The Well Connected Communities initiative relies on input from a national Steering Committee to ensure that strategies and tactics utilized by the initiative align with best practices of related fields. The Steering Committee includes representatives of various organizations who share a commitment to health equity, local action, youth voice, and advancing the community engagement mission of the nation’s land grant universities.  Members are thought leaders in the organizations  they represent and offer advice to initiative leadership at various times throughout the year.  Members of the steering committee are listed here.

Roger Rennekamp – Co-Chair
Extension Health Director, Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP)

Monica Hobbs Vinluan – Co-Chair
Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Jen Algire
President & CEO, Greater Clark Foundation

Katrina E Badger
Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Martha Bernadett  
President & CEO, Molina Foundation

Nanya Chiejine
Program Director, Well Connected Communities

Caroline Crocoll 
Executive Director, Cooperative Extension/ECOP

Dee Davis
Founder and President, Center for Rural Strategies

Alice Diebel 
Senior Associate, Kettering Foundation      

Nathan Grine
4-H Young Alumni Advisory Committee, Ohio State University

Maggie Jones
Director, Center for Community Health and Evaluation

Camara Phyllis Jones
Senior Fellow, Morehouse School of Medicine

Rebecca Kelley
Director of Development, Foundations, National 4-H Council 

Suzanne Le Menestrel
Senior Program Officer, National Academy of Sciences

Jason Maddock  
Interim Director, Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture, AgriLife Research
Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University

Erik Porfeli 
Chair of Human Sciences, Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology 

Michelle Rodgers
Director, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension

Sophia Rodriguez
4-H Young Alumni Advisory Committee, University of Georgia

Suzanne Stluka
Division Director, Family & Consumer Sciences
Division Director, Youth and 4-H USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Paris Woods
4-H Young Alumni Advisory Committee, James Madison University

Mayyadah Zagelow
4-H Young Alumni Advisory Committee, Washington State University
2021 Healthy Living Youth in Action Winner