TOPIC:
An Equitable Rolling Recovery From Covid-19
Speakers:
Melissa Jones,
Executive Director – BARHII | Rise Together
&
Jamillah Jordan,
Equity Director – Marin County
Melissa Jones is the Executive Director of the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), a coalition of Bay Area public health departments and community partners. Under Melissa’s leadership, BARHII has become an essential "health voice" helping pass groundbreaking legislation (including expanded paid sick leave, rent-gouging rules, pandemic-related eviction prohibitions, and climate justice programs) that has saved tens of thousands of lives and improved the health of communities impacted by systemic inequities. She co-chaired two efforts focused on Equitable Recovery in the Bay Area and served on the California COVID-19 Justice Inaugural Steering Committee. Over the last five years, she has trained over 1500 government officials in California in Adaptive Leadership for Racial Equity. Melissa brought to BARHII twenty years of experience in non-profit and municipal government and with the nation’s largest community development intermediary, where she was awarded the LISC President’s Award for excellence in comprehensive community development. She serves on several boards including the Association of Bay Area Government’s Regional Planning Commission. Melissa is a proud resident of Oakland.
Jamillah Jordan is Marin County’s new Equity Director. She recently designed and facilitated Marin's 2022 Race Equity Action Plan. Jamillah is an accomplished community organizer, planner and project manager for organizations such as Caltrans, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education. Recently, Jamillah facilitated the Berkeley Global Campus Community Benefits Agreement. Jamillah worked with several ad-hoc committees to build equity goals and action plans, refine their decision-making process, and to resolve the inevitable conflicts that arose as U.C. Berkeley worked to address multiple community needs. The culmination of her work was a set of consensus recommendations and a narrative report that was unanimously approved by each committee.