel interventions to advance social justice and collectively improve community health and local food environments.

In 2021, she implemented and codirected the Great Grocer Project in collaboration with Wayne State University College of Education’s Center for Health and Community Impact and the Detroit Grocery Coalition to strengthen relationships between independently owned grocery stores and their customers. The three year-project was designed to improve community health and economic vitality through leadership and advancement of research, programs, and policies for healthy living and included an assessment of over 200 grocery stores.

Today, she is a faculty member with the California State University San Marcos Departments of Public Health and Kinesiology where she conducts community-based participatory research, including program development and evaluation in the Midwest, West and across the nation. She also serves as an evaluator for the Best Food Forward school-based nutrition supports intervention.

Dombrowski received her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health and Community Health Sciences from University of Illinois at Chicago and her Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan.

• 3:45 - 4:45 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  General Session: Healthy Grocery Interventions

Kent Key, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health College of Human Medicine, Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University

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Kent Key is a Health Equity Scholar, Health Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Researcher, and Community Engaged Research Methodologist. He has an interest in urban minority populations and uses qualitative research methods to evaluate the perceptions and lived experience with a goal towards the development of community-driven solutions for health equity. His focus is prevention, as he believes it is the key to addressing health disparities. His motto is “You have not lived until you have done something good for someone who cannot repay you.”

On the national landscape, he has served as a member of the National Patient Stakeholder Council for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and their National Falls Prevention Council and is past chair of the Community Based Public Health Caucus of the American Public Health Association and past president of the National Community Based Organization Network. As a principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health funded study, he explores the use of family health histories in the African American community with the goal to increase the use of preventative screenings, health literacy, and community between families and providers by creating a culturally tailored Family Health History toolkit.

In Michigan, he sharpened his skills for minority population engagement across the lifespan and worked to create equitable engagement for patient/provider engagement during his tenure at the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research at University of Michigan. In response to the Flint Water Crisis, Key served as a founding co-director of the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center. In his community role, Key is the executive deputy director of the Community Based Organization Partners and founder of the Community Engagement Studio of Flint. Key is the founder and director of the Flint Public Health Youth Academy and the Community Ethics Review Board, a component of the Community Based Organization Partners. He was also selected to serve on the Governor’s Community Action Team for the State of Michigan Taskforce on COVID-19 and Health Disparities.

In June of 2020 Dr. Key authored a resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis in Genesee County which was passed by both the Genesee County Board of Health and Board of Commissioners. In 2022, he became a commissioner and was elected as chair of the Genesee County Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission.

Key received his Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health: Community Health Education and Promotion and Master of Public Health: Community Health Education and Promotion from Walden University, Minneapolis, and his Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from University of Michigan-Flint.

• 10:00 - 11:00 AM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  Opening Keynote: Advancing Equity in Community: Operationalizing Racism as a Public Health Crisis

• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sheffield

  Effective Youth Engagement: Exploring the Flint Public Health Youth Academy Model

Melissa Estes

Parent Leader Trainer

National Family Support Network

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A native of Tennessee, Melissa Estes has been a strong and effective parent leader at the local, state, and national levels and a dedicated staff person in the Family Support and Strengthening field. Her experience includes over 10 years as a parent leadership coordinator, as well as roles working in child abuse prevention services, mental health direct services, and Juvenile Justice Reform. For the past three years she has co-trained the National Family Support Network’s Developing & Sustaining Effective Parent Advisory Committees Training, coaching various family support and strengthening programs on the importance of parent leadership development. Estes moved to Wichita last year to work at the Kansas Children’s Service League as a parent leadership and engagement supervisor.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts And Sciences/Liberal Studies, Psychology, and Sociology from Middle Tennessee State University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Psychology at University of Phoenix. In addition to her role as a parent leader, she is also the proud parent of two adult daughters.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sheffield

  Exploring Perspectives on Parent Leadership

• 1:15 - 2:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  General Session: Parent Leadership Development: Key for Participant and Program Success

Kendra Keyes

Communications Program Manager

Michigan Fitness Foundation

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• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 2401B

  SNAP-Ed Social Media Workshop

Brandess Wallace MPH

Communications Program Manager

Michigan Fitness Foundation

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• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 2401B

  SNAP-Ed Social Media Workshop

Joe Lesausky

Food Access Director

Michigan Farmers Market Assocation

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Joe Lesausky has nearly two decades of experience in public and nonprofit administration with an emphasis on finance, accounting, management, and marketing for Michigan farmers markets. He joined the Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) team in 2018, inspired by their mission to support Michigan farmers markets through food assistance programs. As the MIFMA Food Access Director, Lesausky supports farmers markets that accept SNAP, WIC FMNP, Senior FMNP, and Double Up Food Bucks.

