OUR APPROACH

First, we learn about the unique resources and challenges in neighborhoods through extensive and ongoing engagement with community members. Then, based on guidance from communities, we mobilize our partners through their diverse efforts that support active living, healthy eating, and community building to facilitate tailored solutions that meet the specific needs for each priority neighborhood. We teach strategies and best practices for individuals to advocate for change in their neighborhoods focused on factors influencing health outcomes and quality of life, such as healthy eating and active living. The ultimate goal is for community residents to utilize tools to make changes in their homes and collectively for their entire community. 

MEET OUR BOARD

Board Member - Patsy Rubio Cano, MPH, PhD


Patsy Rubio Cano, MPH, PhD, serves as a Senior Staff Analyst at the Houston Health Department. In this capacity, Dr. Cano provides planning, evaluation and research assistance as well as capacity building planning and implementation for the Department. Dr. Cano has a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and received both her MPH and her PhD from the University of Texas/School of Public Health at Houston.
Prior to her work as an analyst, Dr. Cano served as Bureau Chief for Health Promotion and Education overseeing all health promotion and education initiatives at the Health Department. The focus of health promotion and education included chronic disease (Arthritis, Asthma, CVD, Diabetes, TB, etc.) and injury prevention (intentional and unintentional). In her many years of service, Dr. Cano worked in other capacities at the Houston Health Department including oversight of the Women’s and Children’s Health Care programs (bringing in over twenty-one million dollars of state funding for well-child, maternity and family planning services); Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention; as well as the last two years of two CDC multi-million dollar funded grants in Injury Prevention: (1) Youth Violence Prevention Program and (2) Preventing Violence During Pregnancy.
Prior to her employment at the Houston Health Department, Dr. Cano worked at two large community-based organizations-Gulf Coast Community Services Association (GCCSA) and the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans (AAMA). While working at AAMA, Dr. Cano brought several million dollars of federal funding for the George I. Sanchez High School, their alternative education school. She was also able to secure state accreditation for that high school.
Dr. Cano was the recipient of the 19th Annual Willie Velasquez Hispanic Excellence Award in Health.

Treasurer - Michael R. Bailey


Michael Bailey is Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer and Community Reinvestment Act Officer (CRA) for American First National Bank. In this role, he oversees the financial institutions’ Corporate Compliance Program and, coordinating with the legal counsel, is responsible for establishing standards and policies pertaining to regulatory requirements to help ensure legal, and proper conduct, for making sure these standards are communicated and institutionalized across the Financial Institution, and for monitoring the financial institutions’ compliance with these standards and policies. As CRA Officer, Mr. Bailey sets lending, investment, and community service targets and manages numerous activities required to achieve the financial institutions CRA objectives.
Before his current role, Mr. Bailey was SVP, Bank Secrecy Act Officer. He was responsible for coordinating and monitoring day-to-day Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing compliance and charged with managing all aspects of the BSA/AML compliance program and with managing the bank’s adherence to the BSA and its implementing regulations.
Prior to joining American First National Bank, Mr. Bailey worked at Briggs and Veselka, where he was a Senior Auditor. In this capacity, he executed control testing focused on credit, operational, compliance, financial reporting and technology risk and for interviewing business process owners to create process documentation, executing test work, and independently documenting audit findings.
Mr. Bailey has more than 19 years of experience in the financial services industry. He received his BBA-Accounting degree from the University of Houston, Bauer College of Business.

Secretary - Yvonne Green

Mrs. Yvonne Green is the Director for Bank On Houston and is responsible for maintaining the partnership among the City of Houston Controller’s Office, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas-Houston Branch, and numerous Houston financial institutions and non-profit agencies.  The purpose is to assist non-banking citizens establish a financial relationship with a bank or credit union so families can begin building assets, rather than paying high interest rates and one-time fees to so-called alternate financial institutions such as pay-day lenders, auto title loan companies and pawn shops where fees can easily amount to thousands of dollars annually.  Ms. Green also works with numerous area agencies that provide financial education counseling and financial coaching that promote financial well-being.
She received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Texas Southern University, a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Houston, and is a Licensed Master Social Worker.  She served in the Texas State Capital during the 83rd Legislative Session as a policy analyst, worked as the Workforce Development Coordinator for The Workfaith Connection, AmeriCorps supervisor and financial coach for Easter Seals Greater Houston and a certified housing counselor for Easter Seals and Neighborhood Recovery Community Development Corporation.  She enjoys spending time with her family, and also watching people find solutions they didn’t know existed! 

One of her favorite quotes is “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”  ~Aristotle~

Board Member -Tamisha Jones, MD

​Dr. Tamisha Jones currently serves as the Medical Director of Pediatrics at Legacy Community Health—the largest federally qualified health center in Texas composed of 33 locations including 21 school-based health clinics. Dr. Jones attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned both her undergraduate degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a graduate degree in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials. After working briefly as a structural engineer, she returned to school and earned her medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.  Dr. Jones fell in love with treating pediatric patients in medical school, and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Baylor-affiliated hospitals including Texas Children’s Hospital and Ben Taub General Hospital.  After several years in private practice and community clinics, she joined Legacy in 2012.  She became the Medical Director of School-based Health in 2013 and tripled the number of school clinics from 4 to 12 sites during her tenure.  She has served in the role of Medical Director of Pediatrics at Legacy 4 years during which the department has doubled in size from 25 to nearly 60 clinicans. 
Dr. Jones has a special interest in taking care of children in medically underserved communities, and passionately believes in the importance of strong relationships with her patients and their families. Her ability to treat patients as if they were her own family inspires her patient-centered decision making—working as a team with parents and the child. She views the child’s interaction with his or her environment as crucial to the understanding of holistic health.  In addition, she has been involved in the development of several organizational programs to integrate care including transitioning pregnant mothers seamlessly to pediatrics for newborn care, and transitioning adolescents to adult medicine.
Dr. Jones is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.  Dr. Jones resides in Houston, Texas and enjoys spending time with her husband and their three children.   

