Linda joined Care Share in the fall of 2008.  Linda is responsible for innovation, strategic direction, and capacity building. She provides on-site technical assistance with expertise in collaboration building, Collaborative Network development, strategic planning,  collective impact and leadership development.  Previous to her position as the Director of Innovation and Capacity Building, Linda Kinney served as the Executive Director and Deputy Director of Care Share Health Alliance, Executive Director of the North Carolina Association for Healthcare Access and Director of Health Access for the Buncombe County Medical Society Foundation.  During her tenure with the Buncombe County Medical Society, she directed Project Access and was instrumental in replicating the model in communities across North Carolina. Linda has a background in fundraising and community organizing through her work with the Girls Scouts of Western North Carolina and the United Farm Workers in South Texas.  Linda received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from University of Wisconsin at Madison and her Master’s of Health Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Shaunessy Lofton is a North Carolina native and Public Health professional. She received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Community Health Education from her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During her studies as a masters student, she also obtained a certificate in Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities from East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine. As a public health professional, Shaunessy has contributed greatly to the NCDHHS’s NC Community Health Workers statewide initiative, developing a toolkit where she provided technical assistance for Advanced Medical Homes to integrate and optimize community health workers into their clinics. She believes that this work is integral to understanding the Social Determinants of Health that contribute to one’s health status. Shaunessy advocates for true equity being a priority in all care systems and knows that there is always space for bidirectional learning.

Shaunessy‘s professional goal is to normalize a culture that prioritizes equitable measures in research, implementation, and integration of strategies. Her dream is to live in a world where there’s a normalized culture that enables patients to be empowered in clinical settings to discuss biological, cultural, social, and psychological perspectives that contribute to health outcomes.  Shaunessy has a passion for bringing qualitative data and the community’s voices to all decisions being made on the behalf of a community having created and facilitated many focus groups and advisory boards to help inform the work being done. During Shaunessy‘s spare time, you will generally find her volunteering in vulnerable communities with local organizations, spending time with her daughter, cooking, or traveling.

Erin Storie is a native North Carolinian, born in Western Hickory, NC and raised in Northeastern Gates, NC. She holds a Bachelor of Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. From 2014-2022, she worked at Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center, located in Ahoskie NC, first as a Special Populations Outreach Worker and later as the Communications & Advocacy Coordinator. While at RCCHC she worked to ensure patients were connected to affordable healthcare services and advocated for funding of community health centers and increased access to care for underserved populations, including undocumented and Low English Proficiency individuals.

She also provided medical interpretation services to Spanish speaking patients and their families. As Communications & Advocacy Coordinator, she handled communications for the health center during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on providing culturally appropriate, evidence-based information. She was also the lead for RCCHC’s Health Equity Workgroup which oversaw changes to quality improvement methods and DEI culture to better serve both staff and patients. When Erin isn’t at work, she enjoys spending time with her family, and trail running, especially with her two dogs.