Dodi Swope brings over 40 years of experience across the behavioral health continuum, including prevention, intervention, and treatment. She began her career as an early childhood educator specializing in learning and mental health disorders before earning her master’s in education and counseling psychology and moving into clinical practice with individuals, families, and groups.

Driven to address systemic challenges, Dodi shifted her focus to prevention and positive youth development, working for more than two decades at the community, regional, state, and national levels as a training and technical assistance specialist. She currently coordinates local community coalitions focused on middle school girls’ empowerment and early childhood wellbeing, and serves as adjunct faculty at Clark University’s Sustainability and Social Justice Program.

Dodi serves as a consultant for the Together for Kids Coalition (TFKC), supporting strategic planning, community engagement, and systems-level impact. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, she also works independently as a coach, facilitator, trainer, and writer, helping community organizations and nonprofits build healthy, just communities. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Massachusetts.

Yolanda Guzman Ramos is a consultant, clinical mental health provider, and certified doula with over a decade of experience supporting children, families, and communities. She is the founder of Yolanda Ramos LLC, providing consulting, program development, and training in early childhood wellness, social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, maternal health, and community engagement.

Yolanda serves as a consultant for the Together for Kids Coalition (TFKC), supporting strategic planning, partnership building, and policy advocacy to strengthen early childhood initiatives across Worcester and Massachusetts. She is dedicated to advancing equitable access to early childhood education, family resources, and maternal wellness programs.

As a doula and clinical mental health provider, Yolanda works directly with families through pregnancy, postpartum, and early childhood. She offers culturally responsive, bilingual support in Spanish and English, leads parent groups, including Spanish, language programs, and advocates for breastfeeding support, maternal health, and access to care, informed by her own experience as a mother.

A graduate of Leadership Worcester and a 40 Under 40 Alum, Yolanda also serves on several local boards. Through her work, she bridges gaps in services, fosters systemic change, and develops programs that promote positive outcomes for children, families, and communities. Her approach combines clinical expertise, community advocacy, and culturally grounded support to create lasting, meaningful impact.

Kim Davenport is the CEO of Edward Street, an early education advocacy and policy organization dedicated to improving the quality and impact of early education and care in Central MA. She has over 30 years of experience in early education and nonprofit management, previously serving as Edward Street’s Vice President of Initiatives & Aligned Programs, where she led citywide birth-to-3rd-grade alignment efforts and helped secure state funding for preschool planning, Covid recovery, and special education supports.

Before joining Edward Street, Kim was Chief Program Officer at Jumpstart for Young Children, where she developed a national early education curriculum and launched the Pearson Teacher Fellowship to prepare early childhood educators.

Kim chairs the Together for Kids Coalition, represents Central MA on state advisory groups, and serves on multiple local boards, including the Worcester Education Collaborative and the Worcester Education Equity Roundtable. She is an adjunct faculty member at Fitchburg State University, Worcester State University, and Quinsigamond Community College.

A graduate of Leadership Worcester, Kim holds an M.A. in Child Development from Tufts University and a B.A. from Villanova University.

Tempe Staples (she/her) is the Research and Evaluation Coordinator for the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester, and oversees the monitoring and evaluation processes for the Greater Worcester Community Health Improvement Plan (check it out here!)

Tempe is a life-long Massachusetts resident, and holds her Master of Health Science in Global & Community Health from Clark University, where she worked on a range of community-based research projects, including community needs assessments and policy solutions for early childhood education and care, teen parenting, and restorative justice. Prior, Tempe earned her Bachelor of the Arts in Global Studies, Geography, and Community Health from Hofstra University. There, she served as a Health Leads Advocate at Nassau University Medical Center assisting new parents with their WIC applications. 

Tempe's publications represent the nexus of social policy and health outcomes. Her 2016 human geography thesis and map "Paid Family Leave & Maternal Mental Health" earned honors and was presented at the American Association of Geographers. Her 2020 article "Understanding stakeholder positionalities and relationships to reimagine asylum at the US-Mexico border: Observations from McAllen, TX" was published in the Journal of Human Geography.  Most recently in the spring of 2025, she lead the authorship of the article  "The Use of Trusted Messengers to Conduct Qualitative Research: A Community Health Improvement Plan Case Study in Worcester, MA" in the Journal of Health Promotion.

Having experience with community engagement, trust-building, and data-driven storytelling, Tempe endeavors to keep her work human-centered and equity-focused.

Laurie Ross is Associate Provost and Dean of the College at Clark University. Laurie has served for many years as the university-based research partner in Worcester’s youth violence prevention and intervention efforts. Through weekly cross-sector collaboration with city officials, public schools, police, and community-based organizations, she has helped sustain alignment, trust, and inter-agency data sharing across Worcester’s youth violence prevention and intervention efforts. She has developed and maintained shared data processes that allow partners to identify emerging trends, address persistent gaps, and pursue strategic resources.

Her collaborative research and evaluation work has supported major federal, state, and local initiatives, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency prevention Comprehensive Anti-Gang Strategies grant, the Department of Justice Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, and the Shannon Community Safety Initiative.

