Black Health Summit

Pastor Jones serves as the Lead Pastor of UCM. His family has deep roots in the Denver community, having been in Denver since 1960 and in Montbello since 1967.Pastor Jones is proud to be Metro-Denver born, raised and serving. “The calling here is personal because these are the people and places that helped to raise me!” Pastor Jones began preaching in 1993 and began serving as a Youth Pastor in 1998. In 2003 he received his first lead pastoral assignment at Kinship Church. Since then, he has served congregations at True Light Baptist Church, Restoration Christian Fellowship. Over his 20 years of pastoral service, Pastor Jones has simultaneously served our community through work in the Denver Public Schools. He has been an educator, a school and executive leader at Manual High School, Omar D. Blair Charter School, and the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone (NDIZ). He continues to lead in the education ecosystem as the Lead Learner/CEO of FaithBridge. Pastor Jones serves on the boards of Mentor Colorado, Colorado Humanities, MOC (Montbello Organizing Committee) and The Children’s Campaign.

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Shawnette Gillespie is a Denver native and a passionate advocate for health equity, with a personal journey rooted in her experience as a teen mom navigating the healthcare system after her son’s Sickle Cell diagnosis. This life-changing moment sparked her deep commitment to understanding chronic conditions, addressing systemic barriers, and supporting underserved communities.Shawnette became a certified patient navigator specializing in Sickle Cell -related care, focusing on chronic pain management, social determinants of health, advocacy, and care transitions for youth. She now serves as the Senior Community Relations Consultant at Colorado Access, where she leads initiatives in the Black/African American community centered on community outreach, maternal health, health equity, and youth engagement.

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Tyrone Hamler, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver and a faculty affiliate of the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging, a multidisciplinary research center at the University of Denver. Dr.Hamler has over 6 years of practice experience in medical social work. He received his PhD in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Hamler has researched dialysis, chronic kidney disease, organ donation and the role of organ procurement organizations, and the intersection of mental and physical health among older adults from marginalized groups. He has received research funding support from the Centers for Dialysis Care, the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging, and the University of Denver. He has worked closely with local organizations in pursuit of health equity. He serves as a Donor Advocate for the Donor Alliance of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as a member of the NAACP Denver Branch’s Health Committee.

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Pam Jiner is a longtime – and award-winning – community leader in Denver. If you want to know about walking or Montbello or both, call this America Walks Walking College Fellow.Pam grew up in the Montbello neighborhood, where she is Program Director for Montbello Walks and serves as a community advocate for GirlTrek, a national health movement that activates thousands of Black women to be change makers in their lives and communities through walking. Pam is truly a civic superhero: Not only does she co-chair the Montbello 20/20 Registered Neighborhood Organization, she also serves on RTD’s Montbello Transit Stakeholder Committee, the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and the Denver Parks and Recreation Planning and Design Committee.

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For the past 20 years, I’ve dedicated myself to serving and advocating for vulnerable communities. My commitment to servant leadership is rooted in the respect and love for the human condition.” I serve community through a racial equity, social justice, and anti-oppressive lens. I’ve worn many hats throughout my career—professor, counselor, mentor, volunteer, and activist. My journey also took me to Nicaragua, where I served in the Peace Corps, collaborating with local government officials, NGOs, police, and community leaders to develop sustainable youth programs. I have a master’s in social work from the University of Denver and focused on youth development work for the first part of my career. In the last five years, I led the Community Health Division for Public Health as part of the emergency response during the pandemic. Today, I am honored to serve as the first Black and female Executive Director of One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization advancing equality for LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their families.

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Dr. Darlene Sampson lives by her late parent’s mantra: “Giving back to others is in your DNA-you must respect and honor the shoulders you have stood on.” With that thinking in mind, Dr. Sampson has maintained a space of social justice and cultural humility as she works across the education and social work fields as an administrator, leader, equity specialist, and counselor. Dr. Sampson joined the Equity Assistance Centers after working as a Clinical Field Faculty in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her previous work in schools as a Director of Culturally Responsive Education, coupled with teaching and social work in schools rounds out her professional experiences. Her lived experiences as a Black woman assist her in infusing empathy for others particularly around the intersectional spaces of gender and race. Dr. Sampson’s professional goals are to infuse culturally responsive consciousness, promote inclusive pedagogy, integrate equity infusions, and promote systemic change for all. She has been a social worker, program manager, consultant, and educator for 30+ years. Her call to teaching, consulting, and community-based practice occurred as a result of the many mentors in her life who demonstrated excellence in regard to communities of color. In addition to many professional mentors, Dr. Sampson was influenced by her nine siblings, and the spiritual foundation instilled by her parents as a young child. Dr. Sampson has a Bachelor’s Degree in Rehabilitation and Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and published work is focused in the areas of academic performance specifically relating to Children of Color. Specialties include parent engagement, program review, trauma-informed care, racial bullying, culturally responsive social work and mental wellness, authentic engagement in schools, disproportionality and equity reviews, equity trajectories, consultation, and culturally responsive curricular augmentation. In her spare time, Dr. Sampson travels abroad, loves Mexican food, enjoys her large extended family, loves to ride her cruiser bike, and enjoys nurturing her two grandchildren.

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Dr. Henrika McCoy became the Morris Endowed Dean and Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) on June 15, 2024.Prior to joining GSSW she was on faculty at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin, Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Boston College School of Social Work. Dean McCoy received her Ph.D. from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, Master of Jurisprudence from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and Bachelor of Arts in African and African American Studies and Sociology from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to entering academia, in the Chicagoland area, she provided direct services in a range of settings to a variety of populations, including residential care for children and youth; residential treatment for juvenile sex offenders; community based mental health services for children, adolescents, and their families; and partial psychiatric services for children and their families. She created and managed the social work student field placement program at the top children’s psychiatric hospital program in Chicago; and she was actively engaged in improving the landscape of services for juveniles who had contact with the juvenile legal system. Her research, informed by those experiences as a clinician and case manager, has been conducted in partnership with community members/experts. She has served as a PI for studies funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Administration on Children Youth and Families, and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and her work has focused predominately on the experiences of Black boys with mental health issues that precipitated their involvement in the juvenile legal system and the experiences of young Black men ages 18 to 24 with violence. Overall, the unifying thread of her research and scholarship extends to exploring the impact of structural and systemic racism on Black persons in America. Finally, she is a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

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Kevin Patterson has served as Chief Executive Officer of Connect for Health Colorado since 2015. He previously served as chief administrative officer and interim chief of staff to Gov.John Hickenlooper and has an extensive history of public service. Patterson has served as the interim executive director of three state agencies during periods of leadership transition. Patterson has held leadership roles for five City and County of Denver departments over 18 years. He was elected to the Denver Board of Education in 2001 and 2005. Patterson graduated with a B.A. in Teaching from Sam Houston State University and holds both a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Urban Regional Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver. He serves on the Denver Zoological Foundation’s Leadership Council, the Policy and Advocacy subcommittee of the Rose Foundation, and serves as a board member for the Indian Peaks Brewing Company.

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