For Michigan families and farmers, he works to increase nutrition security by promoting locally grown food, food access, and food safety knowledge. Lesausky also manages MIFMA’s communications, social networks, collaboration, public speaking and media relations.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Public and Nonprofit Administration from Grand Valley State University, Associate of Arts in Science and Art from Muskegon Community College, and Market Manager Certification from Michigan Farmers Market Association.

• 5:00 - 6:00 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Bristol Foyer / Sussex

  Farmers Market Food Navigator Mixer

Amy Kuras, MSW

Research and Policy Program Manager

Detroit Food Policy Council

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Amy Kuras is a collaborative advocate that brings her journalism lens to illustrate and amplify food policy issues in the City of Detroit. At the Detroit Food Policy Council, she uses her research and writing skills to craft food policy that lifts up the voices of the citizens of the city. As an advocate, Kuras acts as a liaison to local, state, and federal policymakers about issues regarding food policy in Detroit while monitoring and responding to local, state, and federal legislation with implications for the city’s food system. She collaborates on initiatives to improve the land use process for urban agriculture, designing and implementing a system to reduce food waste, and develops the recognition program for neighborhood grocery stores.

Kuras represents the Detroit Policy Food Council with Michigan Local Food Council Network, Healthy Kids Healthy Michigan, and the Motion Coalition to ensure food policy has a voice and seat at the table.

Kuras received her Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Wayne State University.

• 3:45 - 4:45 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  General Session: Healthy Grocery Interventions

Sarah L. Panken, MS

Senior Director of Community Impact

Michigan Fitness Foundation

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• 9:30 - 10:00 AM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  Welcome & Opening Remarks

• 3:15 - 3:30 PM, Mar 22, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  Closing Remarks and Adjourn

Marci Scott

Vice President of Programs

Michigan Fitness Foundation

• 9:30 - 10:00 AM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  Welcome & Opening Remarks

Sarah Belanger, MA

Yoga Instructor and Educator

Sarah Belanger Yoga

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Sarah Belanger’s yoga sessions at Choices have been an attendee favorite for years. She is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200), received Yin Yoga Certification from Michigan Hot Yoga, founded Sarah Belanger Yoga, LLC in 2017 and remains a continuous student and yoga practitioner.

In Greater Lansing, Belanger received the coveted City Pulse “Top of the Town” people’s choice award twice for Best Yoga Instructor. With a passion for helping others connect their mind, body and spirit through breath work and movement, she creates a safe space that focuses on where the body is today without judging where it was yesterday or where it will be tomorrow. Her hope is everyone can feel as safe, supported, and get that same sense of release as she does when they come to the mat.

Outside of her yoga practice, Belanger is the Vice President of Williamston Community Schools Board and on staff at Lansing Community College - Early Childhood Education Department.

She received her Master of Arts in Child Development from Michigan State University and her Bachelor of Applied Arts in Child Development with and emphasis in Early Childhood Education from Central Michigan University.

• 5:30 - 6:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Bristol

  Restorative Yoga

Everett Graham

Youth Intern

Flint Public Health Youth Academy

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Everett W. Graham is a freshman at Michigan State University where he studies political science on the pre-law track. His plan is to pursue his graduate degree in public health upon the completion of his undergraduate degree. Since he was a preteen, he has been an Intern for the Flint Public Health Youth Academy (FPHYA) where he has facilitated youth summer camps, conducted youth photovoice projects, presented at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, and helped organize and facilitate youth events and health campaigns.

As Vice President of the Alpha Esquire, Graham built his capacity and professional skill development in the areas of leadership development, problem-solving, effective communication, and situational awareness while also cultivating creativity and civic responsibility. Everett is a champion for effective youth engagement and works tirelessly to link opportunities and youth to advance the health of the community. Through FPHYA, he has provided consultation to various youth-serving programs in the areas of website content, health messaging, photo voice methodology, youth engagement model approaches, and effective ways to engage youth with disabilities, in particular those with limb loss and limb difference.

• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sheffield

  Effective Youth Engagement: Exploring the Flint Public Health Youth Academy Model

Samuel Anglin

Indigenous Chef and Consultant

Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan

Sam Anglin is an Indigenous chef, consultant, mentor, and tribal member with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe (SCIT) who has found his purpose on the Red Road by sharing his culture and talent teaching locally and at Indigenous Food Inter Tribal Food Summits across the nation. He is a lifelong learner where he regularly attended culinary school, summits, and conferences and is empowered by the learnings, teachings, and practices of his ancestors.

Through his experience working in restaurants as Department Chef of Banquets and Catering at Soaring Eagle Casino, leading the Native Farmers Market on the Isabella Reservation in Mt. Pleasant, and by enhancing the dining room experience at Andahwod Continuing Care Community and Elder Services, Sam has developed a deep knowledge about what it takes to present food to a variety of audiences.

He attended the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal College and graduated with an Associate of Arts in Business from SCIT Tribal College. He received his Drug & Alcohol & Drug Counseling Certificate from InterCoastal Vocational College in Santa Ana and is currently working on his state Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CDAC 1) licensure, which supports him in his position as the SCIT permanent supportive housing coordinator.

• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Bristol

  Creating an Engaging Food Demonstration

Mary McGuire

Director of Communications

Michigan Fitness Foundation

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• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 2401B

  SNAP-Ed Social Media Workshop

LB Prevette

Community Liaison, Weave: The Social Fabric Project

Aspen Institute

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LB Prevette is a rural rejuvenator, passionate community advocate, organizer, and storyteller. As a community liaison for Weave: The Social Fabric Project, she works to heal divides in communities from the ground up. She returned to her Appalachian home and began working to create meaningful change by breaking down social barriers and creating a sense of community. As a co-founder of the nonpartisan community action group Forward Wilkes, Prevette works to create safe and inclusive spaces and events, particularly focused on serving minority and LGBTQ+ youth in Appalachia to increase community connectedness and well-being. A decade after returning home, she opened Merle's, a craft cocktail bar on main street that is dedicated to creating a place where the queer community can gather to been seen and loved. Since its opening, Merle’s has won the North Carolina Mixologist of the Year and Wilkes County Small Business of the Year awards.

She is a graduate of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Institute and a member of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship, A Partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute. Prevette is an aggressive friend and doting dog mom.

• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sutton & Southwick

  Cultivating a Culture of Acceptance and Belonging

Andrew Russo, MA

Co-Founder & Director

National Family Support Network

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Andrew Russo has worked and volunteered in the nonprofit social service sector at the direct service, management, and network levels for more than 25 years in Boston, New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC, and Taiwan.

He began working in the Family Support and Strengthening field with the refugee community in Chicago, by developing and launching the Strengthening Cambodian American Families Program. Relocating to California after graduate school, he worked as a therapist with children and youth at school-based Family Resource Centers in the Oakland Unified School District. He went on to establish and direct new Family Resource Centers, including the first Family Resource Center serving the Asian community in Contra Costa County, and the Joy Lok Family Resource Center in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The Joy Lok Family Resource Center was subsequently recognized by First 5 San Francisco as a model center for its successful programs, effective development of parent leaders, and high level of father engagement.

Because of his keen interest in working collaboratively at the systems level to ensure even more families would be supported, Russo went on to co-found and serve as co-chair of seven Family Support and Strengthening networks at the neighborhood, city, state, national, and international levels, including the Chinatown Families Economic Self-Sufficiency Coalition, San Francisco Family Support Network, San Francisco Family Economic Success Coordinating Council, California Network of Family Strengthening Networks, National Family Support Network, and the International Association of Family Support Networks.

In those roles, he co-authored several landmark documents in the Family Support field including the San Francisco Family Support Standards, San Francisco Family Economic Success Standards, San Francisco Family Support Network Policy Platform on Family Economic Success, and the nationally-adopted Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support.

Since being selected as the first director of the National Family Support Network in 2015, he has increased membership from 11 Networks to 41, representing more than 3,000 Family Resource Centers in 40 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 2 million people annually.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and his Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University Chicago and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

• 1:15 - 2:15 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  General Session: Parent Leadership Development: Key for Participant and Program Success

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sheffield

  Exploring Perspectives on Parent Leadership

Sigal Hemy, MBA

Executive Director

Detroit Parks Coalition

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Recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as a 40 under 40 honoree for her work launching the Detroit Parks Coalition, Sigal has worked in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector for 13 years. Her work focuses on improving quality of life and has spanned grantmaking, facilitation, and organizational development. Prior to her appointment with the Detroit Parks Coalition, she served as executive director of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit and a program officer with the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation.

