Hernitte AltidorPTTC Region 3
Hernitte Altidor is a second-year MSW/MPH student at Howard University. She aims to bring change and educate communities and others with both degrees of knowledge once received.
She has a passion for service and is committed to serving in roles that uplift marginalized communities. In her previous role, she worked as a program manager and lead educator for a nonprofit that provides equitable health education for students in school, pregnant parents, and those in the juvenile justice system. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, dancing, fitness, and having fun in her spare time.
As a prevention fellow, she is actively working with the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health. Her duties include researching best practices within populations, focusing on community health and the Medicaid 1115 waiver.
PTTC Region 3
Tenisha Jones is a third-year doctoral student in school psychology at Howard University. Before attending Howard, she obtained a Master of Educational Policy and Leadership degree from the University of Michigan. She has extensive professional experience in education, having held positions as an middle school behavioral interventionist, high school director of college and career, and collegiate-level success coach.
Her primary research interests include the mental health, well-being, and education of Black girls. One of her current research projects, under the direction of Dr. Celeste Malone, addresses issues of diversity embedded in the practice of school psychology. Another project addresses issues for Black students with autism, under the leadership of Dr. Shanter Alexander. Additionally, she has research experience investigating youth participatory action research programs in Michigan and preschool quality assessments at the High Scope Educational Research Foundation. In tandem with her research, she has presented at national conferences and provided training on her work.
As a fellow, she works at the Maryland Department of Health's Office of Population Health Improvement and Local Prevention Unit to advance her understanding of prevention work. She is currently working on a project to employ SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework's guiding principles of cultural competence to increase positive outcomes for targeted populations within Maryland.
During her time with the Local Prevention Unit, she has evaluated each Maryland jurisdictional FY23/F24 local prevention grant application based on SAMHSA's five opportunities to integrate cultural competence: assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Each grant application will be assessed for adherence to recommended opportunities to incorporate cultural competence as outlined in the grant.
Additional activities to integrate cultural competence will be advised if the plan needs to include the outlined aspect of cultural competence. The information from this evaluation will be used to improve culturally responsive programming, provide feedback to jurisdictions, and inform grant writing for the next cycle.
