Staff & Board |
Administration
Jennine Smart
Executive Director
Jennine Smart has worked in the healthcare and public health sector for over 20 years. Her experience is rooted in advocacy, social justice and anti-oppressive practices. Most recently she served as Equity and Inclusion Portfolio Manager at Health Share of Oregon, where her work included operationalizing equitable and inclusive practices and developing traditional health worker strategies to support workforce diversification, development, retention, and access.
Jennine holds a Master of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development. She is a strong advocate for collaborative, community-driven processes and strives to create inclusive systems that enable communities most impacted by systemic and structural oppression to thrive. Jennine believes that community health workers hold an instrumental role in addressing health inequities. While currently serving as the Traditional Health Worker (THW) Commission chair, she has been a Commissioner since 2014.
Laughter, connection, and time with her loved ones keep joy at her center.
Abigail Sloan
Membership & Administrative Coordinator
Abigail Sloan has spent her professional life working in international education and healthcare settings, providing support to both children and the elderly. Through these experiences, she has become committed to creating spaces where members of the community feel like they are empowered to mold the systems that they are part of. She believes that everybody has unique experiences and talents that they bring to the table and is excited to support a diverse community health worker community.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and is a certified nursing assistant as well as a certified K-12 teacher in the state of Washington. Outside of work, Abigail enjoys spending time at home, cooking, reading, and sharing meals with the people she loves.
Community Programs
Cammisha ManleyProgram & Evaluation Manager
Cammisha Manley brings a passion for community-led, social justice-driven public health programs that ignite needed change within health and social service systems. Having served as a mentor to undergraduate students, a staffing coordinator for nursing clinicians, and a case manager to individuals living with HIV, she understands the value of helping others navigate systems, advocate for their needs, and access much needed resources to live thriving and healthy lives. She is excited to support the CHW workforce and Community programs by building open, collaborative, and supportive partnerships.
In 2020, Cammisha completed a dual-degree program earning a Master in Public Health and Master in Social Work with a mission to dismantle structural barriers to services and advocate for communities and individuals to hold influence and ownership over the systems they engage with. She is particularly interested in issues of reproductive justice, maternal and child health, mental health challenges, houselessness, and culturally-responsive healthcare. She’s gained experience in community engagement, program evaluation, and organizational change while working OHSU’s Transgender Health Program, Trauma Informed Oregon, Providence Nursing Administration, and Cascade AIDs Project.
Outside of building a meaningful career, she enjoys biking around the city, hiking in the forest, listening to music, cuddling her cat, and spending time with friends and family.
Currently seeking Program Coordinator - click here to learn more!
Workforce Development Department
Sarah Husain
Director of Workforce Development
Sarah Husain brings 20 years of experience as a BIPOC & LGBTQ+ identified doula/midwife, non-profit leader, community health educator, activist and visionary.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women & Gender Studies & Economics with a Minor in Social & Ethnic Relations from UC Davis; and a Master’s Degree in Ethnic Studies from the San Francisco State University.
She strives to cultivate space for justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and empowerment. As a visionary, she seeks empowerment of and centers the experience, histories, and practices of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities within community health.
Sarah is committed to the development of specialized and responsive programs for community health workers as they advocate to shift, center, heal, and empower the perspective, practices, and knowledge of Black and Brown communities within community health.
Tierra Salmón
Senior Curriculum Development & Lead CHW Trainer
Tierra Salmón (she/they) is a mama of 3 beautiful beings. As a doula, and traditional midwife, her background in organizing for reproductive justice, housing justice, and economic justice in the Portland Metro area. She has called Portland home for most of her life, and has a deep love for all the beauty this area has to offer. She chooses to give back by tending the soil near her, organizing for more sustainable systems, and cultivating community care. She enjoys putting her hands in the soil, and spending time with our great bodies of water as often as she is able.