Sigal received her Master of Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sutton & Southwick

  Place-Based Equity: Partnering with Neighborhood Organizations to Activate Healthy, Equitable, & Vibrant Parks

Charles Perry

Impact Leader with Project Manager

Kindness Campaign & the Endeleo Institute

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Growing up in Chicago as a Black teen, Charles Perry thought drug dealing was a path to status and success. He was all in… until he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He spent the next 19 years and 29 days on a journey to find a better path, the one he was meant to take. Instead of tearing apart his community, he now builds it.

Charles now spends a lot of time with kids in his old neighborhood as a violence interrupter and a leader with the Kindness Campaign. Everyone seems to have his cell number and whenever tension rises, calls flood in. He has worked with gangs, people living on the streets, and those leaving prison, while also being a loving father to five children under ten and one now adult. He helps distribute food throughout the Chicago land area and clothing because it gives him an excuse to talk to people who are hurting.

Perry received his Associate of Arts and Sciences from University of Wisconsin-Barboo.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Bristol

  Moving Beyond Stigma: From Food Stamps to SNAP, What's Changed?

Yvette Pullom Bass, MSW

Director of Programs

Detroit Parks Coalition

Yvette Pullom-Bass is a native Detroiter. Prior to her work with Detroit Parks Coalition, she spent six years working with the Chandler Park Conservancy where she contributed to the fundraising, capital development, and programming development and implementation. She learned how to play the sport of lacrosse at Chandler Park and now coaches with the Detroit Youth Lacrosse program.

Pullom-Bass received her Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Social Work with concentrations in Community Development and Leadership from Wayne State University, Detroit.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 Sutton & Southwick

  Place-Based Equity: Partnering with Neighborhood Organizations to Activate Healthy, Equitable, & Vibrant Parks

Darice Brooks, MS

Kinesiology Doctoral Candidate

Michigan State University

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Darice Brooks has an interest in adaptive physical activity and exercise as well as movement patterns in children with autism versus their neurotypical peers through-out the day. From her work as a project coordinator in the Exercise Psychology Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to motivating children of all ages and abilities from colleges to summer camps, she is on a mission to create a culture of health for all by inspiring people and giving them the tools needed to be physically active across the lifespan.

Currently, Brooks is pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology at Michigan State University with a disciplinary and interdisciplinary research focus on cognitive and motor neuroscience. She received her Master of Science in Kinesiology from Western Illlinois University and her Bachelor of Arts in Exercise Science with a minor in Psychology from Monmouth College.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 2401B

  Adaptive Physical Activity: Benefits, Barriers, and How to Adapt

Piotr J. Pasik, MA

Instructor | Program Director | Wheelchair Floorball General Manager

MSU Department of Kinesiology | MSU Adaptive Sports & Recreation Club | United States Floorball Association

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Piotr Pasik is an athlete and adaptive sports and recreation instructor who founded and leads the Michigan State University (MSU) Adaptive Sports & Recreation Club. His pursuit for equity in sports comes from growing up with cerebral palsy in Poland and the United States where playing sports with a disability seemed out of reach.

At MSU, he was no longer willing to continue watching sports as a mere spectator. Pasik approached the Department of Kinesiology about starting a weekly sports and recreation club for students and community members with disabilities and it was approved. Today, he teaches an integrated wheelchair sports course, lectures in adapted physical activity content, and uses sports to educate students about their own disabilities as well as their physical, and mental wellness.

Since 2014, with more than 200 athletes and nearly 1,000 volunteers, the club has become a huge success and a space where social inclusion is cultivated. In addition to providing sports programming, Pasik uses the initiative to educate and engage with the university and broader community. In his voluntary, unpaid position with the MSU Adaptive Sports & Recreation Club, Pasik has worked to secure $100,000 from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund Community Health Impact Grant to implement a state-wide online exercise and nutrition program for Michigan high school students with physical disabilities, $25,000 from Craig H. Nielsen Foundation Community Independence Grant for six new MSU Sport Wheelchairs, and $4,000 from the MSU Offices for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant to support engineering projects, equipment, and daily operations support the educational and physical success of students.

As a result of Pasik’s dream and the collaboration of many, MSU is now home to one of the top adaptive sports rinks in the Big Ten. Though, Pasik isn’t done yet, he has a goal to create a blueprint for other higher education institutions to follow and to make MSU the educational destination for future Spartans with disabilities.

