Ede crittle, FOUNDER OF HEALTHY COMMUNITIES COALITION

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Ede Taylor-Crittle, affectionately known as “The Community Lady”, is an agile professional with extensive experience spanning community engagement, volunteer management, collaborative planning, program design, grant writing, and coalition building. 

For more than two decades, she convened diverse stakeholders to create innovative programming on which communities continue to build. Ede believes grassroots organizations are the heart of the community and key to sustainable change and healthier outcomes. 

In 2010, Ede was invited to serve on a Community Advisory Board at Johns Hopkins. The experience left her underwhelmed as she felt her presence was solely required to check a community-engagement box. In 2011, she joined Johns Hopkins Office of Community Health where she forged strong relationships among community partners, physicians, and researchers to plan and execute major projects promoting equitable health and wellness.  

 
Ede launched HCC to provide an open and transparent environment for diverse stakeholders to promote community-driven research and address the following charges:

· Create academic research partnerships that maximize grassroot organizations’ impact on the social determinants of health. 

· Prepare grassroots organizations to better understand the role of research in the delivery of services, programs and ministries, and highlight the benefits of participating in community academic-research partnerships.  

· Operate from an equitable position of power to mitigate the negative connotation of the word “research” by learning and leading initiatives that holistically strengthen and empower those we serve. 

 
Among her many accolades, Ede is most proud of her Johns Hopkins Martin Luther King, Jr. Award. She holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Chicago, and the Certificate in Nonprofit Management Essentials from Northwestern University Kellogg Center of Executive Education in partnership with Allstate Foundation.  She currently serves as a Merit Reviewer for PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) and Northwestern University ARCC.

Ede lives on the southside of Chicago with her loving husband.