The Center for Social Change (CSC) creates positive, impactful community change by addressing hard-to-solve social issues. Our work focuses on health and social services programs including Medicaid, child welfare, food, and education. Leveraging our experience and content expertise, we develop innovative solutions to inform policy-making, program development and the advancement of health and social service initiatives.
Skills and Services
Medicaid Policy and operations experts with years of experience in state and national policy analysis, interpretation of Medicaid regulations, quality and utilization data analysis, waivers, funding, and managed care.
We have engaged tens of thousands of people in our custom training for the myHealthButton and myHealthPortal. These applications put consumers in control of their own health care benefits and services by providing real-time access to their information instantly and securely. Our staff train partners all over the state, in-person and virtually, including beneficiaries, community health workers, and staff from local health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and social service agencies.
Develop and analyze quantitative studies to support data driven decision-making.
Working with clients to develop a respectful approach that recognizes stakeholders as the experts, while developing tools that get clients the answers they need. Trained in facilitation and interviewing techniques, our experts design and implement qualitative studies including interviews, focus groups, and surveys, complete all analysis, and write impactful reports.
Coordinate and serve as the logistics driver for your project needs. Meeting facilitation including running virtual meetings, establishing agendas, keeping notes, establishing document repositories, etc. From a small group meeting to a virtual conference with hundreds of attendees, our staff can facilitate in-person and online gatherings.
Our experts can provide comprehensive assessment of internal organizational capacity to drive equity. We have years of experience stratifying health and social services performance metrics by race/ethnicity, geography, and other demographic factors. From establishing measure lists, developing data collection tools, analysis methodology, reports, and websites, our staff works with clients to develop lasting protocols to assess the equitability of programs and services.
Project Highlights
In a partnership with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association Keystone Center and the Michigan State University Institute for Health Policy to engage selected health and hospital systems to provide technical assistance to help overcome barriers and challenges that prohibit successful planning and implementation of efforts to advance health equity in Michigan. Specifically. MPHI developed learning opportunities for hospital staff on the importance of collecting complete, accurate data on sexual orientation and gender identity, and developed a staff training module on how to collect these data in a way that honors and respects people.
The Moving Equity Forward in Medicaid project provides MDHHS with technical expertise to help identify and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare and health outcomes by focusing on key vulnerable populations in managed care. The CSC led this work at all phases included program design, measure selection, development of measure specifications, design of data collection tool and analysis methodology, writing reports, and analysis of policy and contract language to promote equity.
Convened by MDHHS in 2020, the Michigan Child Welfare Improvement Task Force seeks to address the over-representation of children of color in the foster care system in Michigan. The CSC convenes legislators, advocates, child welfare staff, and other key stakeholders in discussions about the current state, needed changes, and interventions necessary to achieve program goals. The CSC develops project materials, maintains the taskforce website, and drives the data analysis strategy.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the CSC to deliver training for myHealthButton and myHealthPortal. These applications are available to members of Michigan Medicaid, Healthy Michigan Plan, MIChild, and Children’s Special Health Care Services (CSHCS) and function to put control of health care benefits and services into the hands of beneficiaries by providing real-time access instantly and securely. The CSC employs a ‘train the trainer’ approach with service providers for Medicaid consumers to demonstrate how and why they can help their clients use the apps and empower them to take control of their health care data.
The MHA Keystone Center has partnered with the Michigan Public Health Institute and the Michigan State University Institute for Health Policy to host a Health Equity Summit in Michigan. This summit aims to provide an update of state healthcare disparity data, explore how Michigan hospitals can continue to expand upon their work in eliminating disparities and highlight the work that select hospitals are doing to advance health equity for all Michiganders. The keynote speaker, Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins, is a renowned advocate against racism and its effect on public health and breaking the social stigmas relating to racial injustice in healthcare. Dr. Jenkins will use his knowledge and skills to lead the summit discussion.
Joel Wallace, MA
Senior Project Coordinator
Joel Wallace has been with MPHI since 2012 and currently serves a Senior Project Coordinator. His primary responsibility is working with Business Owners in the Department to create annual funding requests to the federal partners at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Food and Nutrition Services. He also coordinates the Comprehensive Informatics Infrastructure Review, a CDC-funded project for the MDHHS that will identify the extent to which large statewide data systems have the capacity to support the identification of disparities in program and service utilization. His skills and experience include project management methods and practice, interpreting and applying regulations, budget analysis, statistical analysis, quality assurance methods and practice, software and application development and design, database development, and HIPAA requirements and patient privacy.
Joel received a B.S. in Mathematics from DePaul University and an M.A. in Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media from Michigan State University.
Monica Trevino, MA
Director of Center for Social Change
Monica Trevino is director of the Center for Social Change (CSC) at Michigan Public Health Institute. She leads a team of staff dedicated to making meaningful change in healthcare service delivery and outcomes for underserved and marginalized populations. Current projects in the CSC include working with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to identify racial/ethnic disparities in programs and services in Medicaid, behavioral health, and special populations. The CSC also supports the Medicaid program in policy analysis, health information technology, program evaluation, consumer engagement, and funding requests and associated reporting from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services through the Advanced Planning Document (APD) process.
She has over 20 years of experience in health care advocacy, including firsthand experience as a Medicaid beneficiary, community health worker, and Medicaid administrator. She has worked in the Medicaid quality improvement space and conceptualized and coordinated the Medicaid Health Equity Project that identified racial and ethnic disparities in care received by Medicaid beneficiaries in Michigan.
