Grassroots Health

Our work is divided into three main program areas: (1) school-based and community-based adolescent health education; (2) NCAA student-athlete social engagement and leadership development; and (3) curriculum development, evaluation, and communication.

Through our school-based and community-based adolescent health education programs, our goal is to drive down adolescent health disparities in our city.

Through our NCAA student-athlete social engagement and leadership development programs, we aim to empower our student-athlete volunteers to become agents of social change.

Through our curriculum development, evaluation, and communication programs, we aim to become a national thought leader in generating, testing, and sharing best practices for youth development.

Please see our attached strategic plan.

We developed our programs and established rapport in DC through years of grassroots growth. Our current staff includes an Executive Director, a Director of Programs/Operations, a Senior Program Manager, a Development and Communications Manager, and more than 60 volunteers.

Our Executive Director has been involved in the leadership of The Grassroot Project since its beginning in 2009. He is a Rhodes Scholar with a PhD in Public Health from the University of Oxford, and he has also served as a global health consultant for the United Nations and a large HIV/AIDS donor agency. He has brokered partnerships, raised funds, and overseen the implementation and evaluation of our programs for more than nine years. Our Director of Programs/Operations has worked as a community organizer, health advocate, and program manager for more than 8 years. Our Senior Program Manager was handpicked from more than 300 applicants through our partnership with Global Health Corps. She brings extensive training in public health and nonprofit management into her role. Our Development and Communications manager has over twelve years of experience working in education and non-profit development.

Last but not least, our volunteers serve as the core implementers of our organization's school-based programs. They are all between the ages of 18-22, and they come from four local universities. All volunteers undergo a two-weekend training to become effective program facilitators.

Since 2009, The Grassroot Project has trained more than 1,500 NCAA athletes to facilitate health education programs for more than 10,000 youth. A quasi-experimental trial demonstrated that our programs have been effective in significantly improving health literacy among middle school students.