Executive Director inspired by heroes who have worked to support vulnerable communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
Impact Global Health Alliance Global is proud to announce that Executive Director Andrew Herrera was recently selected by the Triangle Business Journal for its 40 Under 40 list. The awards recognize outstanding professionals under the age of 40 for their contributions to their organizations and to the community. This year’s class was selected from a pool of more than 200 nominations.
“These winners reflect the entrepreneurial spirit and the economic prowess of the diverse community in which we live and work,” said Triangle Business Journal Publisher and Raleigh Market President Jason Christie. “The Triangle is a better place because of the efforts of these honorees. I’m proud to know that the future of this area is in such good hands.”
Amidst the global pandemic, Herrera stepped in to lead and serve communities being overlooked during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. As the global community acted quickly to slow the spread of the virus, Herrera led his team by quickly creating education materials and action plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at Impact Global Health Alliance’ project sites in rural areas of the world. Within days, communities in the highlands of Guatemala and rural Kenya were receiving information in their native language about what the coronavirus was, the importance of social distancing, how to make face masks, hand-washing recommendations and more.
Locally, Herrera and his partners in Raleigh and across North Carolina, recognized that most of the informational literature on the Coronavirus was in English. This led them to question how the state’s Latinx community was being educated about the dangerous virus, necessary measures they needed to take for themselves and their families and where they could find resources. Herrera led the development of a tool for Spanish-speaking volunteers to reach out to North Carolinians in Spanish with evidence-based information about the coronavirus and how to stay safe. To date, more than 500 volunteers have reached more than 10,000 families with life-saving information.
In 2020, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services tapped Impact Global Health Alliance, with Herrera at the helm, to help lead and implement a Community Health Worker program across the state. Impact Global Health Alliance partnered with 19 organizations to train more than 200 community health workers to bring community based Covid relief, education and vaccine efforts to more than 160,000 unique individuals living in underserved communities.
“I am honored to receive this recognition and to be named among a group of incredible young leaders across the Triangle. I am proud to be working every day to make our world better, and I couldn’t do it without the support of my family, colleagues and the Impact Global Health Alliance Global Board of Directors,” said Herrera. “If the pandemic has taught me anything it’s that this is all worth it. Working hard to support our community has been tough and there are incredible heroes who inspire me every day, who have done so much more than me. I have a responsibility to work as hard as I can because it is worth it. If one more person can have the information and access they need to health, it is worth it.”
