About Us
2040 Partners for Health was founded in 2006 by local health advocates, educators and public service professionals, who envisioned the need to foster communities’ resources, wishes and commitments as mutual partners to foster and strengthen healthy communities. They recognized the value in capitalizing on vital opportunities, community assets and maximizing human potential to address social determinants and health needs.
The neighborhoods identified for focused efforts included East Montclair, Greater Park Hill, Northeast Park Hill, Northwest Aurora, Montbello, Commerce City and Central Park, many of which have a diverse and growing population with a long history of marginalization, but also burgeoning resources, strengths and assets.
In conjunction with a staff of 5 and a 13 person Board of Directors consisting of community members, academics and researchers, we believe eliminating health disparities and improving the health of our communities is best addressed and achieved with the involvement, understanding and engagement of community members themselves.
Our mission is to develop healthy communities by creating sustainable community partnerships and by identifying, measuring and applying local community solutions. Through a portfolio of programs, 2040, the community and its partners are tackling a wide range of issues that greatly impact our communities and working towards the vision of healthy communities which elevate and maximize human potential and well-being.
Staff
Griselda Pena-Jackson
Executive Director
Griselda Peña-Jackson has 12 years specializing in non-profit organizations focused on community engagement and education. Prior to working with 2040 Partners for Health, Mrs. Peña-Jackson worked for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver as the Family Support Specialist. In addition, Griselda spent 6 years at the Adams County School District 14 at the Intergenerational Learning Center working with Youth and Adults looking to further their education. Griselda studied at the University of Denver where she obtained her B.S.B.A in International Business Management at the Daniels College of Business. Griselda grew up and lived in Greater Park Hill for about 25 years, so she is intimately familiar with the 2040 neighborhoods.
Javier Garcia Arellano
Community Research Liaison
Javier Garcia Arellano has worked as a Family Support Specialist and Family Advocate since 2015. He is a graduate of Regis University, where he studied marketing. Javier grew up in Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated to the United States as a young adult. Javier comes with a background in health access as a Certified Health Navigator with Connect for Health Colorado and has developed expertise in helping mixed status families manage the complexities associated with their differences in legal status. Javier is well-known throughout Aurora’s local community as someone who brings a great deal of patience and compassion, as well as skill and knowledge, to his work helping families navigate a myriad of health care resources. In addition to family advocacy work, Javier lead an Insanity exercise class for adults and teens, he has also coached CATCH exercise programs for elementary-aged children. In Javier’s previous role Javier helped promote programs through social media and direct outreach.
Janet Meredith
Student Programs Director
Janet Meredith (BA, MBA) has worked for 10 years in community health in Denver and Aurora, Colorado as the executive director and student programs director of 2040 Partners for Health, a community based non-profit. Prior to that her work included 16 years in two museums, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Denver Art Museum, following 11 years in the for-profit sector in Canada. In her roles at 2040 Partners for Health, Ms. Meredith has developed and managed a program that engages and mentors health sciences students in longitudinal community-based participatory research, on topics including discrimination in healthcare, teen obesity, refugee health, and disparities in infant mortality in the African American community. Ms.Meredith is a member of the faculty of the department of family medicine at the University of Colorado, and the school of medicine's office of diversity and inclusion.
Margie Green
Finance Manager
Margie has lived in Denver for 41 years where she and her husband Larry raised their two children. She has been active in community organizations through schools and church and volunteers with 2040 Partners for Health in the role of Financial Manager. Additionally, she helps manage her son's business, has a small tax preparation business, travels, and spends time with her grandkids.
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Board of Directors
Frank deGruy III MD, MSFM
Vice Chair, Woodward-Chrisolm Professor and Chair,
Department of Family Medicine
Dr. deGruy has served as president of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA) and president of the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG). He is on the Board of Directors of the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC) and the Family Physicians’ Inquiries Network (FPIN). He chairs the National Integration Academy Council, and sits on the board of the Colorado Institute of Family Medicine. He is on the editorial boards of The Annals of Family Medicine, Families, Systems, and Health, and Psychiatric Times, and has previously served on the editorial boards of General Hospital Psychiatry; he was an Associate Editor of the Southern Medical Journal. Has published about 150 papers, chapters, and commentaries, and has reviewed grant applications for the NIH, AHRQ, HRSA, and the RWJF. He has been a member of the Institute of Medicine since 2008.
