Meet Our Programs Manager, Dawn Porter

On October 5, the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas announced $5.9 million in grant funding that had been awarded to various organizations. The Arkansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was one of the organizations that received part of this funding. 

The Arkansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention received a three-year grant which will help to expand suicide prevention efforts across the state. It allowed the chapter the ability to hire a Programs Manager. 

On September 18, Dawn Porter began her role as the Programs Manager for the Arkansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 

Dawn Porter worked in collaboration with community partners for over ten years to prevent child injury and death including suicide prevention. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas, with a Masters of Science with an emphasis in Health Promotion. She was awarded one of two CDC-supported regional injury prevention fellowships in 2021. Her fellowship focused on the development of a suicide prevention resource digital platform for communities across Arkansas in collaboration with multiple organizational partnerships, including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 

She was a contributing author of a book chapter "Building Injury Prevention Capacity Through Community Partnership" in the Hospital-based Injury and Violence Prevention Programs. She is currently in her third year of the Doctoral of Leadership in Equity and Inclusion program at the University of Central Arkansas. Her dissertation focus is suicide prevention from the lens of leadership. 

You can find out more about the Blue & You Foundation for Healthier Arkansas Grant Awardees here.