Eight Organizations Receive Centering Black Voices Grants
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The REACH Healthcare Foundation has announced Jasmin Avakyants will join the REACH Foundation as Program Officer, responsible for administering grants, informing grantmaking strategies, and engaging the community to identify opportunities that align with the foundation’s mission to advance equity in health coverage and care. Avakyants brings extensive experience in the nonprofit sector in the areas of program development, strategic alliances, facilitation, community engagement, and strategic communications and planning. She will join REACH on September 1, 2022.
Working under the direction of Vice President of Programs Carla Gibson and in collaboration with other foundation staff, Avakyants will develop grantmaking strategies aligned with the foundation’s purpose and strategic plan, and help expand the foundation’s partnerships in the nonprofit and civic sectors.
Avakyants was Program Director at Health + Studio, a social impact design agency, consulting nationally on marketing and communications strategies to improve health and well-being for children and families.
She previously worked as Senior Project Manager at Sesame Workshop, leading efforts to expand the national Sesame Street in Communities program in new regions and scale use of programming and curricula among children and parents. She joined Sesame Workshop after establishing a successful Sesame Street partnership in the Kansas City region as Project Director at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce leading ResilientKC, a movement to address childhood trauma. Avakyants organized workshops, presentations and events on trauma and the effects on children and adults, and recruited a corps of 100 ResilientKC Ambassadors to collect community ACEs data.
“Having worked with Jasmin during her time at the KC Chamber, I’m delighted to tap into her expertise in program and community development as the foundation seeks to work with nonprofit leaders on strategies that will move health equity forward,” said Gibson.
“I’m beyond excited to join the REACH team and support the Kansas City region in a new and exciting way. It feels good to be back in my home city, and I’m honored to share my experience and elevate the inspiring work of dedicated nonprofit leaders in the community that I love,” said Avakyants.
Avakyants completed a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration at Avila University and a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science at Truman State University. She is a certified trauma-informed care facilitator. After spending the last three years in New York City, she returned to Kansas City with her husband and puppy in tow.
