Jodeanne Bellant, MD,

Board Secretary

Jody has 27 years experience in Pediatrics, and is currently working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center as Coordinator of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioners and In-House Physicians. She is the co-writer/editor for two parenting study group guides: “Raising Our Daughters,” and “Raising Our Sons,” which empower parents to connect with their kids, communicate respectfully, network within their communities and deal with the tough issues facing their kids in today’s world. Dr. Bellant also facilitates compassionate communication workshops for family, medical and business groups, has served as a Board member for a large variety of non-profit organizations serving spiritual, educational and medical needs worldwide and has been a Foster Parent for the State of Oregon. Dr. Bellant co-founded an Oregon non-profit foundation that supports universal access to healthcare and education: Medical and Educational Relief International, Inc. (MERIA, Inc). Dr. Bellant lives with Stephen, her husband of 28 years, a a small village of neighbors, and a host of indigenous, riparian wildlife on her houseboat moorage in Portland, OR. She is mother to three dynamic young adults, Maya, Gabriel and Joel.

Antoinette Edwards, Board Member

Antoinette has spent her lifetime engaged in community activism. She is a tireless and passionate worker who has provided over 25 years reaching out to the most vulnerable populations in our community providing leadership, assistance, support, policy development, service provisions and advocacy for children and families of North, Northeast Portland. Antoinette is featured on Portland’s Women Making History Mural, the first large scale mural in Portland that pays tribute to the contributions of local women community leaders. She received the 2009 Gladys McCoy Award that was established in 1994 to honor those who have given outstanding service in the area of community service and citizen involvement. As a trainer and presenter, she is a well known motivational speaker and has led multiple trainings on diversity and cultural competency. She currently works for the Mayor of Portland as a liaison between the Portland Police, the community, and young people engaged in gang activity. She is an active board member for the Portland PFLAG Chapter and co-founded the Portland Black Chapter of PFLAG. She is known by all as a dynamic leader.

Heidi Mann, Board Member

Heidi has been the teacher and director at Wood Haven Preschool in Beaverton, Oregon since 2004. The school focuses on nature based early education through creative play, family involvement, gardening and outdoor exploration in all weather. Ms. Mann has a degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Special Education and a focus on Multicultural Education from Indiana University. She also has a Master's degree in Education specializing in Ecological Leadership where her culminating project was the creation of a model for outdoor kindergarten. Her professional interests include Nature Deficit Disorder, Place Based Learning, Garden Based Education, and Waldorf Education. She taught on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana where she enjoyed the overlap between nature based education and indigenous paradigms. She has designed curriculum for after school literacy programs in North East Portland and she has facilitated summer camps for twenty years.

Kim Wheeler,Board Member

Dina Yerex,Board Member

John White, Ph.D., OTR/L,
Board Member

John has enjoyed a career in occupational therapy for over thirty years and is currently a professor and the director of the School of Occupational Therapy at Pacific University. His clinical work as an OT has led him to practice in North and South Carolina, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, and Malaysia, primarily working with people with physical disabilities, but he has been an OT in mental health settings. As an educator, John has taught at the University of Southern California, Brenau University, and Pacific University. His research interests include occupational science, disability policy, OT in the Corrections system, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.