48,000 people die each year from gun violence. Last June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy announced that gun violence is a public health crisis and he’s not alone. One of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s approaches to addressing this public health crisis is advancing collaboration across multiple sectors.
Collaboration through a public health perspective — focusing on the root causes of all types of violence — is the foundation of Equal Justice USA’s work building community-led public safety solutions.
To strengthen these efforts, EJUSA has added two new members to its board of trustees, Brenda Henry, PhD, and Faith Mitchell, PhD, both of whom bring decades of public health experience to the organization.
“Last year, gun violence took its rightful, official position among public health issues that demand research, systematic analysis, and scalable, far-reaching solutions,” said Jamila Hodge, CEO of EJUSA. “We have long held that such a perspective is vital if we’re going to truly make this country safer, and Brenda and Faith bring a depth of experience in the public health field that will strengthen EJUSA in measurable ways.”
Dr. Brenda Henry has worked across the public health sector, including at research centers, foundations, and in the government. From 2015 through 2019, she was chief operating officer for the Division of Child and Family Well-being at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, which serves tens of thousands of children and families. She recently founded BLH Consulting, where she has supported the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and other clients to build strategies that advance equity.
“My entire public health career, I have worked to bring awareness of and address the social conditions that perpetuate inequities in health in the United States,” said Dr. Henry. “The work that EJUSA does is a natural extension of this work. I am excited to support the organization’s efforts to break cycles of trauma, centering healing and repair for individuals and communities.”
Dr. Faith Mitchell has been a mainstay in Washington DC’s public health space for three decades. She served as president and CEO of Grantmakers In Health from 2012-2019 after spending 12 years at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Today she is an Institute Fellow in the LAB and Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute. She is also chair of the Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation, which is a pioneer in fostering safe and healthy communities through public-safety solutions.
“As a medical anthropologist I’ve worked a lot with communities,” said Dr. Mitchell. “I’ve also seen that health is a part of everything. I was drawn to EJUSA because of its focus on community-led solutions and its commitment to finding solutions to violence rooted in healing and repair.”
For more information, please contact Venise Toussaint at veniset@ejusa.org.