 

Board Member  - David Leftwich

David Leftwich is a Houston-based writer, editor, and poet. He is the author of the chapbook The City, published by Little Red Leaves Textile Series and he was co-founder and executive editor of Sugar & Rice, a Gulf Coast food and culture journal. His work on the intersection of food, culture, immigration, and history has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, Sugar & Rice, Edible Houston, Food+City, Cite, and Houston Food Finder, where he is an associate editor. He serves as president of Foodways Texas’ advisory board, on the board of Can Do Houston, on Urban Harvest’s farmers market committee, and on Plant It Forward’s advisory board. He is also a research associate at the University of Houston’s Center for Public History.

Chair Emeritus - Lovell Jones, PhD

Dr. Lovell A. Jones is one of the founding members of CAN DO Houston and has served as either Vice Chair or Chair of the Board of Directors since its inception.  Today, Dr. Jones serves as Chair Emeritus of CAN DO Houston.  Dr. Jones is also the founding Co-Chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC), the nation's largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited "Minorities & Cancer," one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is the founding chair of "Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer," the nation’s largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. This biennial conference brings together people from all ethnic communities and social strata to share strategies for reducing the incidence of cancer among these populations. Dr. Jones also has spearheaded regional hearings on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society for his efforts in addressing the underserved.  This is one of numerous honors he has received over his lifetime.  In addition to CANDO Houston and ICC, Dr. Jones is also the founder of the Health Disparities, Education, Awareness, Research, & Training (HDEART) Consortium, now with over 50 Institutions/organizations working to utilizing the “Biopscychosocial (Hokistic) Approach in addressing healH inequities.  In 2013, Dr. Jones retired from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, becoming the first African American Professor Emeritus.  In 2014, the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences also honored him with that title, resulting in Dr. Jones becoming one for the few, if not the only African Americans with dual emeritus status in the University of Texas System.  Dr. Jones then joined the faculty as Professor and Associate Dean for Research.  In 2018 he again retired and stepped down as Executive Director of HDEART C.  Dr. Jones presently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Unity of Houston and leads the GROW Unity Resources For Living Initiative.
 

Join our Board of Directors

We have openings on our Board of Directors. As a member, you will have the opportunity to steer a fast-growing, creative, and locally beloved organization that empowers hundreds of Houstonians to make the healthy choice the easy choice for all.  Please contact Dr. Jasmine Opusunju for more information and to apply.

MEET OUR TEAM

 Executive Director: Jasmine J. Opusunju, DrPH, MSEd, MCHES, CPH

Dr. Opusunju received her DrPH in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Texas School of Public Health (Houston) with a minor in Management, Policy, and Community Health and a concentration in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR).  She has extensive experience in grassroots community engagement, capacity building, program development and evaluation, coalition development, and advocacy to promote environmental changes essential for facilitating the adoption and maintenance of healthy lifestyles.  Dr. Opusunju has spent over 15 years working in health promotion research in various capacities with a particular focus on social justice, health equity, the built environment and childhood obesity, and CBPR.  She has also been engaged in research related to body image, patient navigation, and colorectal cancer screening.  Her background experience extends from the corporate sector in the international food industry for over 15 years.  She is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), has served in various leadership positions (eg. Board Member for the African American Health Coalition; Treasurer, Past President, and Advocacy Committee Chair for the Texas Society for Public Health Education), and is Certified in Public Health (CPH).  Dr. Opusunju has been in academia for over 15 years. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at Baylor University and also serves as the Director for the MPH@Baylor (Online) Program. Dr. Opusunju’s personal mission is to leverage resources to reach the communities in need while empowering communities to be engaged in the creation of effective policies and sustainable systems that will promote health equity.

Coordinator, Community-Driven Initiatives:  Ghia Johnson, MPH

Ghia Johnson is a graduate from Baylor University with a Master of Public Health in Community Health. She received her Bachelor of Science in Animal Sciences and Pre-Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She also received her community health worker certification through Día de la Mujer Latina, Inc.  She currently lives in Houston, Texas and works as the coordinator of community-driven initiatives for CAN DO Houston, a community-based organization that advances healthy living through community-driven solutions. She serves as the graduate executive board member for the Texas Society for Public Health Education (TSOPHE) and seeks to continue her professional growth and networking as she acquires experience in the public health sector. She is pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health to advance and elevate her skills in public health research, program development, implementation, and evaluation. Her future career endeavors include quality leadership and management in community-based public health organizations for under-resourced populations, specifically impacting African American and Hispanic/Latino communities. In her spare time, she enjoys going to hip hop dance classes, working out, traveling, and loving on her precious cat Autumn. ​

Intern Practicum Application

Intern Application