The Center for Adolescent Health could not achieve its mission without the input of community members. Since 1994, the Community Advisory Board (CAB) has served as an important partner in facilitating the Center’s capacity to promote healthy adolescent lifestyles in an urban setting. Board members represent the community we serve, with representatives from a range of organizations throughout Baltimore, including schools, youth-serving organizations and city government.
To provide meaningful leadership, support and direction for the Center for Adolescent Health by helping to ensure that the Center’s research, training and communication promote the successful transition to healthy adulthood among Baltimore’s young people.
Because the Community Advisory Board is a vital decision-making partner, members assume important responsibilities. A steering committee makes overall policy, executive and procedural decisions and ad hoc subcommittees are formed throughout the year to address project-specific issues. The board as a whole meets quarterly with one meeting held jointly with the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC).
Each board member makes a two-year commitment to serve and may choose to continue serving at the end of the first term. Other duties include ensuring that the needs of the community coincide with Center plans and providing suggestions and feedback for applied research projects.
The purpose of the CAB is to serve as a working partner in guiding the Center’s activities by representing the voice of the community. Board members have made valuable contributions to several Center projects, including:
Collaborating with doctoral students and other community members to create a publication on teen stress;
Reviewing and selecting recipients of the Center’s annual Expanding Horizons scholarships for young students;
Selecting projects for funding that advance adolescent health research and program development; and
Providing useful input into organizing a summer retreat for our Youth Advisory Committee.
In the past, the Community Advisory Board has:
Developed issue briefs and workshops for community-based, youth-serving professionals;
Recommended topics and speakers for Center events;
Promoted the Center’s activities;
Lectured at the School of Public Health; and
Worked in concert with the Center’s Youth Advisory Committee on Center projects.
**Ross Pologe, CAB Chair
Consultant
Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative
(410) 332-4277 x222
**Charmayne D. Turner, NCC Representative
Senior Director of Operations and Programs
Center for Urban Families
(443) 642-2932
Rebhka Atnafou
Executive Director
The After-School Network
(410) 580-0750
Benjamin Barnwell
Executive Director
Academy of Success
(410) 945-9511
Yekatit Bezooayehu
Program Associate
Elev8 Baltimore/East Baltimore Development Initiative
(410) 327-0139
Al Essien
Assistant VP, Philanthropy and Institutional Advancement
Coppin State University
(410) 951-3809
Christine Evans
Health Educator/Teen Pregnancy Coordinator
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Center for Maternal & Child Health
(410) 767-6042
Seante Hatcher
Counselor
House of Ruth of Maryland, Inc.
(410) 554-8448
**Linda Federico Kohler
Executive Director
NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore
(410) 435-2600
Kay W. Larwal and Rasheeda Foreman-Bey
Founders
Womb Works Productions, Inc.
(410) 338-0265
Kenya Lee
Founder
Parents With Power
(410) 466-6338
Mindi B. Levin, MS, CHES
Director, Student Outreach
Resource Center (SOURCE)
(410) 955-3880
Jennifer Maehr, MD
Medical Director
Maryland Department of Juvenile Services
(410) 230-3217
Jacquelene Sharp Massey
Director of Community Partnerships & Resource Development
Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
Academy for College and Career Exploration (ACCE)
(410) 396-6722
