Rosie Harrison

Founder/CEO

Rosie Harrison, the Founder and CEO of GROW Initiative GA, has her mission clear: to champion inclusivity, equity, and cultural diversity, particularly within marginalized communities and individuals with disabilities. With a background rooted in Mexican heritage and a childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada, Rosie’s journey is marked by a deep commitment to fostering positive change.

Through GROW Initiative GA, Rosie works tirelessly to ensure equitable access to education, nutrition, and community engagement for all. Utilizing research-driven data to address the root cause of many of our community’s barriers, Rosie has innovated specialized programming and community partnerships that complete the “full circle” framework.

Her efforts extend beyond professional realms as she engages in policy advocacy in various fields including agriculture and volunteers her time to mentorship programs and literacy initiatives.

In her spare moments, Rosie indulges her passion for gardening, exploring new ways to cultivate produce in her backyard oasis.

Board Member

Tina Browning is the owner of T.E.A. Financial and a retired Regional Bank Officer, currently serving as the Business Development Manager for the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce. Since moving to Savannah from Kentucky in 1992, Tina has built a successful career in finance, including roles as Assistant Vice President and Retail Operations Branch Manager at Queensborough National Bank & Trust.

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

Dorothea Thomas is an experienced financial consultant with over seven years in the industry. Holding an MBA in Business and certification as a bookkeeper, Dorothea is the owner of Lioness Financial Consultants, where she specializes in helping business owners achieve maximum profits with customized financial solutions. 

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

Ana Palacios a physician and nutrition scientist with 10 years of expertise designing, implementing, and evaluating experimental and observational studies that examine a diversity of nutrition and health outcomes in in diverse populations . My long-term career goal is to find evidence-based nutritional truths that promote nutritional- , mental, and cardiovascular health of all people, but especially those from underserved, minority backgrounds. 

After completing my medical degree at Javeriana University School of Medicine (Bogota, Colombia) in 2007, I participated in the development and implementation of a surveillance program of birth defects, I 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 my postdoctoral fellowship and Master’s degree, my research in basic nutritional sciences focused on identifying factors associated with pregnancies complicated by birth defects, specifically midline field defects. I 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. I 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.  

I then pursued a PhD in Nutritional  Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, which I graduated in 2020 where I did secondary analyses to identify factors associated with anemia in young children from Guatemala and Haiti. My 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, I have 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 my diverse background in medical and nutrition and implementation sciences, I have 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

Beatriz Severson moved to Savannah, GA in December 2019 with the objective of excelling in her family Real Estate Investment Business, Heart Property Solutions, LLC with her husband, Kevin Severson. Currently, she sits as Community Volunteer in the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, Health and Mental Health Teams; Coastal Georgia Resilience Steering Committee, under the leadership of Lizann
Roberts, Parent University, under the leadership of Michael O’Neal and HOLA Savanah Mayor’s Office Task Force. She has 30 years of progressive experience in Performance Improvement Programs /Patient Safety and Regulatory Compliance in the Healthcare Industry and the community in South Florida.

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. Certified Instructor Community Resilience Model CRM in 2023.

BOARD MEMBER

Carmen Batiz- Bien Aime is Survivor Support Advocate with Mary’s Place, Sexual Assault Center of the Coastal Empire.  Carmen attended Hunter College and is from Brooklyn, NY via Honduras and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.  She has worked with victims of crime for the past 15 years. She resides in Richmond Hill with her husband and two college kids and puppy not so puppy Cooper.