In addition to his work as an instructor and lecturer at MSU, he has been a guest lecturer at University of Olivet, College of Saint Benedict at Saint John's University, Springfield College, and Hope College, and presented at Sparrow Hospital, Rackham Graduate School at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Peckham, Inc., and Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.

His wheelchair sport competitions and adaptive recreation activities include wheelchair floorball competitions in the USA, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, wheelchair tennis USTA Collegiate Wheelchair Tennis Nationals, USTA Clemson Wheelchair Tennis Championships, USTA Wolverine Open Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, and wheelchair basketball at St. Clair Community College Basketball Triple Header, and the 3rd Wolverine Invitational, and participated in the Thunderfest Wheelchair Rugby Tournament.

Pasik holds four degrees; a Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Counseling and Master of Arts in Kinesiology: Psychosocial Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity from the College of Education at Michigan State University, Bachelor of Arts in Social Relations and Policy and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the James Madison College at Michigan State University. He is also a Eucharistic Minister and parishioner at St. John Catholic Church and Student Center, East Lansing.

• 2:30 - 3:30 PM, Mar 21, 2024 2401B

  Adaptive Physical Activity: Benefits, Barriers, and How to Adapt

Martin Reinhardt, PhD

Professor of Native American Studies

Northern Michigan University

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Martin Reinhardt is an Anishinaabe Ojibway citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Garden River First Nation ancestry), tenured professor of Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University, and owner of Reinhardt & Associates. He is also the president of the Michigan Indian Education Council, and lead singer and songwriter for the band Waawiyeyaa (The Circle).

His doctoral research focused on Indian education and the law with a special focus on treaty educational provisions and his current research focuses on revitalizing relationships between humans and Indigenous plants and animals of the Great Lakes Region. Reinhardt has taught courses in American Indian education, tribal law and government, and sociology.

He serves as a panelist for the National Indian Education Study Technical Review Panel and as the primary investigator for the Decolonizing Diet Project. He has also served as Chair of the American Association for Higher Education American Indian/Alaska Native Caucus, and as an external advisor for the National Indian School Board Association.

Reinhardt received his Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Special Education from Pennsylvania State University, Master of Arts in Sociology from Central Michigan University, Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Native American Studies and completed an Archaeological Field School at Lake Superior State University, Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Lansing Community College, and served in the United States Army.

Other honors include Keynote Speaker for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Graduation Ceremony, Keynote Speaker for the Mortar Board Initiation Ceremony at Northern Michigan University, Student’s Choice Award for Keynote Speaker at Northern Michigan University Commencement Ceremony, American Indian Special Education and Educational Administration Doctoral Program Fellowship.

In addition to his position as Professor of Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University , Reinhardt is the Owner/CEO, Reinhardt & Associates, Singer/Songwriter with Waawiyeyaa, and President of the Michigan Indian Education Council.

• 10:15 - 11:15 AM, Mar 22, 2024 2401B

  Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Research in the Great Lakes Region

Asiaha Butler, MA

CEO

Resident Association of Greater Englewood

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Co-Founder and CEO of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.), Asiaha Butler is a catalyst for community change. At R.A.G.E. she strategizes, finds solutions, and spearheads education, youth development, economic development, and civic empowerment to uplift, inspire, and change perceptions of her Chicago neighborhood. In her R.A.G.E. leadership role, she launched Re-UP, an economic uplift program laser focused on commercial and residential real estate development, homeownership, and developing innovative strategies to help create pathways to generational wealth.

As a community leader in economic justice, Butler chaired the Englewood Quality of Life Housing and Public Spaces Task Force, created the Buy the Block Homeownership Program and founded a local housing development company. She was also a founding member of the Greater Englewood Community Development Corp., where she helped develop a comprehensive educational plan for local schools and engaged residents in plans grounded in community planning and development.

With an abundance of recognitions and awards for her work, Butler has become one of the most recognized and powerful voices from the Englewood community - speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus. Her work has been featured locally, and most notably on WTTW - Chicago PBS and WMAQ - NBC Chicago.

Butler holds a Master of Arts in Inner City Studies Education from Northeastern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Phoenix.

• 10:15 - 11:15 AM, Mar 22, 2024 Bristol

  Tackling Food Insecurity by Building on Strengths

Asha McElroy, MPH

Dietetic Intern

Diversify Dietetics

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Born and raised in Detroit, Asha McElroy’s background is rooted in the intersectionality of urban agriculture and designing culturally sensitive nutrition education for the African American community. Asha developed her interest in studying cultural humility and sensitivity through her training in family and consumer sciences and public health science which propelled her interest in improving health outcomes for communities of color and recognizing the connection between nutrition and policy’s impact on our everyday life.

