Melinda DuBois, Executive Director, Mental Health Advocates of Western New York has been named Chair of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition; Cheri Alvarez, MS, Chief Operating Officer of Compeer has been appointed Vice Chair and Molly S. Carr, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Family Services, has been named Secretary.
Melinda DuBois
Executive Director, Mental Health Advocates of Western New York
Chair of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition
DuBois has over 25 years of experience managing multidisciplinary health and human service organizations, is a respected administrator with a reputation for building relationships and coalitions and has served as an advocate in Albany and Washington D.C.
She is a current board member of Horizon Human Services, vice president of the Care Management Coalition, a member of the Health Leadership Fellows Cohort 6, past president of the Crisis Services Board of Directors, and is a 200-hour registered yoga instructor trained in trauma sensitive yoga and meditation.
DuBois is a graduate of State University of New York Buffalo with a bachelor of arts in psychology and a master’s in social work.
“It is my honor to serve as the new Chair of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition,” says DuBois. “The Coalition’s efforts over the last five years have done such great work in combating the stigma that surrounds mental illness in our community. MHA is pleased to work side-by-side with our coalition partners to reduce stigma and raise awareness of mental health resources and services for the people of Erie and Niagara counties. I look forward to this leadership role as we continue our collective mission to end stigma.”
Cheri Alvarez is Chief Operating Officer for Compeer, responsible for the day-to-day operations of Compeer Buffalo’s programs as well as supporting the over 40 Compeer affiliates internationally. She graduated from Canisius College with her master’s degree in Counseling Education and proceeded to commit her career to working in the Western New York non-profit community for the past 25 years.
A Business First “40 Under 40” awardee (2015), Alvarez is a graduate of the Health Foundation of Western and Central New York Leadership Fellows program as well as a graduate of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Core Program.
Cheri Alvarez, MS
Chief Operating Officer of Compeer
Vice Chair of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition
Molly S. Carr, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Family Services
Secretary of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition
Dr. Molly Carr is Chief Executive Officer of Jewish Family Services of Western New York. She has a Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy from Niagara University, with her dissertation titled US Refugee Resettlement Policy: A Study Regarding the Intersection of Early Self-Sufficiency and Integration. Carr also holds a MAOL with a focus on Organizational Behavior. She was born and raised in Buffalo and has more than twenty years of experience in refugee resettlement.