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Our Healthy Community-OHC OHC is the connection between community-based organizations, community partners, and underserved community members.

Equitable partnerships equal healthier communities. We empower all to better advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities

From Michelle Kerr-Spry, Mothers In Charge:211 - Human services hotline, national.311 - Your city's services line. An un...
09/24/2026

From Michelle Kerr-Spry, Mothers In Charge:

211 - Human services hotline, national.
311 - Your city's services line. An unsafe-feeling block deepens trauma.
988 - Su***de and crisis line, national, 24/7. Some areas have mobile trauma units.

Your city's Office of Victim Services. In Philadelphia: funeral support, relocation, and a directory of funeral directors after a homicide.

Further reading, selected by Dr. Victoria Cargill:

- RAND, The Impact of Firearm Violence in Black Communities.
- Center for American Progress, Gun Violence Disproportionately and Overwhelmingly Hurts Communities of Color.
- KFF Health News, Black and Latino Children Pay the Price for Florida’s Permissive Gun Policies.

The recording will be posted on OHC Engage once it is ready.

One page from today's conversation with Michelle Kerr-Spry, Director of Programs at Mothers In Charge. What to know, wha...
09/24/2026

One page from today's conversation with Michelle Kerr-Spry, Director of Programs at Mothers In Charge. What to know, what not to say, what to do, and where to send people.

These are Michelle's points, in her words; Dr. Cargill added the reading list on the back. Print it, save it to your phone, keep it where you will find it on a hard day.

You can find all of these and more on OHC Engage under the CHW Toolkit.

Today is the day! Join us in welcoming our Roundtable Expert on:Are Our Conversations Speaking to Violence Interruption?...
09/24/2026

Today is the day! Join us in welcoming our Roundtable Expert on:
Are Our Conversations Speaking to Violence Interruption?

Michelle (aka ‘Chelle) Kerr-Spry is a sought-after public speaker and considered an expert on the various factors influencing individual and group violence. Serving as the Director of Programs and Development at Mothers In Charge, she joined the organization in 2006, working in various positions including chair of the board of Directors, curriculum developer, program implementation trainer, strategic planning facilitator, and community builder. Mothers In Charge is a community-based organization that advocates for, and lends their unwavering support to, those affected by violence. Since its inception thousands have been helped through their journeys of grief in response to violence. ‘Chelle is deeply committed to enhancing trauma-informed human services programs, developing strategies for violence prevention and education, and advocating for restorative justice for marginalized communities.

For over 17 years, she has served as an Adjunct Professor at Thomas Jefferson University. Additionally, she has been an Emotional Intelligence and soft skills instructor for Temple University, the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund Healthcare Union, and Thomas Jefferson University. Throughout her career, 'Chelle has worked with organizations across various industries, including government, housing development, financial education, and behavioral health. She is also a veteran of the United States Air Force. ‘Chelle holds several professional certifications, including Trauma-Informed and DEI Specialist, Mental Health First Aid Provider for Youth and Adults, Batterers Intervention Specialist, Housing Counselor, and Financial Coach.

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Ms. Carter is an experienced CHW with 18 years of field experience. H...
09/23/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Ms. Carter is an experienced CHW with 18 years of field experience. Her career began as an outreach worker, and blossomed as a CHW, and one of the staff who participated in the landmark study of CHW effectiveness in vulnerable communities. Her current work includes serving as a researcher collecting qualitative data, and continuing to serve as a CHW supporting patients facing health and life management issues. A co-author and consultant, Ms. Carter has a number of projects she supports through research and community engagement both domestically and internationally.

Community health work was a natural fit for Ms. Carter as she has lived experience with vulnerable communities, witnessing as a child the effects of limited resources and lack of opportunity; challenges that persist today. For her, she sees her role as mediator between the health system and patients in the community, many of whom benefit from her advocacy on their behalf.

With extensive training in a number of areas including trauma informed care, qualitative interviewing, her work continues, recognizing limited resources and ongoing constraints on the healthcare system as some of the biggest challenges CHWs face. The ongoing and never ending do more with less, and the effect on patients and communities are among her biggest concerns.

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Donna Hubbard McCree is a nationally and internationally recognized s...
09/22/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Donna Hubbard McCree is a nationally and internationally recognized scientist with expertise in community-based interventions and multifaceted approaches to HIV prevention interventions for historically marginalized communities, especially communities of color. Her extensive work is built upon 44 years of community engagement and has resulted in over 200 publications and presentations at scientific meetings.

Her career began as a practicing pharmacist at a time when sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV, HPV and herpes simplex gained prominence. Having a strong commitment to community, and the belief that pharmacists can and should play an active role in STI prevention, care and treatment, she obtained an MPH from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Her pharmacy practice experiences and MPH led to her continuing her education, completing a PhD in Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Preventive Medicine: STD prevention at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

The common themes in her extensive portfolio of work are innovation, creative interventions and unshakeable community focus. She had a 22+ year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that included serving as the inaugural Associate Director for Health Equity in the Division of HIV Prevention from 2010-2020. Until February 24, 2024, she served as the Associate Director for Health Equity in the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Although retired, she continues to serve the community through her company NXLS4Health, LLC and sees many challenges facing public health today including a lack of funding and support for community research.

And the Conversation Continues...While Maternal and Infant Health remains at the heart of Women Connected for Better Hea...
09/20/2026

And the Conversation Continues...

While Maternal and Infant Health remains at the heart of Women Connected for Better Health, our conversations will also include important health and wellness topics that matter to women of all ages and backgrounds.

And we’re starting by welcoming Project Nana to our community! 💜

Project Nana focuses on the health and well-being of seasoned women, and they’re kicking things off with their 2026 Seasoned Women’s Virtual Health Summit, a national conversation centered on power, health, healthy aging, and life in Month 13™.