Yunuen Cisneros
Student Recruitment & Community Engagement Coordinator
DSST Public Schools Home Office
Ms. Cisneros was born in Mexico City, and moved to Denver 19 years ago with her husband and two daughters. Ms. Cisneros considers her daughters following in her footsteps of public service as one of her biggest accomplishments; Yunuen is studying anthropology and Public health and Nina is pre-med with an additional major in environmental science. Ms. Cisneros feels incredibly fortunate to have been born into a family that considers public service a privilege. Working in community has given Ms. Cisneros a sense of purpose and has been at the center of her entire career. Prior to moving to the United States Ms. Cisneros was a paramedic and translator for the Mexican International Red Cross, and the National Youth Direction in the office of International Affairs within the Mexican Government.
Alyson Shupe PhD, MSW
Informatics, Epidemiology & Health Planning Manager
Tri-County Health Department
Dr. Shupe has a master’s degree in Social Work and a Ph.D. in Public Health. Dr. Shupe worked as the health planner for the Boulder County Health Department for 5 years where she provided technical assistance and training to health department staff and community groups in program planning, research, and evaluation. Dr. Shupe served as the Chief of the Health Statistics Section at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for 14 years where she provided scientific and management oversight of the Vital Statistics Unit, Maternal and Child Health Surveillance Unit, Survey Research Unit, and Public Health Informatics Unit.Dr. Shupe joined the staff of the Tri-County Health Department in 2015 where she currently serves as the Informatics, Epidemiology and Health Planning Manager.
Montelle Tamez
Deputy Director of Community Engagement
University of Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute
Montelle is the Deputy Director of Community Engagement at the University of Colorado’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. Ms. Tamez has 17 years of experience addressing health disparities and the social determinants of health through public health program development, implementation and management, health education and promotion, community engagement and community engaged research. Her career spans multiple sectors, including community-based non-profit organizations, state and local public health, and academic research institutions. In her role as Deputy Director of Community Engagement at the University of Colorado’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI), Ms. Tamez co-leads the CCTSI’s Community Engagement (CE) Core, which aims to build capacity in community-academic partnerships to increase the reach, effectiveness, adoption, and implementation of evidence based health recommendations at the community level.
Matthew Simpson MD, MPH
Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine
As a clinician-researcher, he has an active clinical practice at the AF Williams Family Medicine Clinic and serves as the co-director for the Colorado Research Network (CaReNet), a practice-based research network of primary care clinics that are focused on delivering care to medically underserved patients. He is currently a scholar in the IMPACT K12 program hosted at the Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science with a focus on improving detection of sleep apnea in primary care, particularly because of its role as a cardiovascular disease risk factor and its possible contribution to racial/ethnic health disparities in heart disease and stroke.
Kathie Snell M.A., LPC
Chief Strategy & Operations Officer at
Aurora Mental Health Center
Kathie has been in the public and non-profit mental health arena for more than 30 years, and in executive leadership roles for 16 years. She has participated on numerous boards and task forces with the goal of providing best practice, trauma-informed and family-focused mental health treatment. She holds the core belief that integration of services within the community is a critical factor in mental health care and should be an important driver for service systems. She has worked toward service integration through collaboration with school districts, human services, criminal justice agencies, primary health care providers, child-care providers, municipalities, and many other human and social service organizations, jointly implementing innovative programs responsive to the diverse needs of the communities in which she has served.
Selma Hamed
Community Outreach Coordinator
Discover Goodwill of Southern & Western Colorado
Selma Hamed has over 15 years of experience in NGOs finance and small business management. In 2009, Selma helped create Algouda Co, which aimed to provide services to international college students. Through her leadership and vision, the company has propelled to become one of the best service companies in the country. In 2013, she established Nursing Co in Turkey, which provides Education services. The company served yearly, and over 130 students came from different cultural and ethnic. She understands better how to help different people with concentration in their needs and wants . She is currently working in create non-profit organization to help entrepreneurs to be a business owner. She graduated with a bachelor of financial studies. she is also working as community outreach coordinator with Discover south west goodwill organizations. In addition to her roll, she is heavily involved in her community. As a part of community leaders project, Selma dedicates part of her time every month to help newcomers to the community to navigate and develop their lives by the power of work.
Fatima Garcia
Board Member
Fatima Garcia is originally from Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was a young child, she grew up in Colorado and loves the mountains. Fatima graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 2005 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Health. Fatima has worked in the immigration field since 2004 and currently she is working at The Center for Trauma & Resilience working with undocumented victims of crime, assisting them with their immigration applications. Growing up in the United States as an immigrant has greatly impacted her career path and career choice.
Mathew Nalty
Board Member
Partners
