Executive Director
Health Alliance for Violence Intervention
FOCUS
Fatimah leads the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) as its first Executive Director. Through innovative community/hospital partnerships, HAVI has expanded health-based, trauma-informed care by cultivating a powerful national alliance of ER doctors, trauma surgeons, researchers, front line interventionalists, and communities impacted by violence. Fatimah’s vision for social change has been shaped by a rich heritage of resilience in the wake of harm: from her father ‘s incarceration to her family’s experiences with homelessness. She believes that it is the expansion of healing support and relationships, the elevation of community voice, and the mobilization of community power that catalyzes those impacted to be authors of their own transformation. Fatimah is fighting for a system that centers racial equity, preventative public health strategies, and trauma-informed support to break intergenerational cycles of harm.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: National Learning & Organizing Collaborative to Advocate for Hospital-based Violence Intervention
Following George Floyd’s murder and a global uprising to defund police departments, a number of national media outlets have cited hospital-based violence intervention as an alternative to policing. My initiative helps to develop a national learning and organizing collaborative that will support the development of hospital-based violence intervention programs in seven to 10 communities around the country, including virtual training on racial bias and transgenerational trauma. Using a targeted communications strategy, my initiative seeks to invest in social media campaigns and earned media opportunities to frame violence as a public health issue, with plans to reach over 50,000 people in cities in which these new HVIPs are starting. This work is especially critical to ensure community organizers have the relevant information to fight for investments in public health approaches to violence prevention and generate shared ownership.
MORE ABOUT FATIMAH
Fatimah creates healing partnerships for social transformation. As a psychotherapist and a candidate for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Yale, she believes a Culture of Health requires building equitable, trauma-informed health systems that are economically sustainable. At 27, she made her first bid for a state elected office and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania.