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The Pool Fellowship

The Pool Fellowship for Health is a professional development training opportunity for community leaders in the Lehigh Valley with the goal of increasing our local capacity to address complex social issues that impact health through cross-sector partnerships. 

In 2014, The Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust supported The Rider-Pool Foundation in creating the Collective Impact Fellowship Program (now called The Pool Fellowship for Health) to make measurable improvements to complex quality-of-life challenges, such as poverty, homelessness and mental health, within neighborhoods surrounding the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) in Allentown.

In 2021, The Pool Trust and Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) leadership launched the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health to take a place-based, community development approach to improving the health of communities over the long term. Now that the Institute for Health is in operation, the program will continue to be the cornerstone of our effort to strengthen community partnerships and increase the local capacity for addressing complex social issues that impact health.

The program brings together leaders from a variety of sectors – including health care, education, regional planning, human and social services and county government – for 140 hours of training and coaching. Nationally recognized faculty provide training in leadership, communication and messaging, systems change, evaluation methods and community engagement strategies.

Our approach

The Pool Fellowship for Health creates a social network of trusted partners that the Institute for Health will be able to work with as we develop strategies around housing, food and nutrition, education and well-being. In addition, it creates a platform for us to engage national leaders and experts who can bring their expertise to leaders in the Lehigh Valley.

We have seen multiple examples of cross-sector leaders working together in new ways to develop creative solutions to issues. Efforts include a partnership between mental health clinicians, health care and law enforcement addressing mental health in Allentown; county drug and alcohol agencies, law enforcement and health care to address the opioid epidemic, and permanent-housing support and health care working together to address homelessness. We will continue to provide access to thought partners and mentors that can help us advance the work in the Lehigh Valley and learn from what others are doing across the country.

Meet the members of our 8th and current cohort

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Tommy Acevedo, MSW, LCSW

Tommy Acevedo, MSW, LCSW

Director of Integrated Behavioral Health Services, Valley Health Partners Community Health Center
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Cheryl Arndt, PhD, Community Partnership Data Strategy Analyst

Cheryl Arndt, PhD

Community Partnership Data Strategy Analyst, Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health
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Darian Colbert

Darian Colbert

Founder and Executive Director, Cohesion
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Chloe Cole-Wilson

Chloe Cole-Wilson

Co-founder/Artistic Director, Lehigh Valley-based Basement Poetry
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Yusuf Dahl

Yusuf Dahl

Executive Director, The Century Promise
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Yorman DeLaRosa

Yorman DeLaRosa

Community Liaison, Lehigh County
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Ramona Hollie-Major

Ramona Hollie-Major

Chief Operations Officer, COI Energy
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AJ Lemheney

AJ Lemheney

Vice President and Executive Director, Muhlenberg College Division of Graduate and Continuing Education
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Matt Tuerk

Matt Tuerk

Mayor of Allentown
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Deidra Vachier

Deidra Vachier

Chief Executive Officer and President, Community Services for Children
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Max Weintraub

Max Weintraub

President and Chief Executive Officer, Allentown Art Museum
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Missy Wise

Missy Wise

Volunteer Coordinator, Valley Against Sex Trafficking (VAST)

The Pool Fellowship for Health's goal is to increase local capacity to address complex social issues that impact health. 

Over the past eight years, members of The Pool Fellowship for Health have represented the following organizations:

Allentown Art Museum

Allentown Housing Authority

Allentown Public Library

Allentown School District

ArtsQuest

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lehigh Valley

Black Heritage Association of the Lehigh Valley

Center for Disease Control

Century Promise

City of Allentown

Cohesion Network

Communities in Schools of the Lehigh Valley, Inc.

Communities Action Lehigh Valley

Community Bike Works

Community Services for Children, Inc.

Diocese of Allentown

Grace Montessori School

Greater Valley YMCA

Haven House

Iota Communication

James Lawson Freedom School

Jewish Community Center of the Lehigh Valley

Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority

Lehigh County

Lehigh Gap Nature Center

Lehigh Valley Community Foundation

Lehigh Valley Health Network

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission

Michael Baker International

Muhlenberg College

North Penn Legal Services

Pinebrook Family Services

Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley

Ripple Community, Inc.

St. Stephen’s Outreach Center

The Baum School of Art

The Literacy Center

Think Good Leadership

Turning Point of Lehigh Valley, Inc.

Union Baptist Church

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley

Valley Against Sex Trafficking

Valley Health Partners

Valley Youth House

Wildlands Conservancy, Inc.