Community Ambassadors
Stephanie Crawford is a Boston Public School kindergarten teacher and owner of Belle Joie Doula & Family services. She is the commissioner for the Ellen Story Commission on Postpartum Depression, and serves as a member on the Massachusetts Maternal Health Task Force. Crawford holds positions on committees, boards, commissions, and coalitions in Massachusetts that strive to identify disparity, present solutions, and implement impactful change within communities. She is also an active community organizer, trainer, advocate and consultant.
In 2011, Crawford founded the nonprofit Propa City Community Outreach to assist mothers impacted by pregnancy loss along with their families and friends, which she founded after her son Simeon Jelani was stillborn on February 7, 2011. Crawford named the Grief Support program “Team Simeon” in honor of her son and gave it the tagline “Because He STILL was BORN”. The success of this initiative led to its expansion to include people of all ages being trained to advocate for positive healing in themselves and in their communities. Crawford received her master’s degree from Lesley University in moderate disabilities and is currently in the early childhood doctoral program at UMASS Boston. She is the mother of baby angel Simeon and her rainbow baby Amani, and godmother to 19 beautiful children: daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend. She has made it her mission to be a light to souls who feel lost using the purpose and skills that God has given her.
Cynthia Jones is CEO of A Path to Wholeness Inc. She is also a mother, grandmother, community activist, entrepreneur, and businesswoman who fights against injustices in Boston neighborhoods. Previously, Jones was a community research assistant at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
She has been involved in community-based research for several years and is passionate about ensuring that research reflects all populations and people groups. She empowers communities and their residents through education, facilitation, program management, volunteerism, spiritual support, and collaboration. Her work has been honored by state reps and city councils alike. Jones believes that information is the key to taking action for change. In doing so, the world is changed one person at a time. She holds a degree in communications and business from Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Amanda Miner is a strategic partnerships and community engagement professional with a background in program management, education, and research development. She currently works with Amazon Robotics, where she manages multi-institutional collaborations to accelerate innovation in robotics research and university relations.
Miner previously served as associate director of diversity outreach in research at Boston University School of Medicine, advancing inclusive research initiatives to support underrepresented scholars and grant development. Her commitment to community-based work includes her current roles as a community ambassador for Waterways, connecting Roxbury and Dorchester residents to Boston’s waterfront, and as an emerging leader for the Boston Public Library (BPL) Fund, helping to shape the library’s vision and ensure BPL continues to meet its commitment as free to all. Miner also served as an outreach specialist for the Healthy Bowdoin Geneva with the Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts, supporting the Beth Israel Deaconess Community-based health initiative. As a former SPARK Boston council member, she helped bridge the gap between city hall and young adult residents. Miner holds a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.