McElroy was elected as the Youth At-Large representative for the Detroit Food Policy Council in 2020. This position furthered her desire to advance equitable food policies using community-based participatory research as a basis to increase food accessibility and affordability via nutrition policy for communities of color.

McElroy received her Master of Public Health in Nutritional Science and Dietetics from University of Michigan, where she is currently pursuing her Registered Dietitian Nutritionist credential. She received her Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutritional Sciences from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University.

She is inspired and empowered by the African proverb, “if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”

• 1:00 - 2:00 PM, Mar 22, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  General Session: Crafting Inclusive Nutrition Messages that Resonate with Diverse Audiences

Edward Erfurt, M.ADU

Director of Community Action

Strong Towns

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Edward Erfurt is a trained architect and passionate urban designer with over two decades of public and private sector experience. As the Director of Community Action at Strong Towns, Erfurt focuses on the management, design, and successful implementation of development and placemaking projects that enrich the tapestry of place. He believes in community-focused processes that are founded on diverse viewpoints, have a concern for equity, and are guided through time-tested, traditional town-planning principles and development patterns that result in sustainable growth with the community character embraced by the communities he serves.

Erfurt holds a Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism from University of Notre Dame, and a Bachelor of Architecture from University of Miami.

• 9:00 - 10:00 AM, Mar 22, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  Opening Keynote: Building a Strong Town

• 10:15 - 11:15 AM, Mar 22, 2024 Sheffield

  How Communities are Forcing Change

Jonah Curtis

Growing Your Work with Gardening

Calhoun ISD

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Jonah is a Nutrition Educator for the Calhoun Intermediate School District, working to provide nutrition education and physical activity instruction for SNAP-eligible elementary schools in Calhoun County.

Prior to coming to the Shaping Positive Lifestyles and Attitudes through School Health (SPLASH) program, Jonah worked in the health field for 15 years. He worked as a strength coach at a fitness facility as well as built and operated a community garden where he taught gardening to children. Jonah lives on a homestead with his wife and children, building an intentional life and pursing knowledge in permaculture, gardening, hunting, fishing, foraging, beekeeping, food preservation, and animal husbandry to provide food and sustainability for his family and community.

Jonah holds a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics and Exercise Science from Central Michigan University and is a graduate of the Michigan State University Extension Master Gardener program. He has written articles and been a guest on several podcasts to discuss food and sustainability.

• 10:15 - 11:15 AM, Mar 22, 2024 Sutton & Southwick

  Growing Your Work with Gardening

Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, MS

Senior Vice President of Community Health & Equity Chief Wellness & Diversity Officer and Michigan's First Surgeon General

Henry Ford Health

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Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, MS is the Senior Vice President of Community Health & Equity and Chief Wellness and Diversity Officer at Henry Ford Health. She is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, the Chair of the Gail and Lois Warden Endowment on Multicultural Health, and Michigan’s and the nation’s First State-level Surgeon General. In 2012 she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health. Since 1987 she has been on the faculty of University of Michigan (UM) Medical School’s Department of Medical Education and adjunct professor in the UM School of Public Health. Dr. Wisdom focuses on health disparities/health care equity, infant mortality/maternal and child health, chronic disease, unintended pregnancy, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, and tobacco use. She has worked collaboratively with school districts, faith-based organizations and the business community.

Dr. Wisdom provides strong leadership in community benefit/population health, and improving the health of those disproportionately affected by poor health outcomes. She founded the award-winning African American Initiative for Male Health Improvement (AIM –HI) and most recently, the Women Inspired Neighborhood (WIN) Network which aims to improve access to healthcare and reduce infant mortality in neighborhoods in Detroit. Since 2008, she has chaired the Detroit Infant Mortality Reduction Task Force. In 2007, she founded a youth leadership development effort – Generation With Promise (GWP) – designed to equip youth to drive policy, environmental and behavioral change in their school and community. GWP youth were featured on the cover of Modern Healthcare in June 2014. Dr. Wisdom is the recipient of numerous awards, including Michigan Fitness Foundation's Vern Seefeldt Governors Fitness Award

She has authored several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and appeared on national television, including ABC’s Nightline, and has presented to audiences across the country and internationally.

• 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM, Mar 22, 2024 Somerset Ballroom - Salons BCD

  SNAPPY Awards