2024 Leadership Awards & Celebration

Jennyfer Mesa is the Executive Director of Latinos En Spokane, a Latino and immigrant-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on supporting the Latino and immigrant population in Spokane County. As Executive Director, Jennyfer has significantly increased cultural visibility, health equity, and community livability for Latino and immigrant communities in Eastern Washington by guiding the organization’s strategic direction, developing a diverse staff and consultants, and providing strategic guidance to city and state agencies. Her background in Urban and Regional Planning, housing development, and cross-cultural community development has empowered her to lead impactful programs that directly challenge systemic inequities affecting Latino and immigrant families.

A dedicated advocate for immigrant rights, cultural community development, and social justice, Jennyfer has been at the forefront of countering Border Patrol’s unlawful immigration sweeps and racial profiling, which target and destabilize immigrant communities. By combining community organizing with legal advocacy, she was pivotal in securing policy changes safeguarding immigrants in Washington State. In addition to her immigration advocacy, Jennyfer is deeply committed to advancing health equity for underserved communities. Under her leadership, Latinos En Spokane has implemented crucial health initiatives to address disparities in healthcare access, especially for uninsured Latino populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennyfer has championed culturally responsive care and broader healthcare reforms in Washington State, ensuring that immigrant communities receive the support they need. Through her work in health equity, economic empowerment, and immigrant advocacy, Jennyfer continues to shape Spokane into a more inclusive and supportive community for Latino and immigrant residents.

Liz Baxter is CEO of the North Sound ACH, which works to advance health, equity, social justice, and wellbeing across five counties in the northwest corner of Washington, which sit on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish people.

Before joining North Sound ACH, Liz was Executive Director of the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI), an Oregon nonprofit committed to building vibrant communities of health by advancing policies, plans, and practices that address the root causes of Oregon’s most pressing health concerns. She also spent seven years as Executive Director of We Can Do Better, an Oregon nonprofit founded with former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, an organization that believes small groups of people can have great impact, and influence the state and national debates on health and health reform.

Liz has spent her career in executive positions that build bridges between complex policy discussions and the public’s desire to understand and weigh in on these issues. She often plays the role of “translator” of technical knowledge for those who don’t live inside the policy world. She is an innovative disruptor of policies and strategies, working to create spaces where power is shared, especially by those who most often have not had the experience of influencing decision makers.

Liz has her undergraduate degree in social work, two years of graduate study in gerontology and a Master’s Degree in Public Health.

Trish Millines Dziko is a change agent, mentor, and advocate for children of color. In 1996 she left her successful 17 year career in the tech industry to ensure students of color had the same opportunities she had. Trish is the cofounder, Executive Director, visionary and strategist behind the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) — one of the leading education non-profits educating children of color to their full potential.

Through Trish’s leadership, TAF transitioned from out of school programs to become a statewide leader in public education, operating TAF Academy (a 6th to 12th grade, award-winning public school co-managed with the Federal Way Public School District), and created TransformED that partners with public schools to create healthy and safe learning environments that center student voice and cultivate students into socially conscious and self-aware critical thinkers, problem-solvers, ideators, creators, and leaders. In addition, Trish led TAF through the creation of the Network for EdWork designed to recruit, retain, and develop teachers of color for our Washington State public schools.