The National Partnership for Women & Families announced Venicia Gray as the new Senior Manager for Maternal and Infant Health on the Partnership’s Health Justice Team. Gray’s hiring is part of the National Partnership’s continued focus on improving maternal health. Gray previously served as Associate Director for Federal and State Affairs for the March of Dimes.

Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, the Vice President for Health Justice, said Gray would enhance the Health Justice Team’s maternal health advocacy. Hernández-Cancio said, “I am very excited to have Venicia join our team. She knows from her work at the state and federal level what it takes to build winning coalitions. Venicia also understands how structural racism drives inequity in our health system and that we need to tackle these injustices head-on so that all birthing people, new parents, and their families can thrive.”

National Partnership President Debra L. Ness, President of the National Partnership, said, “We are so delighted to have Venicia join our organization. We’re gaining someone who has very intentionally devoted her career to underserved communities. Her depth of experience in the policy arena will be a tremendous asset.”

Venicia Gray said, “I am thrilled to join the National Partnership for Women & Families’ Health Justice team to work on maternal and infant health. It is incredible to work for an organization with a clear, cross-cutting lens on equity, and I look forward to working with the team to improve pathways to quality healthcare for all women and families.”

Gray brings 15 years of federal and state policy experience to the job. At the March of Dimes, she promoted the organization’s public policy agenda, focusing on the social drivers of health and health disparities.

Gray previously served as a Special Assistant to the Director at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and as an Education Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education’s White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. While there, she focused on diversity and inclusion initiatives. She spent two years on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Fellow and nearly a decade as a Louisiana legislative caucus staff member.