2025 Collaboration for Community Health Convening | Overview
On June 10, 134 participants representing more than 50 community organizations gathered for the annual Collaboration for Community Health Funded Partner Convening at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury.
Boston Children’s staff and partners gathered to network, reflect, and build connections.
Shari Nethersole, MD, Vice President for Community Health and Engagement at Boston Children’s, welcomed the group and thanked the partners for their efforts and affirmed the hospital’s pride in its partnerships with each organization.
Spoken word artist Amanda Shea performed two pieces: Resilience and Black Excellence.
Debbie Lay, Senior Project Manager in the Office of Community Health, led a mindfulness moment, which gave participants a chance to reflect on the realities of life and what it will take to create a better world.
Yi-Chin Chen, Executive Director of Friends of the Children-Boston, moderated a panel discussion that got participants diving deeper on how individuals and organizations can build collective resilience and take action. Sharing their experiences were Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission; Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance; and Kevan Barton, Executive Director of YouthConnect.
An interactive art activity brought everyone together. Participants decorated puzzle pieces with pencils and water colors, and words and thoughts about what collective resilience means to their organization. Each vibrant and unique piece created a large puzzle based on the artwork “Community” by MassArt students Kobe Christie, Shaniel Hernandez, Giselle Rodriguez, Derrick Rogers Jr., and A’myah Williams.