April 22 | 2026 | The Junior League | New Orleans, LA
👉 Click on each “Toggle ▶️” to view more in each section
On April 22nd, 2026, new and returning members of the Southern Center for Maternal Health convened for a CP Core-Led Training Day. The day marked the halfway point of a seven-year coalition-building effort spanning Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas and was designed by the community partners. SCMH researchers, clinicians, and trainees convened to learn from and alongside community partners.
Melissa Goldin Evans and Zee Jah opened the day by welcoming everyone and describing the purpose. The morning continued with the Who Am I Really? box activity, where each participant filled out a cardboard cube reflecting the personal, intellectual, professional, and legacy sides of who they are. From there, Beverly Lewis and Sherri Longo led the room through a reflective conversation on hospital-community partnerships: what holds them up, where they break down, and what would make them last. Ja'Neen Jenkins and Niketa Pechan then took the floor with generational trauma, reframing a topic often centered on individuals as a question about the systems that hold them.
After a self-care break led by Niketa Pechan (meditation, yoga, and a dance party), Susan Perez and Alicia Mingo shared hard-won wisdom on grant writing and community mobilization over a working lunch. In the afternoon, Dr. Victoria Williams, Dr. Nakeitra Burse, and Frankie Robertson followed with a brief panel introducing the six roles that move a successful policy campaign, planting a frame the coalition would return to in the afternoon. Participants self-selected into one of six roles (Storyteller, Relationship Maker, Wonk, Data Analyst, Mobilizer, or Compromiser), drew their role as a character, and reported back what each one brings to a campaign. Zee and Melissa closed the day with reflections and gratitude.
We grounded the day with a shared sense of purpose, clarified our objectives, and set the tone for bold, collaborative work ahead.
We introduced ourselves from the perspective of our purpose, not just our current work or titles.
We each shared what we learned about the guiding principles for a healthy hospital-community partnership, explored what we do when those partnerships break down, and discussed how to make ours even more durable and lasting.
We met generational trauma where it lives—across the clinic, the church, and schools—building practical strategies normalize those conversations in each setting.
We moved, breathed, and shook off the morning, remembering that this work is sustained by joy as much as by rigor.