Over time, Laurie’s community-engaged work has increasingly moved upstream into early childhood systems. Through her partnership with Together for Kids Coalition, she came to understand that many of the inequities visible later in childhood and adolescence are rooted much earlier in families’ access to care, housing stability, health supports, and trusted community infrastructure. Since 2018, she has served on the Planning Team of the Together for

Kids Coalition and has collaborated with TFKC and Edward Street on projects focused on childhood trauma, family wellbeing, early education and care access, and community voice.

This work has included an American Educational Research Association-funded project on Latino/a/x families’ experiences with tele-education and telehealth during COVID-19; the RWJF-funded Using Local Data to Address Structural Racism: Addressing Early Education and Care Deserts in Worcester, MA; and Resilient Worcester, funded by UMass Memorial Determination of Need. Through these partnerships, Ross has come to see early education and care not as a narrow service sector, but as a foundational system for family wellbeing, community health, workforce participation, and racial equity.

Laurie incorporates community-based and participatory research into graduate-level courses in program evaluation, community needs assessment, and practicum, where students partner with organizations and people with lived experience to co-construct knowledge that informs action.

She is the author of Dilemmas in Youth Work and Youth Development Practice and directed the HOPE Coalition, a youth-adult partnership coalition focused on reducing youth violence, substance use, and promoting positive adolescent mental health and youth leadership in Worcester, from 2000 to 2021. She also serves on the board of the Worcester Youth Center.

Ross holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston, an M.A. in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, and a B.A. in Geography and International Development & Social Change from Clark University.

Elyzabeth Frontaan is a public health advocate, behavioral health communicator, and community organizer with over 15 years of experience advancing health equity, educating and promoting healthcare access.  Elyzabeth is also a published award-winning writer and speaker whose work has been featured in national health advocacy projects and public health forums. She is an active member of several statewide coalitions focused on autism, child wellness, and public health equity. As well as a parent and the founder of Follow the A.R.LO an educational project aiming to support parents of children will disabilities,  maternal health advocacy, and mental health educational services.  

Leah Serafin Maroney is a dedicated public health and community development professional with extensive experience in building partnerships, managing complex initiatives, and driving equity-focused health strategies. Currently serving as the Strategic Initiatives and Projects Manager for the City of Worcester, Leah works directly with the Commissioner of Health and

Human Services to advance public health initiatives focused on topics such as homelessness, substance use, mental health and reentry.

Previously, Leah held the role of Healthy Living Community Outreach Director at Old Colony YMCA for 7 years, where she spearheaded the regional Healthy Communities Coalition, managed grants, secured funding, and collaborated with stakeholders to improve public health

outcomes. She also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the United Way of Central MA engaging volunteers in service projects.

Leah holds a Master of Arts in Community Development and Planning from Clark University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Saint Anselm College. She is a member of the Leadership Worcester Class of 2025 and is actively engaged in community coalitions including the Worcester Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, the Together for Kids Coalition, and the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester. She has also served on the Determination of Need Healthy Aging Advisory Committee with MA DPH and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, and has more recently served as a Board Member for Elder Services of Worcester Area. She brings a passion for fostering meaningful connections and delivering impactful programs that improve community health and well-being for all. When she is not working for the Worcester community, she can be found swimming at the YWCA, walking with her dog, Brodie, or catching a concert with her husband.

Domenica Perrone is a community engagement practitioner, youth worker, researcher, and public health advocate dedicated to advancing health equity and social justice. She currently serves as Director of Community engagement and Outreach for the Collaborative in Health Equity at UMass Chan Medical School, where she collaborates with students, faculty, researchers, and community partners to develop and support health equity-driven community

initiatives and strategies.

Previously, Domenica served as Director of Community  engagement and Volunteering at Clark University from 2022 to 2024, supporting undergraduate and graduate students in meaningful

civic and community engagement efforts. From 2019 to 2022, she worked as Project Manager

for the Commissioner of Health and Human Services for the City of Worcester, helping lead the

city’s COVID-19 vaccine outreach and community engagement initiatives during the pandemic. Prior to her work in municipal government, Domenica served as Program Evaluator and Program Coordinator at the Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University, where she worked closely with Latino youth and families through academic support and after-school programming. She also worked as a Research Assistant with the Collaborative for Youth and Community Justice at Clark University.

Domenica holds a Master’s degree in Community Development and Planning, an MBA from Clark University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emerson College. She currently serves on the board of the Worcester Community Action Council, the Community Advisory Board for the Latino Education Institute, and as a trustee of the Worcester Public Library Foundation. She has also served on the Leadership Council and as Chair of the Diversity Committee for the Women’s Initiative of Central Massachusetts.

Her contributions to community leadership and public health have been widely recognized.

Domenica received the 2024 Health Equity Award from the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester and the 2021 Judy Brown-Cahill Award from the Central Massachusetts Housing

Alliance. She has also been recognized by the Worcester Business Journal as a “40 Under

Forty” honoree, as well as by Pulse Magazine and Worcester magazine’s “Women to Watch.”

As an Ecuadorian immigrant, community activist, and mother, Domenica is deeply committed to

building stronger, more equitable communities. She is passionate about working alongside local

organizations, leaders, advocates, and youth to advance health equity, civic engagement, and

social justice throughout Worcester and beyond.