Film Summit Planning Committee
Our volunteer committee is made up of individuals representing a broad range of communities and community-based organizations that reflect the diversity found throughout Western Massachusetts. The committee originally formed to plan the 4th Western Massachusetts Health Equity Summit, which was scheduled for Fall 2020. As we all know, the pandemic affected everything and everyone, including the summit plans, so the committee pivoted to come up with a strategy that would best support a virtual gathering. The committee realized creating a film would work for both virtual and in-person gatherings. Here we are in Spring 2022, able to safely gather, be in community, and discuss health equity and racial justice together—including virtually, for those taking extra precautions. This film project allowed us to collect personal stories and hear from individuals and organizations about their experiences with racism as a public health crisis, racial justice, and the future — across all generations.
The Youth Health Equity Advisory Board
Health equity affects people of all ages. With that in mind, the Film Summit Committee recognized the need for input from young people of diverse backgrounds, and reached out to members of their communities to form a Youth Health Equity Advisory Board. Youth Advisory Board members engaged in dialogue — facilitated by a cohort of UMass graduate and undergraduate students — about race, health, and equity as part of a larger initiative to make youth voices present in the discussion of health equity in Western Massachusetts. They also selected the filmmaker and identified the health issues most relevant for the film to focus on.
In addition to Film Summit Planning Committee Co-Chairs Sasha Jimenez and Brenda Evans, Committee member Tiarra Fisher (see “Behind the Scenes” bios), and Youth Advisory Board member Alisha Rodriguez (see “Onscreen” bio), members of the Film Summit Planning Committee and Youth Health Equity Advisory Board include:
Jonah Barresi
Jonah is a senior at Longmeadow High School, hoping to go into the world of theater and film. He loves to sing, act, and create. He is also a cross-country and track runner year round, and he’s thrilled to have been able to participate in MOSAIC.
Mary Brainerd
Mary is a member of Mass Senior Action, a grassroots, senior-run organization committed to empowering seniors and others to promote the rights and wellbeing of all people. A retired professor of Social Work, she enjoys working with and learning from people of all ages and cultures.
Tracey R. Carpenter, MPA
Tracey is an Economic and Healthcare Organizer for Mass Senior Action Council.
Lindsey Foster
Lindsey is a junior at UMass Amherst studying microbiology and public health. She is interested in the intersection of science and social inequality and is looking forward to starting an MPH in Epidemiology at UMass Amherst.
Anna Gorfinkel (she/her)
Anna is an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst (Class of 2022), studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Spanish. She co-led the Youth Advisory Board.
Sharon Hall-Smith
Sharon is Senior Director of Prevention & Community Services at the Ga̒ndara Center, a Western Massachusetts-based agency committed to promoting the well-being of Hispanics, African-Americans, and other culturally diverse populations through innovative, culturally competent behavioral health, prevention, and educational services. In this role, she supports the agency’s goal of health equity, including programs that focus on social determinants of health, such as housing and food access.
Doris Harris, M.Ed, CTTS-M, CAGS
Doris is a UMass graduate, a Public Health Consultant, and owner of Harris Resources, a research company that specializes in qualitative and quantitative research studies. She is the host of Health Matters, radio talk show that airs Wednesdays at 1 pm on 90.7fm WTTC, and the Health Editor of Point of View newspaper. A resident of Amherst, she serves on the boards of the Department of Mental Health/Western Massachusetts, the Springfield Friendly Dementia Coalition, and Pioneer Valley Accountable Care, and she is the Co-Chair of the Springfield Black Covid-19 Coalition.
Marion Hohn (she/her)
Marion is the Senior Supervising Attorney of the Public Benefits Unit at the Central West Justice Center (CWJC), a subsidiary of Community Legal Aid that provides free legal help to low-income and elderly residents of Central and Western Massachusetts.
Kelly Lamas, MPH
Kelly received her Master of Public Health degree from the UMass Medical School–Baystate. She leads Baystate Health’s Wellness on Wheels (WOW) bus, a Mobile Unit bringing prevention care to neighborhoods in and around Springfield and training students in the community.
Jessica Lau
Jess is a daughter of Hong Kong immigrants. She graduated from UMass Amherst with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health Sciences and Psychology. Fueled by her background and experiences, Jess is dedicated to developing a safe, inclusive community through a diverse and idiographic lens. She co-led the Youth Equity Advisory Board.
Rajshree Pandey, PhD, MPH
Rajshree is a healthcare consultant and an Alumna of UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences. She is a former field hockey player and a woman of color committed to the idea of promoting and celebrating diversity.
Valerie Pease
Valerie lives in Berkshire County and is a volunteer disability advocate and disaster volunteer who works as an Advocate/Peer Counselor at AdLib. She has made and followed through on a lifelong commitment to ensure that the disabled community is represented and heard.
Lexi Polokoff
Lexi is the School and Youth Programs Specialist for SPIFFY (the Strategic Planning Initiative for Families & Youth) Coalition and the Collaborative for Educational Services. Having received her Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst in 2020, Lexi now works in the field of youth substance use prevention by supporting youth leadership in Hampshire County, supporting local schools with their health prevention curricula and prevention policies and strengthening coalition work by connecting different groups with resources. Lexi currently lives in Easthampton; in her free time she enjoys making art, roller skating, and cuddling with her cat, Lucifer.
Madison Press (she/her)
Madison is an undergraduate student in Public Health at UMass Amherst and a 4+1 Graduate student. She is an intern at the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts. She co-led the Youth Advisory Board.
Claudia Quang
Claudia is an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst. She is concentrating her college career in Public Health with a minor in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Her focus area is in social justice, which drives her dedication to further her career path in racial and gender equity. She is currently an intern at the UMASS Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
Phoebe Schaller-Moe
Phoebe is a 17-year-old senior at Northampton High School interested in pursuing a career in the medical field. She got involved with MOSAIC because of her interests in public health. While dance is a big part of her life, she aspires to attend medical school and become an Emergency Department doctor.
Alexis Walls
Alexis is the Assistant Campaign Director at the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA), a statewide policy organization that promotes a healthy Massachusetts through advocacy, community organizing, and coalition building. Alexis helps lead the organization’s work around transportation justice.
Heather Warner
Heather Warner has worked in public health since 1994 and has been with the SPIFFY Coalition at the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton since 2007. Her passion for public health is rooted in relationship-building and collaboration across age groups, diverse groups, and all sectors of the community. She loves the multiplicity of the work including: Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR); community assessments; positive norms marketing projects; strategic action planning; policy change; and training and education to support youth and families to manage their own healthy choices. Heather is delighted to be exploring the intersection of White Supremacy Culture and public health and health equity and seeks to collude with community partners to redefine public health frameworks. Previously, Heather worked at the Board of Health in Holyoke, first as Director of the Tobacco Control Program, and later as Coordinator of the Mayor’s Community Health Planning Commission. Heather received her Master of Public Health degree from UMass Amherst.