MRBN's executive director, Kini-Ana Tinkham, is announcing her retirement after a career focused on improving health for youth and families.

In 2019, Kini worked with a steering committee of MRBN Network members, with support from the Bingham Program, to create the organizational structure for the Maine Resilience Building Network (MRBN) as an organization dedicated to addressing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). MRBN became a non-profit 501(c)3 focused on improving the health and well-being of children, families and communities through capacity building, system integration, policy, and advocacy.

As President of the MRBN Board of Directors, Dan Puhlman states, "The Directors recognize Kini for her significant and visionary leadership in developing the organization and advancing its mission beyond the early founding concepts. Maine children and families have benefitted from Kini’s deep compassion and advocacy in changing the culture for community systems to support and empower youth and families to thrive."

Early in MRBN’s work, Kini recognized a significant issue in the Maine Youth Integrated Health Survey (MIYHS) – too many Maine youth felt that they did not matter in their community. As a result, under Kini’s leadership, MRBN launched Cultivating Mattering for Maine Youth in 2020 with the release of a white paper  calling attention to the mounting evidence that lack of social connectedness and other contributors was contributing to an epidemic of diseases of despair among young people. Initial engagement strategies brought more than 600 leaders and stakeholders together for a series of presentations and guided discussions, including Thought Leader Roundtables and Community Conversations. 

MRBN’s spotlight on this critical youth mental health issue was complemented by the engagement of two international leaders in mattering: Dr. Gordon Flett of York University, Toronto, the leader in research on youth mattering; and Dr. Christina Bethell of Johns Hopkins University, a leader in the application of research on relational health and mattering. Recognizing that community-developed solutions are key to addressing this issue, MRBN secured seed funding from ASTHO, (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials) and collaborations with Maine CDC and Public Health Partners to develop the “Maine Youth Thriving: A Guide for Community Action”. To accompany this tool, MRBN developed youth-informed messages for enhancing youth mattering in communities, and commenced work with communities to engage cross-sector approaches to advancing youth thriving. 

The issue of youth mattering in Maine communities is now being addressed organically and with MRBN’s engagement in numerous communities throughout Maine. It has been cited as a key protective factor in the Maine Opioid Response Strategic Plan. MRBN’s work on youth mattering has received attention from numerous national leadership organizations including the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM); The Foundation for Social Connectedness; the Scientific American, among others.  

MRBN has advanced its early mission by following emerging science and public health practice that recognizes the importance of successful, supportive systems for youth mental health promotion. MRBN is a statewide leader in the integration of the HOPE Model (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) by Bob Sege and his colleagues at Tufts Medical Center, and the work of Christina Bethell from Johns Hopkins. MRBN has integrated Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) into its work, including trainings, consultations, and community systems engagement initiatives. MRBN has advanced the concept that all work in this field should include this important research, the next generation of building resilience to the impact of ACEs.

Through Kini’s work in advancing the science and practice of resilience in Maine, MRBN has formed collaborative partnerships with numerous national public health leadership organizations and worked to translate their work in Maine. This includes the George Washington University Center for Community Resilience, Healthy Places By Design, and Foundation for Social Connection with their work on advancing social connectedness.

Kini’s work at MRBN caps a career focusing on maternal and child health, including home visitation, school-based health centers, youth leadership, family planning, clinical healthcare delivery, leadership, and public health. She is a past recipient of the Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN) Youth Leadership and Advocacy award, and recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Tufts University Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) Program.