At the Crisis and Recovery Enhancement (CARE) Technical Assistance (TA) Center, we are incredibly lucky to have a range of passionate and creative partners that bring incredible expertise and experience to our work with MHSA-funded counties. We hope you'll take a moment to learn more about these groups and their driving missions!



About Our Partner

C4 Innovations advances equitable access to recovery, wellness, and housing stability for people who are systematically marginalized. When all people—regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity—are able to access and engage in quality care, the results are healthier individuals, families, and communities.

C4 are a values- and mission-driven, woman-owned small business. C4 puts people first. Their work leads with racial equity and is person-centered, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented with a deep commitment to promoting social justice and reducing disparities.

C4 collaborates deeply to identify service gaps, redesign systems, and implement programs and practices that support equitable access to recovery, wellness, and housing stability.

Learn more at https://c4innovates.com/

View Online Courses at https://c4innovates.com/our-services/online-learning/ 

Meet the Team

Ashley Stewart (she/her), Director of Health Equity and Racial Equity 

Ashley Stewart (she/her), PhD, MSW, LSW, is the Director of Health Equity and Racial Equity Subject Matter Expert at C4 Innovations. She received her PhD from The Ohio State University, College of Social Work, and her master's degree from Columbia University. She is an Assistant Professor at Temple University, College of Public Health, School of Social Work, where she trains interdisciplinary students about social justice theories and frameworks and translational skills for anti-oppressive practice. Ashley's work centers on addressing institutionalized forms of identity-based oppression. She works in solidarity with mental and behavioral health providers. She supports institutions, corporations, organizations, and leadership teams to identify ways to reduce harm and determine appropriate steps toward sustainable culture change.



Dwayne Watkins (he/him), Health Equity Manager

Dwayne Watkins (he/him), MPH, serves as the Health Equity Manager for the Center of Health Equity at C4. He has over 10 years of nonprofit professional experience in which his focus has been on driving the data culture to tell a story, streamline data practices, measure impact and to make data driven evidence-based programming decisions. He has spent the bulk of his professional career working for and with nonprofit organizations that are heavily focused on having long lasting transformative change for marginalized groups and communities. A proven Servant Leader and Social Change Agent Dwayne has a personal commitment to continue to use data, research, and programming to help mitigate racial health disparities.

Dwayne, a recipient of the 2016 Top 25 Game Changers in workforce, moved to Atlanta, GA in which he currently resides from a small town called Lumber Bridge, North Carolina. He studied Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and later attained his graduate degree in Public Health from The George Washington University.



Roni Hodges (she/her), Senior Project Manager

Roni Hodges (she/her), MPA, serves as Senior Project Manager at C4 Innovations leveraging her extensive expertise spanning over a decade in the conception, execution, and orchestration of multifaceted initiatives. Specializing in optimizing processes, Roni fosters equity-driven solutions. As an advocate for tailored opportunities within communities, Roni firmly believes in the diversity of service. She champions the alignment of actions with aspirations, asserting that genuine commitment to equitable resolutions necessitates a purposeful trajectory. Holding a Master’s in Public Administration from Tennessee State University and a Bachelor’s in Marketing from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Roni's relentless pursuit of knowledge and commitment to learning fuels her innovative contributions.



Tucker Barker (they/he), Health Equity Coordinator

Tucker Barker (they/he) is the Health Equity Coordinator at C4 Innovations and is a board-certified Health and Wellness Coach. They have been involved in community organizing in New Orleans since they were a kid after Hurricane Katrina, specifically in education reform, restorative justice, and racial justice spheres with an organization called Rethink. They have a public health background in HIV & HCV counseling, testing and prevention, as well as harm reduction via working a syringe service program and supporting clients with overdose response training and prevention. They later ran the patient navigation program for one of the largest gender-affirming care clinics in the Gulf South. In this role, he was able to support gender diverse adults, youth, and families of trans youth with things like care coordination, crisis management, gender affirming hormone therapy access, legal name and gender marker change, referrals for surgical care, and more. He cares about queer and trans liberation, dance, multiple pathways to recovery, networks of solidarity and mutual aid, pasta with homemade vodka sauce, and knowing their neighbors.



Steven Samra (he/him), Dedicated Specialist

Steven Samra (he/him), MPA, served nine years as Deputy Director on SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy and is skilled at both virtual and onsite T/TA across a diverse cross-section of behavioral health and recovery services. Areas of expertise include but are not limited to expanding access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder (MAT/MOUD); stigma and bias reduction; rural SUD, OUD, and homelessness support strategies; criminal justice involvement, re-entry, drug courts, and trauma informed corrections care; cultural proficiency and the impact of subcultures of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration on treatment and recovery. He also specializes in peer leadership and professionalism. Mr. Samra is a Recovery Consultant for SAMHSA’s Opioid Response Network (ORN) and regional T/TA provider for the Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) homelessness initiatives. He has a master’s degree in public administration and currently resides in Nashville, TN. He utilizes both his extensive personal experiences and professional knowledge when providing technical assistance.

Livia Davis (she/her), Chief Learning Officer

Livia Davis (she/her), MSW, is the Chief Learning Officer at C4 Innovations. She has over twenty-five years leadership and management experience in behavioral health, recovery and supportive housing. Her first-hand experience living and working on a 300-acre, rural recovery farm-community in Denmark (founded by her great-grandfather in 1912 and with 125 residents) is the foundation for her commitment to advance recovery, equity, housing, and building community. Livia is an experienced facilitator in supporting federal, state and local communities build a collective vision and critical capacity to expand, improve, and sustain behavioral health services and supports. As a member of C4's Racial Equity and Recovery consultation team, she works with teams to center the implementation of anti-racist practices in recovery and behavioral health settings. Livia also serves as C4’s team leader for recovery related training to states addressing the opioid crisis under SAMHSA's Opioid Response Network (ORN), and as the task lead for behavioral health training and technical assistance under the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, including serving as faculty supporting the monthly Tribal ECHO Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance series with the United South and Eastern Tribes. Her career spans over 14 years of experience as a direct service provider working in behavioral health, recovery, housing, and homeless services, and 10 years as a facilitator of initiatives focused on convening stakeholders to work together to transform entrenched positions to move forward together. She is passionate about meaningful conversations, interdisciplinary collaboration, and constructive conflict as a foundation for innovation. Various national media (CNN, Washington Post, Boston Globe) have covered her work to promote innovative solutions to address homelessness.



 Contact the Crisis and Recovery Enhancement TA Center

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://care-mhsa.org/