Former Executive Director Carol Brady was named the inaugural recipient of the Community Leadership Award, which is now named in her honor for her 16 years of accomplishments at the helm of the Coalition and continued passion and dedication to maternal and child health at the Florida Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV).

Each year, the Board of Directors recognizes a participant and volunteer board member. The Community Leadership Award allows the Board to now recognize another key figure in the efforts of the Coalition — someone in the community who has devoted their time, resources, funds and expertise to advancing Maternal and Child Health in Northeast Florida.

During her time as Executive Director, Carol helped grow the Coalition from a small Healthy Start-focused agency within the North Florida Regional Council to a thriving non-profit that leverages resources to reach not only pregnant women and babies, but women in their preconception years, fathers and teens.

Carol can always be found on the cutting edge of Maternal and Child Health. She was an early adopter of the Perinatal Periods of Risk and Fetal & Infant Mortality Review processes, both of which led the Coalition to apply for and receive funding for 15 years for the preconception health-focused Magnolia Project. In 2009, Carol took a broader approach to maternal and child health by incorporating the life course theory into the Coalition’s programs.

Beyond her contributions in the region, Carol is recognized at the state and national level as a leader in maternal and child health. She received the Florida Public Health Association’s Maternal and Child Health Award, the National MCH Epidemiology Award for Effective Practice at the Community Level and she was a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Select Panel on Preconception Care, which developed recommendations to address the health of women before pregnancy.

Prior to the Coalition, she served as executive director of Florida Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, a statewide maternal/child health advocacy group, for eight years. Carol continues to lend her expertise and skills to maternal and child health as Project Director of Florida’s Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting initiative.