Skip to main content

 NEW HAVEN, CT (January 6, 2025) — Community Healing Network (CHN) announces today the appointment of Afia Chandra Roxanne as Executive Director, succeeding Dr. Laurena White. The Board’s unanimous selection marks Roxanne’s return to CHN, where she previously served as Outreach Coordinator from 2019-2022.

“The Board is ecstatic that Chandra accepted our offer to return to CHN,” said Diane Y. Turner, CHN’s Board Chair. During her previous tenure, Roxanne led transformative initiatives including Emotional Emancipation Circles (EEC), EEC Facilitator Training, and Ubuntu Healing Circles.

In recognition of her impact, Roxanne was appointed as CHN’s Special Ambassador in 2022, following the organization’s receipt of a multi-year Equitable Recovery Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Her first assignment was presenting at the 2022 Advancing Justice: Global Reparations and Racial Healing Summit in Accra, Ghana. “I know all our grantees are doing great work, but I have not experienced anything so powerful,” remarked Yvonne Darkwa-Poku, Senior Program Officer at the MacArthur Foundation.

Roxanne’s wealth of experience in federal grant funding, social enterprise initiatives, venture capital, and non-profit investing brings a unique blend of expertise to this leadership role. As Managing Director of a $20M seed fund focused on Black women and Latina founders, she oversaw strategy, fundraising, and ecosystem-building efforts. Roxanne has garnered significant industry recognition, with Business Insider featuring her in their 2023 “Top 51 Black Investors Who Are Changing the VC Industry” list and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Venture Forward acknowledging her as an up-and-coming Emerging Manager.

“CHN arrived at a pivotal moment,” Roxanne reflected. “As an American woman of Black and Piscataway Indian heritage, I was deeply searching for self-actualization and a path to true freedom through a deeper embodiment of my cultural roots. I look forward to collaborating with President Aird, the CHN Board, and our community to advance intra- and inter-cultural healing.”

A Welcome Message from Executive Director A. Chandra Roxanne 

Drawing upon CHN’s 19-year legacy of facilitating EECs and developing a corps of local “facilitator-leaders,” Roxanne envisions a transformative CHN Model Village in New Haven. This innovative hub will serve as a blueprint for emotional emancipation and cultural healing that can be replicated across cities worldwide, while deepening CHN’s impact throughout Greater New Haven. The Model Village represents a significant expansion of CHN’s mission to provide culturally grounded healing programs for members of Global Africa and allies, while deepening the organization’s impact in local communities.

Enola G. Aird, Founder & President Emerita, expressed full faith and confidence in the appointment: “Under her leadership, CHN will reach its goal of putting freedom and healing from the lie at the top of the agenda for Global Africa by the end of 2030.” 

Roxanne holds an MSc in Economy, Risk and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her studies and research focused on economic sociology and the concept of Conscious Capitalism. She also holds a certificate in venture finance from VC University, a joint initiative between the NVCA, Berkeley Law, and Venture Forward.

About Community Healing Network, Inc.

Launched in 2006, CHN is a New Haven-based African-centered organization with a fresh theory of change, a “start-up” feel, and a rich history. CHN has brought to the local, national, and international public conversation a laser-like focus on mobilizing Global Africa to heal from, and extinguish, the centuries-old lie of White superiority and Black inferiority: the root cause of the persistent dehumanization of Black people and underdevelopment of Black communities the world over. Working with leading NGOs, including the International Civil Society Working Group for the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, and the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing, CHN is now poised in this historic moment to center healing as the pathway to full social and economic liberation, once and for all. 

In addition to the MacArthur Foundation, CHN is supported by the Kellogg Foundation, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, and a circle of philanthropic individuals.

Leave a Reply