The Trust is pleased to announce Aidil Ortiz Hill, co-founder of Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!) and team lead for their Substance Abuse Prevention work, will join the Trust this month as a Health Care Division program officer.
Aidil will serve as the primary contact for grantees and potential grantees in the Central North Carolina region for the Trust’s Health Care Division. In her role as program officer, Aidil will maintain relationships with various groups—including nonprofits, hospitals, government agencies and local schools—that are key to improving community health. She will convene community and nonprofit leaders around specific issues; work to ensure grantees’ work is in line with the Trust’s long-term strategic goals; and manage Healthy Places NC in Halifax, Rockingham, Edgecombe and Nash counties.
“Through her work with YES!, Aidil has deep knowledge of how to work within communities to transform health. She also brings extensive expertise in youth empowerment—an area we know is important for long-term success in our Healthy Places NC counties,” said Allen Smart, Trust interim president and vice president of programs. “Her prior work around equity and cultural competency and her commitment to ensuring under-resourced communities have what they need to improve health make her an asset to the team.”
At YES!—a nonprofit organization that works in North Carolina and around the country to empower youth to create community change—Aidil has worked alongside youth staff to effectively prevent teen tobacco use and underage drinking. She also specializes in helping organizations become intergenerational as they pursue community change together in the form environmental strategies, systems changes and policy. Aidil has over 15 years of experience working with youth and young adults in various settings, and has successfully worked with youth to pass policies that protect their health and to prevent policies that would impact them negatively.
Her passion for community engagement extends outside of professional commitments where she has served on the Core Leadership Team of REAL Durham, an anti-poverty initiative; and volunteers for Communities in Partnership, Uplift East Durham and the Self Help East Durham Advisory Committee. Aidil holds a master’s degree in counseling from North Carolina Central University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also has extensive training in racial equity and youth empowerment. Aidil lives in Durham.
Trust Program Officer Jehan Benton-Clark, who currently represents the Central part of the state, announced last month she has accepted a position with The Colorado Health Foundation. Aidil will begin working at the Trust in mid-June.