Founder/CEO
Rosie’s work focuses on building strong partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and government entities to address critical issues like food security, healthcare access, and educational disparities. Through GROW Initiative GA’s “full circle” framework, she tackles the root causes of community barriers using data-driven strategies and culturally sensitive programming. Her advocacy extends to policy work in education, health, and nutrition, where she promotes equitable, culturally appropriate, and linguistically inclusive resources.
Passionate about fostering inclusivity and collaboration, Rosie is a tireless advocate for the rights and opportunities of diverse communities, working to create pathways to success for those facing educational and economic barriers. In addition to her work at GROW, she is committed to expanding the organization’s reach, securing funding, and advocating for systemic changes that uplift low-wealth, underserved populations. Her vision and leadership continue to drive GROW Initiative GA’s mission to build a more equitable, thriving society.
Outside her professional work, Rosie volunteers with mentorship programs and nurtures her love for gardening, cultivating a backyard oasis that reflects her dedication to growth, both in the community and her own life.
Board Member
Tina is an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor and has earned numerous awards for sales and service. She is actively involved with several prestigious boards, including Effingham Health Systems, the American Hospital Association, and the Savannah Interagency Diversity Committee.
A community advocate, Tina also serves as a Balloon Artist, teaching kindness and creativity through “Bumble Bee Ballooning.” She and her husband Alvis, who have been married for 40 years, reside in Effingham County with their son, a Savannah College of Art & Design graduate. Tina enjoys global mission work and folklore storytelling.
Board Member
Originally from Norfolk, VA, Dorothea moved to Effingham County in 2013, where she has become a vibrant community member. She serves as a Production Manager at her church and has actively contributed to her profession by chairing the Social Responsibility Committee and participating in Emerging Leaders, a program aimed at enhancing work productivity and staff morale.
Dorothea is also engaged with several key organizations, including Business Network International (Rincon Chapter), the Effingham Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers. Her commitment to both professional excellence and community service highlights her dedication to making a positive impact.
Board Member
After completing her medical degree at Javeriana University School of Medicine (Bogota, Colombia) in 2007, she participated in the development and implementation of a surveillance program of birth defects, started a DNA bank with samples from infants with congenital defects, and developed a training program for medical staff to screen for birth defects.
During her postdoctoral fellowship and Master’s degree, her research in basic nutritional sciences focused on identifying factors associated with pregnancies complicated by birth defects, specifically midline field defects. She developed a laboratory assay to measure antibodies targeting folate receptors. The assay was effective to measure antibodies in a diversity of tissue samples (plasma, serum, placenta) in pregnancies complicated with neural tube defects, congenital heart defects and orofacial clefts. She also discovered a novel mechanism of teratogenicity of valproic acid, a common anti-epileptic drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorders worldwide which is known to cause a variety of birth defects.
She then pursued a PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 2020. During her studies, she did secondary analyses to identify factors associated with anemia in young children from Guatemala and Haiti. Her research to date has focused on identifying nutrition disparities and developing, implementing, and evaluating nutrition interventions (including some with micronutrient supplements) in Latin America and the US.
More recently, she has assessed barriers and facilitators to replacing packed snacks for fresh fruits and vegetables in childcare programs in urban and rural Georgia, and implemented two online randomized controlled trials, the first assessing the effectiveness of lactation cookies in objective and subjective measures of milk production; and the second trial assesses the effectiveness of an online digital wellness intervention in diet quality, weight loss and other secondary outcomes of overweight and obese US adults, relative to standard of care.
With her diverse background in medical and nutrition and implementation sciences, she has supported primary and secondary population-based nutrition and health studies and health studies across six different countries in Latin America and the US in a diversity of settings.
Board Member
Her most recent position at Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO), Quality Improvement Specialist working on improving community outcomes related to Behavioral and Acute Medical Care Coordination, Readmission Prevention Projects and the Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Project. Before joining HSAG, she was the Quality Improvement/Patient Safety/Regulatory Compliance Director responsible for developing, coordinating, and administering hospital-wide performance improvement activities impacting patient health outcomes, and promoting safety and customer satisfaction at Jackson Health System, Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, Miami, Florida.
Ms. Severson was born in Bogota, Colombia, and moved to Miami-Dade County 40 years ago to pursue The American Dream. She received her BS in Medical Technology from Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia, and she completed her Master’s in Science Healthcare Administration, MSHSA, at Nova Southeastern University in 2000, her Associate in Science in Nursing at Miami Dade College in 2004 and Six Sigma Green Belt Certification at Florida International University in 2014. She became a Certified Instructor Community Resilience Model CRM in 2023.