When Tierra was very young she was called to birth work, and gifted ancestral practices through oral tradition from her abuelita Isabel. Her philosophy around care work and public health are rooted in recognizing body autonomy and sovereignty as well as engaging in liberatory practices that give space for each individual to act in their own agency, power, and purpose.
Tierra strives to create curriculum and trainings collaboratively while centering the voices of the global majority and marginalized peoples, especially Black, Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ folks for more inclusive systems that bring forth equity and inclusion, justice, and an overall improved quality of life for those most impacted by the inequities that exist today. She is committed to developing CHW curriculum and training that are responsive to the knowledge and expertise held within our communities. Curriculum that is relevant to the current culture and climate we are living though so that together we can heal, grow, create and thrive!
Nora Maybury
Workforce Development Coordinator
Nora Maybury enjoys working at the intersection of her passions for accessible education and equitable healthcare. She believes the strongest communities are built on respect, compassion, and authentic open-mindedness. Nora understands the vital role that Community Health Workers play in advancing public health through promoting these values, and is grateful for the opportunity to continue empowering this workforce.
Before joining ORCHWA, Nora produced specialty training modules for CHWs across the state of North Carolina, where she gained a deep appreciation for continuing education within healthcare. Nora’s background in nonprofit development has informed her understanding of systemic barriers to health, while her work mitigating Covid-19 on her university’s campus allowed her to put this knowledge and experience into practice.
Originally from outside Boston, MA, Nora recently moved back to Portland from western North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in French Studies with a minor in Management. In her free time she enjoys playing soccer, learning new languages, hiking with her chihuahua Teddy Bear, and creating art.
Board of Directors Adriana RodriguezBoard Chair Adriana Rodriquez was born in Mexico City and raised in Washington County. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and was trained as a medical assistant a few years later and had the privilege to be trained as a parish health promoter in 2006 . Through this work she had the blessing of sharing and learning with her community, finding information and services, as well as seeing them bloom into individuals who feel that they can do what they didn't think they could. Seeing the glow in their eyes once they become empowered is what motivated her to pursue her bachelors degree in Community Health at Portland State University. Her desire to continue to contribute to the Community Health Worker profession then led her to join the ORCHWA board as of 2011 approximately. She enjoys learning ways to continue to serve her community and spending time with her friends and family in her free time.
Vice Chair Julio Maldonado has more than 23 years of public health and social services experience for Multnomah County in areas of community health work, program management and grant implementation, coalition coordination, case management, and health education. Outside the health department, he spent 15 years working for Kaiser Permanente as a health educator in the area of childbirth education, diabetes self -management, wellness prevention, webinar facilitator, and marketing. Before moving to the United States, he worked as a physician, and health administration for the Nicaraguan ministry of health that included the administration of health services to a rural population of 10,000 community members, and director of a 32 beds hospital, and a health center. Affiliations: ORCHWA, and CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association). Workgroups or other Boards or Committees in which you are active: active: Senior Case Manager at Bienestar de la Familia with Multnomah County. Skills and Experience: Experience: Certified Childbirth Educator, Health Promotion, Chronic Diseases Self-Management, trainer/facilitator specifically diabetes, heart health, stress, human sexuality and oral health. Field services mentor for the SSCBT home visiting program.
