Alex Parks

I. Alexandra Parks is responsible for cultivating and establishing partnerships across different sectors, including national stakeholders, youth-serving organizations, labor unions and other nonprofits that reach youth and priority populations. Through her current position at Truth Initiative, Parks oversees a robust portfolio of national partners who are working to take a stance on tobacco through education and youth leadership programs, curriculum development and advocacy campaigns.

Parks has 20 years of public health experience, including working with local, state and national organizations. She joined Truth Initiative in 2004 as a bilingual call center counselor and then later became program manager of training and technical assistance, assisting grantees and states in developing and implementing customized TAT plans to support the development, implementation and assessment of community programs. Most recently, Parks led the Truth Initiative Tobacco-free College Grant Initiative aimed at advancing campus policies at more than 100 historically black colleges and universities and community colleges across the nation.

Prior to Truth Initiative, Parks worked in the mental health field as a program manager for Project Resilience. She received her graduate degree in health promotion management and undergraduate degree in Sociology from Marymount University. She is a certified health education specialist as designated by The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. and holds various certifications, including for a tobacco treatment specialist, basic tobacco intervention skills for maternal and child health instructor and a certificate in “Fundamentals of Qualitative Research” from RIVA Training Institute.