Ms. Trevino earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan, and her master’s degree in anthropology from Western Michigan University. She is a doctoral candidate in interdisciplinary health sciences at Western Michigan University, studying disparities in behavioral health services in Medicaid.
Alison Benoit, MPP
Associate Director
Alison Benoit is the Associate Director for the Center for Social Change at the Michigan Public Health Institute. She has been with MPHI since 2015. In her current role she leads a team to deliver trainings, engage consumers and stakeholders across Michigan, and conduct policy and qualitative analyses. Her work focuses on the intersection of consumer engagement and health information technology, Michigan Medicaid, behavioral health, and health equity. Alison earned a Master of Public Policy with a focus on education and health policy from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and business management from Hope College.
Robin Hepfinger
Senior Outreach Coordinator and Trainer
Robin is a Senior Outreach Coordinator and Trainer. She works directly for Michigan Department of Health & Human Services on various projects related to Health Information Technology including responsibility for outreach & training of the myHealthButton/Portal products, Michigan Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program and Michigan Medicaid Health Information Technology Initiatives which include educating on Health Information Exchanges and Public Health Reporting Registries. Robin is a skilled communicator and works primarily with clinical staff, providers, and Medicaid stakeholders. Robin regularly contributes to the qualitative work done in the CSC including interviews, surveys, and focus groups.
Temple Smith, PhD
Strategy and Education Equity Consultant
Temple Smith is the Strategy and Education Equity Consultant in the Center for Social Change in Okemos, Michigan. She is a sociologist. Her research examines the impact of generational poverty on adulthood transition and college matriculation for minority college students, with the goal of supporting the college success of students working to overcome systemic disadvantage. Her work combines theory with empirical findings in order to influence both pedagogical practice, and minority college student retention. Dr. Smith’s work is informed by her own life history, collegiate teaching, and current leadership roles. She has received grants from the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A Detroit native, she earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Michigan State University and is a former fellow of the American Sociology Association National Institute of Mental Health.
Polina Naumova, BA
Project Associate
Polina Naumova is the Project Associate for the Center for Social Change at MPHI. In her role, Polina helps deliver trainings, engage consumers and stakeholders across Michigan, and conduct policy and qualitative analyses. Polina graduated from Michigan State University with two Bachelor of Arts degrees, Women and Gender Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies. She is currently working on a double Master’s program in Social Work and Public Health with a focus on community engagement and policy work at MSU. Previously she interned with Henry Ford Health Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research as a Health Policy Intern focused on Social Determinants of Health in the Detroit area and state and federal legislation.
Sierra Peguies-Khan, MPH
Business Analyst
Sierra Peguies-Khan began her career with MPHI in August 2020 and currently serves as a Business Analyst. Her primary responsibilities are to conduct investigations into the as is state of systems involved in public healthcare as well as analysis of system interfaces, data maps and processes to effectively document existing configurations and enable gap analysis. Sierra has over 10 years of experience in patient health/advocacy, statistical analysis, and health education. She is passionate about health disparities and creating an equitable environment and opportunities for all.
Sierra received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Public Health from Walden University.
Kelly Nowicki, MPH
Senior Program Manager
Kelly Nowicki is a Senior Program Manager with the Center for Social Change at Michigan Public Health Institute. Kelly joined MPHI in 2022 and currently serves as the Project Manager for the Comprehensive Informatics Infrastructure Review, a CDC-funded project for the MDHHS that will identify the extent to which large statewide data systems have the capacity to support the identification of disparities in program and service utilization.
Kelly has over 10 years of public health experience addressing an array of content areas. She started her career as a HIV/AIDS Advisor when she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. After completing her service and earning a Master of Public Health, Kelly worked as a Research and Evaluation Manager for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC). At AFC, she worked with over 30 external agencies to plan, coordinate, and evaluate a wide variety of public health programs including HIV/STI, LGBTQ+, mental health, substance use, and housing-related programs. Kelly then worked in Pakistan as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the World Health Organization, working in partnership with experts from UNICEF, CDC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Government of Pakistan to monitor and evaluate Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program. Most recently, Kelly worked at a small rural hospital in Southwest Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. She served first as the hospital’s Grant Writer, identifying and securing new funding opportunities, and later as the Manager of Maternal Child Health Outreach Programs where she oversaw the development and implementation of several high-level programs aimed at improving health outcomes for women and youth residing in a resource-limited area.
Kelly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with specializations in Women, Gender & Social Justice, and Peace & Justice Studies from Michigan State University, as well as a Master of Public Health with a focus on International Health and Development from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Monty Bieber
Health Data System SME
Monty Bieber comes to MPHI after a lengthy career in Information Technology, particularly in the area of relational databases and data warehousing. He spent several years at the State of Michigan where he was a manager in the Database Section of the (then Department of Social Services) Bureau of Information Services. From there he spent several years as a database specialist with Honeywell-Bull (later Bull Information Systems), specializing in the Teradata database as a charter member of the Bull Relational Assistance Team. Upon leaving Bull he worked as a presales technical consultant and later a professional services manager for the Teradata Corporation. His most recent experience was as a Senior Consultant with Optum supporting the Michigan Medicaid program and the MDHHS data warehouse. Monty and wife Nancy live in Holt, have three adult daughters and six amazing grandchildren.
Location & Info
Center for Social Change
2438 Woodlake Circle
Okemos, MI 48864
Ph: 517-324-8300
Fax: 517-324-6092
Email: csc@mphi.org
Website: michiganhealthit.org
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