Our Team

The HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign pairs the unique power of local government with the public health expertise of the Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI). The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI) is a unique non-profit resource that builds partnerships across sectors and cultivates innovative solutions to improve health and well-being for all people and communities throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. To learn more, visit www.institutephi.org.

Meet Our Staff

Sydney Daigle

As a Program Manager for IPHI, Sydney oversees implementation and outreach for the HEAL Cities & Town Campaign and the Prince George’s County Food Equity Council (FEC). Sydney works with the Campaign’s Program & Communications Consultant to recruit new municipalities in addition to supporting current HEAL Cities and Towns while they adopt, implement, and promote HEAL policies and practices. For the past six years, Sydney has worked with the FEC, a local independent food policy council of twenty-two diverse members. FEC advances county and state-level food and agriculture policies to promote public health, environmental sustainability, and sound economic development in the local food system.

Sydney is passionate about strengthening local food systems and improving under-served communities’ access to healthy foods. She has over eight years of professional experience working on systems-level public health interventions and local food and farm advocacy. Prior to working with IPHI, she served as the South Carolina Department of Education’s Farm to School & Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Coordinator and as the Sustainability Coordinator at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. She has worked successfully with diverse audiences ranging from school cafeteria staff to policy makers to affect change at the institutional, county, and state-levels.

Sydney is active in her local civic association and sits on multiple advisory committees. In Prince George’s County, she serves as a team leader for Prince George’s County’s Collaborative for Health Equity, Healthy and Safe Food Truck Committee, and Health Department Health Action Coalition’s HEAL Workgroup. Sydney can be reached at [email protected] or 240-253-1036.

Julia Groenfeldt

Julia is the Program and Communications Consultant with the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign. Julia provides communications and outreach support to help cities and towns implement healthy eating and active living policy and practice goals. Julia joined the Institute for Public Health Innovation and the HEAL Campaign in 2016 to work on public health initiatives serving the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area. Prior to joining the HEAL Campaign, Julia worked on grant writing, communications, and program development at food access and community development organizations in Worcester, MA and Washington, DC. Julia earned her B.A. in International Development and Social Change and her M.A. in Community Development and Planning from Clark University. Julia can be reached at [email protected].