Meet Our New Co-Director

By Shireen Malekafzali and Lili Farhang

Dear friends and colleagues,

Happy new year! We hope you had a chance for rest and rejuvenation over the holidays.

We are writing with the exciting news that Solange Gould will join Lili as Co-Director of Human Impact Partners in February 2020. We are delighted to bring Solange’s vision, experience, care, and values to our team at HIP. Please join us in welcoming her to the organization!

For those who don’t know Solange, she comes to us with 20+ years of experience advancing health equity, most recently as Chief of the Health Equity Policy and Planning Unit at the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity.

Her many accomplishments include:

• Advancing climate change policies and strategies that center health and equity through partnerships with government agencies and environmental and social justice organizations
• Launching the CDPH Racial and Health Equity Initiative (the Department’s Government Alliance on Race and Equity program)
• Implementing policy and systems change work across sectors such as housing, transportation, land use, workforce development, energy, and natural resources

Through it all, she brought fierce dedication and compassion, and a deep commitment to her staff, colleagues, and community partners.

Solange is intimately familiar with HIP. She has served on our Board of Directors and partnered on research and advocacy initiatives with us, like the Public Health Awakened network. Lili and Solange have known each other since 2009, when Solange participated in a training that Lili facilitated. Even then, Lili remembers Solange’s drive in pushing the public health field to engage in cross-sector policy work, and her caring presence as she convinced Lili to engage in more self-care!

During Solange’s interviews with our Board, staff, and Lili, several themes emerged over and over again, which made her a clear match for HIP. She is 100% committed to public health using its voice and power to confront the inequitable systems of advantage and power imbalances that create health inequities. She believes that government is a critical part of the solution to advancing equity, along with partnering with and supporting grassroots movements. And she brings new expertise to HIP — on climate justice and multi-sector government collaboration — that will strengthen our organization.

In early December, we bid farewell to Jonathan, whose commitment and contributions will continue to shine bright for all of us. We are ever grateful for the legacy he leaves behind. The Board is fully committed to Lili and Solange nurturing their own alchemy, and to developing the path forward together with HIP’s staff.

Thank you, as always, for your partnership. And thank you for your encouragement and support during this exciting time!

In solidarity,

Shireen Malekafzali

Board Chair, Human Impact Partners

and

Lili Farhang

Co-Director, Human Impact Partners