 Monica Luna, Community Health Worker, Healthcare Network, Florida
Monica Luna has been working as a community health worker (CHW) for the past two and a half years with Healthcare Network. Her certification as a CHW allows her to connect individuals in her community, Immokalee, Florida, to health services. She finds great satisfaction in educating and advocating for her community members at outreach events. Monica also has a passion for maternal health initiatives. She has helped shape those initiatives by facilitating focus groups on improving WIC programs and assisting women in applying for and understanding their WIC benefits. She has even taken women to the grocery store to teach them in Spanish what items are WIC eligible. Monica also ensures newborns attend their well-baby checkup by calling recent mothers to ensure they have a pediatrician. If they don’t, Monica helps establish the newborn and mother as patients at Healthcare Network so they can see providers. Learn more about Healthcare Network here.
|
 Marifrans Castillo de Estrada, “Pan de Vida” Program Coordinator, Misión Peniel, Florida
Marifrans Castillo de Estrada is one of the visionaries behind the “Pan de Vida” (translated to “Bread of Life” in Spanish) program within the respected food pantry and church, Misión Peniel. After studying at culinary school in her native Guatemala and immigrating to Immokalee, Florida, in 2007, Marifrans applied her passion for cooking at Misión Peniel by cooking for families in need of a hot meal. The program quickly expanded to a mobile van that served more than 350 people weekly. After Marifrans wrote an essay about her dream to expand the community food service, Misión Peniel worked with her to design and found the “Pan de Vida” program in 2019. This program now operates two days a week by offering free culturally specific meals and cleaning supplies to the elderly and to people with disabilities. Today, Marifrans works as a program coordinator in which she manages kitchen volunteers and organizes school supply and clothing drives. Learn more about the “Pan de Vida” program here.
|
 Luz Ortega, Program Director, City of New Bedford Health Department, Massachusetts
Since 2014, Luz Ortega has been a dedicated public health professional in the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, with a profound commitment to her community and a focus on providing equitable, culturally, and linguistically appropriate services. She began her career as a CHW, and her early experiences continue to inform her work as she has advanced professionally. As the Program Director for FR-CARA, a harm-reduction grant initiative, Luz works to reduce drug overdoses through prevention and training. Additionally, she leads the Southeast United Network, which offers training, mentorship, and education to CHWs across the region. Luz also lends her expertise and advocacy as a board member of the Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers. Through these various roles, Luz’s passion and dedication shine through, reflecting her commitment to improving public health outcomes and supporting the well-being of those she serves. Learn more about Luz’s collaboration with PIH-US here.
|
 Nikita Valencia, Deputy Director of Public Health, City of New Bedford Health Department, Massachusetts
Nikita Valencia is a passionate leader of public health in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Nikita, a certified diversity, equity, and inclusion professional, uses her expertise to inform her work in hopes of making a more equitable society. Nikita has consistently invested in youth throughout her career, creating opportunities for youth and young adults of traditionally underrepresented communities. Previously, Nikita worked at Bristol Community College as the Director of College Access where she worked directly with urban high schools to engage high schoolers from traditionally underrepresented communities in taking college courses. She has also served on boards, including the Vocational Technical Education Board with the Massachusetts Department of Education, focusing on youth advocacy and equitable outcomes for all students. She is committed to building a strong network of women of color in public health to ensure that people of diverse cultures are driving public health change. Learn more about the New Bedford Health Department here.
|
 Yesenia Cuello, Co-founder and Executive Director, NC FIELD, North Carolina
Yesenia Cuello is a grassroots organizer and the co-founder and Executive Director of NC FIELD (North Carolina Focusing on Increasing Education Leadership and Dignity), a grassroots non-profit organization that utilizes a social determinants of health lens to both streamline and deliver essential resources to rural marginalized communities. Yesenia has been advocating for environmental justice and the rights of farmworkers for over fifteen years. As a former child farmworker, Yesenia's advocacy journey began as a teenager working in tobacco fields and organizing youth for Human Rights Watch to combat child labor. Her efforts contributed to regulatory changes that now protect child workers from pesticide exposure, a key issue in the fight for justice for agricultural communities. Throughout her time at NC FIELD, Yesenia was the president of the youth group, Poder Juvenil Campesino, Public Relations Chair, Program Manager, and in 2019 took on her current role of executive director. She leads initiatives aimed at addressing the health challenges faced by farmworker communities across a 14-county region in rural Eastern North Carolina. With a deep commitment to equitable access to health care, she helped launch Sembrando Salud, led by the community and focused on mitigating the health impacts of pesticide exposure, extreme heat, and unsafe working conditions exacerbated by access barriers and climate change. Her leadership has expanded NC FIELD’s capacity to meet communities where they’re at. Yesenia’s vision is rooted in empowering agricultural workers with the tools and resources needed to effectively address systemic issues and advocate for what they need in order to live happier, healthier lives. Learn more about Yesenia in this 2022 interview.
|
 José Infanzón Chávez, Regional Coordinator, UNETE, North Carolina
José Infanzón Chávez is the Regional Coordinator for Unmet Needs in Equity vs. Transformational Empowerment (UNETE), where he plays a vital role as a certified CHW. He uses his expertise to deliver critical wellness and health resources to the community, while his CHW train-the-trainer certification enables him to mentor and empower other CHWs in the region. Originally from Mexico, José is a dedicated father to two children and has been happily married for 20 years. In addition to his leadership at UNETE, José serves as an ambassador for the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association and is a board member for Mountain BizWorks. José is an alumnus of the Racial Equity Institute, reinforcing his dedication to equity and inclusion in all facets of community life. Through his work, José strives to uplift and support those around him, creating a healthier and more equitable future for all. Learn more about UNETE here.
|
 Norma Durán Brown, Executive Director, UNETE, North Carolina
For over two decades, Ms. Durán Brown, an Argentinian native and former attorney, has actively engaged with service providers to foster cultural humility and community-based programs. She is renowned for creating initiatives like MANOS (Mentoring And Nurturing Our Students), a high school Latinx after-school program, FAROS (Freedom, Advocacy and Resilience for Our Students), a middle school weekly club, and De Mujer a Mujer NC, a grassroots community group. These programs emphasize holistic wellness for individuals and communities by collaborating with health care agencies, educational organizations, and faith groups to provide parenting strategies, resources, positive communication, and comprehensive approaches to health, academic achievement, family literacy, and violence prevention. As the Executive Director and founder of Unmet Needs in Equity vs. Transformational Empowerment (UNETE), Ms. Durán Brown believes her role as a community health worker allows her to serve justice in a more comprehensive way than in her previous career as an attorney. Learn more about UNETE here. |
