Damary Rodriguez
Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator
Esperanza United

Damary Rodriguez is the Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator for Esperanza United. She
provides training and technical assistance to advocates across the U.S. and territories. Damary worked as an advocate at their local domestic and sexual violence program and state coalition providing advocacy to survivors and advocates in her community and across Pennsylvania. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies (with a concentration on Latin American History and Culture) from Penn State University. Damary is currently Board Chair for the LGBT Center of Central PA and originally hails from New York City. She is a proud daughter of immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic.

Anne Marie Montijo, LCSW
Deputy Director for Strategic Initiatives
Association for Mental Health and Wellness

  In 2015, Anne Marie Montijo joined Association for Mental Health and Wellness as the Deputy Director for Strategic Initiatives. She leads multiple programs, has oversight of organizational risk management and community partnership development. With over 30 years of experience in social work, including seven as an administrator in higher education, Anne Marie has extensive experience in child and adolescent mental health as both a practitioner and administrator. She provides executive leadership in managing the organization’s Community Impact Department which includes: Mental Health education to the community, support groups, a HELPLINE, and Anti-Stigma work. She  also chairs the agency wide Incident Review Committee and Organizational Diversity Equity and Inclusion Initiatives, Student Internship program and Children’s Services. Anne Marie also provides clinical supervision and support to staff in rehabilitation and recovery programming and children’s care management. A graduate of Stony Brook School of Social Welfare, Anne Marie went on to lead North Suffolk Mental Health Center’s adolescent boy’s community residence. After 7 years she joined South Oaks Hospital as the Director of Child and Adolescent Community Services. There she led an extensive outreach effort working with children’s mental health agencies across Long Island and the five boroughs. Offering numerous educational workshops to schools, advocacy organizations, hospitals, higher education and other venue she established a reputation as a tireless advocate for children’s mental health all while trying to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Anne Marie has presented both nationally and internationally on topics such as Culture and Self-Harm, and Resiliency. She also worked in higher education as the Field Education Director in a local social work program. Anne Marie has extensive volunteer experience in cancer services having worked with The Eye Cancer Foundation in NYC since 2006; leading patient support services and organizing patient and family luncheons on Long Island and New York City. Since 2011, she has also volunteered for the Melanoma Research Foundations CURE OM initiative. CURE OM stands for Community United in Research and Education of Ocular Melanoma. A Steering Committee Member for CURE OM she has helped to spearhead eleven Patient and Caregiver Symposiums across the country. Often leading groups at these symposiums for newly diagnosed patients with ocular melanoma and presenting workshops on resiliency. She has also been part of the Host Committee for the Wings of Hope Gala in New York City; a fundraising event for the Melanoma Research Foundation. She has a keen understanding of the impact of rare or orphan diseases on one’s mental and physical health as she is a long-term survivor of ocular melanoma. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others” Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds, PhD
President/Chief Executive Officer
Family and Children’s Association (FCA)

An experienced, dynamic and committed public health professional, Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Family and Children’s Association (FCA), based in Garden City, NY. Since it began as an orphanage in 1884, Family and Children’s Association (FCA) has been committed to caring for Long Island’s vulnerable children, youth, seniors and families while helping them prepare for successful futures. The organization offers community-based programs for struggling families, at-risk adolescents, vulnerable seniors, and adults with substance use disorders. Today, FCA is one of Long Island’s largest health and human services organizations with an annual budget of $24 million, 360 staff, 200 volunteers and 40+ programs. Since arriving at FCA, Dr. Reynolds has helped secure more than $18 million in new funding and launched several innovative services, including three new recovery centers. He also re-branded and modernized the agency’s identity and during COVID, spearheaded a move to a new 30,000 square foot headquarters.

From 2009-2014, Dr. Reynolds served as Executive Director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD), an organization that provides substance abuse screenings, brief interventions and referrals to addiction treatment, as well as professionally-facilitated family interventions and anger management services to adults and adolescents. Under Dr. Reynolds’ leadership, LICADD pioneered evidence-based K-12 substance abuse prevention programs in several Long Island schools, initiated a new mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents and expanded LICADD’s Employee Assistance Program. During his tenure, LICADD’s revenues tripled, and the number of families served per month increased nine-fold.

Prior to joining LICADD, Dr. Reynolds worked for the Long Island Association for AIDS Care for 19 years, where he started out doing case management and finished his tenure as Vice President for Public Affairs, responsible for government relations, resource development, strategic marketing, and communications. In 1997, he co-founded BiasHELP of Long Island, an organization dedicated to assisting victims of hate crimes and their families. As BiasHELP’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Reynolds secured federal, state and local grants and launched a wide array of crime victim assistance services and school-based violence prevention programs.

Dr. Reynolds currently serves on New York's Heroin and Opioid Task Force, the Executive Committee of the Nassau County Heroin Prevention Task Force, Suffolk County’s Heroin/Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, the board of the New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Nassau's Family Violence Task Force, Suffolk County’s Welfare-to-Work Commission and he co-chairs the Huntington Town Opioid Task Force. He serves as a board member and treasurer of Lightning Warriors, a youth triathlon team, and serves on the board of the Long Island Association (LIA).

Dr. Reynolds is Vice Chair and remains the longest serving member of the NYS AIDS Advisory Council, first appointed by the NYS Senate Majority Leader in 1994 and reappointed five times since then. Dr. Reynolds has also served on the NYS Governor’s Recreational Marijuana Task Force, been chair of Nassau County’s Youth Board, co-chaired Nassau County Comptroller's Non-Profit Steering Committee and served on the transition teams for County Executives Laura Curran (D) and Bruce Blakeman (R).

Dr. Reynolds has served as a consultant and grant reviewer for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at statewide and national health and human service conferences.

He has authored more than 250 news and op-ed articles that have appeared in a wide variety of publications and is consistently used as an expert source for substance use, addiction, HIV/AIDS and human/civil rights information by local and national radio, television, online and print outlets. Dr. Reynolds has received numerous awards for his community service and leadership and was named one of the “most influential Long Islanders” each year 2010-2022 by the Long Island Press. Dr. Reynolds has received leadership awards and honors from the Simple Hope Foundation, Caron Treatment Centers, Strong Youth, Inc., the Long Island Recovery Association, Mainstream House, LICADD, Long Island Business News (Long Island Business Hall of Fame, 2021) and Herald Newspapers (Top Business Leaders in Nassau County, 2021). Dr. Reynolds is also a graduate of Energeia, a regional stewardship program spearheaded by Molloy College. In 2022, he received a Long Island Excellence in Healthcare Award from Herald Newspapers and a “Hero of Hope” award from CN Guidance and Counseling Services.

Dr. Reynolds holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dowling College (1988), a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) with a specialization in health administration from Long Island University (1997) and a doctorate from Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare (2007). Dr. Reynolds’ doctoral dissertation was on “Using the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change to Explore Substance Use Patterns and HIV Risk Behaviors in a Suburban Sample.” He has been a Certified Employee Assistance Professional since 2011.

A lifelong Long Islander and cancer survivor, Dr. Reynolds is an avid marathon runner having completed 15 marathons and is also an Ironman triathlete, a passion he’s used to raise much-needed funds for FCA, LICADD, United Way of Long Island and other local/national charities.