HEI and ELAYO team co-host Ford Foundation Grantee Partner Convening

Friday February 3, 2012 –

January 19th and 20th, HEI and the ELAYO team co-hosted the Grantee Partner Convening in San Francisco for grantees and community partners involved in the Ford Foundation's Sexuality Research Initiative. Grantees and Community Partners from all six sites across the country came together to share progress, explore emerging common themes and identify opportunities for collaboration. This event also encouraged and gave the opportunity for ELAYO research staff to share what the project has done for them in terms of professional and academic development.

Vanessa Cardona, an ELAYO research assistant/interviewer and current MPH student at SFSU, shared how the project has shaped her academic and professional life, stating that "It is at these times where I feel like the academic knowledge I learned is enriched two fold by the real life experience of working on this research team.  And with ELAYO, these life lessons where we learn by doing are happening all the time." Pictured below: Vanessa Cardona

Above: Miguel Alcalá, Research Assistant/Interviewer, sharing his experience with ELAYO

Above: Vanessa Mercado, MPH, ELAYO Research Assistant/Interviewer

Above: Cynthia Gómez, Director of HEI and PI of ELAYO introducing Margaret Hempel, Director for Sexuality, and Reproductive Health and Rights at Ford Foundation and Rocio Córdoba, Program Officer at Ford Foundation  

*Top photo includes: From left to right, standing: Cynthia Gómez, Abby Paz, Brenda Ortiz, Miguel Torres, Heidi Lucas, Miguel Alcalá and Emily Mann. Sitting: Vanessa Mercado, Vanessa Cardona, Carmen Gómez Mandic and Elodia Villaseñor