This virtual experience is designed to inform, empower, connect, and help seasoned women thrive, with expert insights and real conversations where women can share, find support, and be heard.

✨ Special Highlight: Emmy Award winning actress and health advocate Sheryl Lee Ralph will be honored with the 2026 Gwen Ifill Seasoned Women’s Champion Award and deliver a special message during the program.

And this is just the beginning!

From special events and expert conversations to resources and community discussions, we’ll continue creating opportunities for women to learn, connect, and stay informed at every stage of life.

Stay tuned for what’s coming next and be sure to join us for Project Nana’s upcoming event!

👉 Learn More & Join the Event: https://ohcengage.com/spaces/18999057/feed

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Vonee Hill is a dedicated advocate for community, especially families...
09/19/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Vonee Hill is a dedicated advocate for community, especially families from historically overlooked communities. For more than 15 years she has worked in the areas of child welfare, healthcare, nonprofit leadership, and community-based family support. With experience that ranges from frontline practice to program management, systems leadership, and organizational consulting, her focus remains on improving outcomes for children, caregivers, and communities. Holding both a Master of Science in Administering Human Services from Chestnut College and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, she is well suited to take on the many community and system level challenges that face our communities today.

Her current roles allow her to tackle these challenges at the community level and at the level of the human services professional. As the Founder and Executive Director of Linked Family Services, a nonprofit organization, she oversees the programs dedicated to strengthening maternal and family well-being, as well as care coordination, resource navigation, and community partnerships. In her other role as CEO and Principal Consultant of Hillcrest Development & Consulting, she designs curricula, facilitates professional learning, and helps organizations strengthen leadership, workforce well-being, and cross-sector collaboration.

Despite this intensive workload, she completed the REACH program at the University of Pennsylvania, obtaining first place in the organizational presentations. Her focus continues to be on the growing disconnect between community needs and the capacity of the systems designed to meet them. She continues to focus on leadership, systems, and cross-sector partnerships to reduce and ultimately eliminate this disconnect.

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Dr. Patrick Chaulk has spent three decades building public health fro...
09/18/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Dr. Patrick Chaulk has spent three decades building public health from the ground up, with communities rather than for them.

From Senior Associate for Health at the Annie E. Casey Foundation to Assistant Commissioner at the Baltimore City Health Department, he has worked across diverse communities including immigrant, LGBTQ+, homeless and rural. Serving as an Assistant Commissioner at Baltimore City Health Dept he led the Ryan White, Syringe Exchange and Harm Reduction programs, expanding access as well as prevention services. Years at the congressional and state policy level had already shown him what large systems miss when they gather data from a distance and design from the top down.

Today, he is part of an outreach team - PCARE - providing street-based treatment for opioid use disorder in East Baltimore. A pediatrician, preventive medicine physician, and author of many papers on HIV, tuberculosis and public health, he credits the communities he has worked in shaping his commitment to community work.

At a time of growing mistrust in science and public institutions, Patrick believes the most meaningful work is the kind built close to the ground.

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Priscilla Koilor is a fierce advocate and supporter of the community,...
09/16/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Priscilla Koilor is a fierce advocate and supporter of the community, and has been promoting health, wellness and self-care for a decade. Arising from a passion and commitment to helping the most vulnerable in our communities, she pursued and obtained the training needed to carry out this task. Holding both a Bachelor of Science in Health Administration from Drexel University, and a Master of Health Administration from University of Phoenix, she also was accepted into the REACH program at the University of Pennsylvania. All these experiences helped shape her understanding of and reaction to the many challenges faced by the vulnerable in our communities.

After working for several years as a Community Health Worker, she developed her own organizational response to the community needs she saw. Currently she is the Founder and CEO of Mobile Holistic Healing Services, a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive wellness services to communities throughout Philadelphia. Through that organization, she addresses the social determinants of health by connecting individuals with essential community resources while also promoting overall wellness through free community yoga, meditation, breathwork, creative arts workshops, sound baths, and nature walks. Their mission is to decrease the prevalence of chronic health conditions in Philadelphia.

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!Victoria Cargill is a nationally recognized HIV provider and scientis...
09/16/2026

Introducing our Roundtable Series Panel of Experts!

Victoria Cargill is a nationally recognized HIV provider and scientist with expertise in
community-based interventions for HIV prevention, care and treatment disparities in women
and communities of color. She has been engaged with community health workers and
community interventions since her early years as a medical student. She has built a research
career focused on STD and HIV acquisition, transmission, prevention, and treatment, grounded
in 48 years of community intervention work reflected in more than 150 publications and formal
presentations.
After completing a Harvard residency in Internal Medicine, she spent two years practicing and
living in the community and making house calls. Tracking down a community outbreak of severe
ear infections led to a postdoctoral fellowship in Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania,
just as the AIDS epidemic was emerging in the city. Witnessing the stigma and maltreatment
her patients experienced, combined with a strong belief that equitable, compassionate care is a
right, she became an HIV provider and created an AIDS education and prevention program for
adolescents of color that reached over 75,000 adolescents.
She has served as the Director of Minority Research and Clinical Studies in the NIH Office of
AIDS Research, working to increase minority trial participation, and representation across the
HIV research portfolio. in 2019 she became an Assistant Commissioner of Health for Ryan
White and Harm Reduction at the Baltimore City Health Department. Prior to retiring from the
Milken Institute, she led focus groups of community health workers in two comparable cities,
resulting in an extensive 45-page report outlining the barriers, challenges and opportunities
they encounter. She sees the rise of medical misinformation coincident with the decline of trust
in science and public health as the major challenges in this fraught time.

Address

PO Box 201056
Shaker Heights, OH
44120

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5am
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12162569735

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