Gary served his community for twenty-three years as a Detroit Firefighter. That experience and exposure led to local and national recognition for his leadership in addressing environmental health disparities and environmental justice within neglected communities.

 

As a Culture of Health Leader, with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,

he collaborates with residents to advance health equity. Recently, Gary was the Director of Community and Economic Development at Joy Southfield Community Development Corporation (JSCDC) for four years before leaving to sow his entrepreneurial roots.

 

During that tenure, he partnered with the Association of Black Psychologist, Inc. (ABPsi) to assess mental health needs within the African American community regarding the effects of the pandemic. The ABPsi COVID-19 Needs Assessment Project was part of a national initiative sponsored by The Alliance of Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations (funded by the Congressional Tri-Caucus [Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, and Asian Caucus]). In early 2022, Gary was selected to join the Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) in MSU’s College of Social Science.

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The only bi-partisan public policy and leadership training program in Michigan,

MPLP is distinguished as one of only a handful of such successful programs in the nation. Concurrently, he joined the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) as one of twelve leaders from across the country to represent community health workers (CHW) as National CHW Leaders in The NACHW Advance CHW Project – sponsored by Johnson and Johnson. Gary is a member of the Green Task Force for the city of Detroit (Organics Recycling, Co-Chair), a member of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition (MWBDC), and a CHW Influencer Ambassador with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Social Determinants of Health team.