Research & Evaluation Advisory Committee

Rima Afifi, Ph.D
rima-afifi@uiowa.edu

Rima Afifi is a professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, and Director of the Prevention Research Center for Rural Health (PRC-RH), College of Public Health, University of Iowa. She engages in public health education, research, and practice with the intent to advance health equity and social justice. From this broad lens, she interrogates systems of oppression and othering that occur at socio-ecological levels. Rima applies principles and methods of community-engaged research to equalize the power, voice, and self-determination of communities experiencing marginalization; uses frameworks and tools of implementation science; and emphasizes knowledge transfer to practice and policy. Rima’s passion is to work with adolescents and young adults to craft environments conducive to their well-being. She is particularly interested in contexts of uncertainty, displacement, or migration. Her research and practice focus on mental health and substance use.”

Shenaaz Janmohamed, MSW
shenaaz@queercrescent.org

Shenaaz is the Executive Director of Queer Crescent and a Khoja Shia Muslim nonbinary femme parent, healing practitioner, and cultural worker. From 2012 – 2022 she worked as a high school mental health counselor, supporting youth of color while also maintaining a therapy private practice for BIPOC, LGBTQ folks, educators, and organizers. Shenaaz has worked at the intersections of gendered violence, anti-Muslim racism, and the surveillance of bodies through survivor advocacy, community organizing, and trauma recovery. Prior, she played multiple roles within the domestic and sexual violence prevention field, focusing on immigrant, and Muslim, communities in particular. Shenaaz has been awarded the American Muslim Civic Leaders Fellowship in 2008, Move to End Violence Movement Makers in 2021, and currently serves on the Resist Foundation Grant Review Panel. Raised with a strong Shia political identity, Shenaaz learned about the multiplicity and nuance of Muslim cultures through experiences of erasure, resistance, and ritual. It is from this lineage that she struggles to expand who is seen and included in Muslim narratives, centering on the impacted and targeted.

Jollene Levid
jollene.levid@gmail.com

Jollene Levid has been a Regional Organizer at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) for 8.5 years and was co-coordinator of the 2019 UTLA strike and the 2023 UTLA solidarity strike. She has been a union organizer for 19 years in Los Angeles and for two short campaigns in the Philippines. She is a member of the anti-imperialist, transnational feminist organization AF3IRM, formerly serving as the National Chairperson and currently serving on its International Committee. Jollene is a survivor, social worker, mother, and bookworm with relentless hope in the collective power of the women, the workers, and the people.