Show-Me Philanthropy Statewide Conference & Annual Meeting Sessions

Kristin Cummins joined the Boone County Community Services Department in 2016 and currently serves as Deputy Director. She oversees the administration of the Boone County Children’s Services Fund, which provides more than $12 million in funding to support children, youth, and families in Boone County. She is passionate about improving systems and processes, increasing efficiency, and telling the story of the Children’s Services Fund’s impact. One of her favorite projects is compiling data and designing the department’s annual report. Kristin holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Lindenwood University and a Master of Social Work with an emphasis in Policy, Planning, and Administration from the University of Missouri.

Jessi LaRose, MPH is a Director of Strategic Relationships at Missouri Foundation for Health. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from Saint Louis University. Jessi joined MFH in 2012 and has led MFH’s Firearm Violence Prevention initiative since its inception and served on the Firearm Suicide Prevention and Community Care teams. She has supported local, state, and national efforts to prevent firearm injury and death, including serving on the St. Louis Cure Violence Steering Committee, the St. Louis Violence Prevention Commission evaluation committee, and currently serves at the Vice Chair for the Missouri Suicide Prevention Network and on the Fund for a Safer Future Advisory Committee. Prior to joining MFH, Ms. LaRose was a Project Director at Saint Louis University’s School of Public Health and Social Justice, providing evaluation technical assistance for community healthy eating and physical activity projects as well as assisting with research efforts in this area.

Brian Washington, MHA is a Director of Strategic Relationships at the Missouri Foundation for Health. Since joining the Foundation in 2020 he has worked on initiatives in the areas of firearm violence, crisis response, contraceptive access, and public health. Prior to joining MFH, Brian spent several years at BJC HealthCare in performance improvement and strategic planning spaces and at Generate Health, a non-profit focused on addressing infant mortality within the Black community in the St. Louis region. Brian attended the University of Missouri – Columbia where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 2009 and his Master of Health Administration in 2012. He currently serves as Board President for DeSales Community Development and board member for College Kids; a program that strives to create equitable access to higher education for St. Louis city children. He is also an engaged member of the Mizzou Alumni Association, Mizzou Black Alumni Network, and National Association of Health Services Executives.

Marcel Scaife, is a Director of Strategic Relationships at the Missouri Foundation for Health, where he builds partnerships and supports community-driven efforts to create greater opportunities and improve outcomes for communities. Much of Marcel’s career has centered on supporting young people and families. He previously worked with Fathers & Families Support Center, where his work focused on helping individuals successfully return home and rebuild their lives following incarceration. He also worked with Ready by 21 at United Way, supporting efforts to improve outcomes for young people. Marcel is a community leader dedicated to strengthening families, supporting young people, and building stronger communities. He serves as Board Chair of The Village, Vice Chair of the Epsilon Lambda Charitable Foundation, and a board member of Philanthropy Missouri. Marcel is a graduate of Leadership St. Louis through FOCUS St. Louis and a Civic Collaboration Fellow. He has also participated in the Neighborhood Leadership Fellows program, is a Gladys K. Washington Fellow with the Association for Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) and is part of the Regional Business Council Leadership 100.

Jasmine is the executive director of Build Missouri Health (BMH), a fiscal sponsor and funding intermediary working to change systems towards achieving health equity across Missouri. In addition to serving as a funding intermediary, as a fiscal sponsor BMH provides back office support to unincorporated groups and coalitions working on improving health outcomes of communities throughout the state. Prior to joining BMH, she was with Keecha Harris & Associates, Inc, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Missouri Foundation for Health. Jasmine earned a master of health administration from the Saint Louis University College for Public Health & Social Justice and a BA from the University of Virginia. She is the board chair of the Windward Fund, a national fiscal sponsor focused on environmental and climate justice. Jasmine has also completed programs in climate and health and futurism. Born in Virginia, Jasmine resides in University City, MO with her husband, two children and a grand-tortoise named Casey. In her leisure time, she enjoys reading, cycling, spending time with her family and lounging on the beach.

Phyllis Hardwick is the Executive Director of Community Capital Fund (CCF), a Community Development Nonprofit that provides grants, technical assistance, and coaching to support under-resourced neighborhoods and businesses in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area. A graduate from the University of Missouri, Phyllis began her career in education. She taught in Kansas City Public Schools before working at a local non-profit that recruited, trained, and supported teachers who worked in high-needs schools. Shortly after her work in education, Phyllis transitioned into the private sector. At EPR Properties, a Kansas City real estate investment company, she gained experience in finance and real estate development, while completing her master’s in educational studies. She has remained engaged in civic service by serving on her neighborhood association, non-profit and education boards. In her spare time, Phyllis enjoys running, reading, and cheering on her beloved sports teams. Most importantly, she loves being a mom to her three kiddos and her husband is great too.

Jessica Price is the Evaluation Manager at the Center for Public Health Systems Science at WashU, where she oversees evaluation and implementation projects, including multiple CADCA collaborations, REACH St. Louis with Integrated Health Network, Emotion Builders with Hermann Center, and community health needs assessment reports with local health systems. Her areas of interest include community-engaged and participatory evaluation, developmental evaluation, and qualitative and mixed methods research.

Charvonne Long, MPH, is a research and evaluation professional, behavioral health researcher, and PhD candidate in Social Work at Saint Louis University. She serves as Research and Evaluation Manager at Places for People, where she leads evaluation efforts, analyzes behavioral health outcomes, supports grant development, and works with community and organizational partners to strengthen systems of care. Her research focuses on suicide prevention, youth mental health, cultural competency, and mental health equity, with a particular interest in understanding how social and cultural contexts shape mental health outcomes. Through her research, evaluation, and community-engaged work, Charvonne is committed to using data and lived experience to inform more equitable and responsive approaches to behavioral health.

Ellie Scott, M.A., is the Founder and Principal of Bayleaf Consulting, where she helps mission-driven organizations turn complex ideas, relationships, and systems into strategies that work in practice. With more than a decade of experience across nonprofit, civic, and community-focused work, Ellie specializes in designing participatory processes, strengthening organizational systems, and helping institutions work more effectively with the people and communities they serve. She is a certified facilitator and Strategic Doing practitioner based in St. Louis.

Xinyue Zhang (she/her) serves as the Data and Performance Analyst at the St. Louis Mental Health Board, where she leads work in evaluation, learning, and data storytelling. With over nine years of experience in behavioral health and a Master of Public Health from Washington University in St. Louis, she works closely with community organizations to strengthen evaluation practices, understand program impact, and support continuous improvement. Her approach brings together data, research, and community knowledge, with a focus on making evaluation practical, equitable, and grounded in the experiences of the people behind the data.