Secretary Maria Tafolla is the Director of Community Health at Health Share of Oregon to which she brings over 15 years of experience in community health, advancing health equity, leading innovative programs and departments, and implementing EDI practices that center member and community voice. She has contributed to the successful expansion of community driven initiatives and efforts such as community health worker programs, food insecurity initiatives and language access policies. Maria is passionate about building authentic relationships, centering values in demonstrated actions and amplifying community and member voice to drive systems change. Maria is a community health worker and skilled facilitator. Maria is a founding Board Member of the Oregon Community Health Worker Association and currently serves as the Board Secretary. Affiliations: Binational Health Week- Committee Chair 2013 to 2015; SGK Latina Initiative Board Member; OHSU- Latino Outreach Committee Member Skills and Experience: CHW 60hr training 2012; Motivational Interview; Popular Education; Health Literacy; Community Engagement; Health Education; CHW Supervisor; Program Development; Program Management; Community Outreach; Bilingual-Bicultural  Maria SánchezRegion 1 Chair (Hood River/Dalles) María Antonia (Toña) Sánchez has been a Community Health Worker (CHW) in the Mid-Columbia since 1988. Prior to that, when she arrived in the United States, she served her community by volunteering to help others access health and social services. She has worked at Nuestra Comunidad Sana as a CHW in work such as breast cancer screening promotion, popular education trainer, family garden promoter, and as the Co-Facilitator for a domestic violence perpetrators program. She also works as La Clínica’s Women’s Health Promotora, conducting outreach, education and assisting with screening access for Hispanic women in our service area. She is a highly respected member of the Latino community as well as a nationally recognized CHW. Job Title: Community Health Worker Affiliations: THW Commission; Spectators; Mission Outreach Community Health Advisors - MOCHA Skills and Experience: Toña has served communities for her entire life including health promotion, and advocacy. Upon her arrival to the US she began working as a volunteer CHW and soon after became one of the first ever paid CHW in the Nation. Toña has also served on several advisory committees as well as boards around the region. Toña’s possesses experiential leadership skills as well as leadership development skills. Additionally Toña possesses compassion, empathy and passion for her work in conducting outreach to provide health education.
Region 5 Chair (Tri-County) Therese Lugano has been a Community Health Worker since 2012. Swahili, French, and English. Ms. Lugano is a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she grew up in a multilingual environment. Ms. Lugano immigrated to the United States 20 Years ago. As a former legislator in her home country, she brought with her a love of advocating and empowering her community members. Her extensive experience includes working closely with leadership in organizing grassroots for the underserved people of color, creating coalitions to strengthen those communities and creating specific grass roots for specific purposes such as empowering women, fighting health disparities, social determinants, social injustice . Ms. Lugano has a Bachelor’s degree in Community Development from PSU. Since 2012 Therese has been certified as a Community Health Worker and is passionate about advocacy work, social justice, equity and helping her community to gain equitable health and resources. When time allows, Therese enjoys traveling in and out of the country, mingling with friends and spending time cooking for her grandson and playing with him. Job Title: Community Health Worker Specialist Affiliations: ORCHWA; African Family Holistic Health Organization (AFHHO), Togo Core, African Women Coalition (AWC), Unite Congolese community of Oregon, Advisory Steering Committee of Park and Recreation (city); Adoption and Children Protection Advisor Board (DHS); Member of African Advocacy Council Skills and Experience: Legislative member in Congo more than 10 Years; Co-founder and Board president of the Right of single women in Africa; Manager of stores and motels business in Congo; Assistant to the manager of a foster home for adult; Certified Nurse Assistant for more than 12 years; Community Organizer in Oregon until now  Dr. Zeenia JunkeerChair for Policy & Advocacy Subcommittee Zeenia Junkeer was born in Colombo Sri Lanka and raised in Beaverton, Oregon. Trained as a naturopathic physician, Zeenia has combined her work in social and racial justice advocacy with her training as a physician to work towards equitable health outcomes that center healing through traditional ways of knowing. A double Sagittarius and an avid seeker of the sun, you’ll find Zeenia near water whenever possible. Affiliations: Director of OHEA, Adjunct faculty, National College of Naturopathic Medicine; contract OHEA CHIP, Urban League of Portland; Director/Co-Founder, Naturopaths Without Borders (NWB) Workgroups: Healing Hurt People advisory group member, State Emergency Registry of Volunteers in Oregon (SERV-OR) advisory group member, SVP Strategy Team Other Boards or Committees in which you are active: Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon, Oregon Women’s Campaign School. |
Dr. Julio Maldonado
Maria Tafolla
Therese LuganoRegion 2 Chair: open Region 3 Chair: open
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Region 4 Chair: openORCHWA Regions
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