Background
From 2013 -2018, prior to her election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Mindy was the Executive Director of the Amherst Survival Center, connecting residents of Amherst, Granby and surrounding towns, to food, clothing, healthcare, wellness, community, and a variety of other services. Under her leadership, the Amherst Survival Center expanded its basic needs programs, increased access to services, and offered more opportunities for the community to engage and participate in the development and delivery of programs. She helped to develop and implement the organization’s strategic plan.
Prior to her work at the Amherst Survival Center, Mindy led statewide programs in Massachusetts to educate staff of drug and alcohol treatment programs, jails, and homeless shelters on issues of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, harm reduction, and opioid overdose prevention. In addition, she directed a training program for health and human service providers to support LGBTQ youth. Her work was recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the International Harm Reduction Association.
Mindy brings to the State House decades of experience as a community organizer, public health educator, nonprofit executive, trainer, program developer, advocate, and congressional aide. She has developed innovative services through partnerships, community education, and community coalitions in Western Massachusetts and across the Commonwealth.
Mindy was a co-founder of the Berkshire AIDS Coalition, served as the Department of Public Health’s Regional Coordinator of its HIV testing program, and started and conducted Massachusetts’ first jail-based HIV education program in the Berkshire County House of Corrections.
She was a member of Amherst Town Meeting, was the co-coordinator of the Amherst campaign to elect Elizabeth Warren to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and the Amherst organizer for the campaign to elect Maura Healey Massachusetts Attorney General in 2014. In 2010, she also founded Make It Better Amherst, a network of allies that formed in response to the suicide epidemic of LGBTQ teens.
Before moving to Massachusetts, Mindy worked for Congressman Ted Weiss (D-NY), opened his lower Manhattan district office, conducted constituent services, advocated for a federal response to the HIV epidemic, organized and worked to prevent the federal government from stationing nuclear weapons in New York Harbor, among other issues.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and completed graduate coursework in adult learning for a masters degree from UMass Amherst and Teachers College Columbia University. She has lived in Amherst for 22 years.