Jazzlynn Jefferson

Jazzlynn Jefferson (she/her) is a mission-driven operator grounded in systems thinking and people-centered strategy. She excels at successfully executing special projects, strategic communications, and evaluations to enable organizational effectiveness, operational efficiency, and fruitful collaboration.

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At Cardea, as a Social Impact Evaluation Manager, she synthesized insights from more than 6 key stakeholder interviews and over 300 pages of literature on black birth equity and maternal health within the United States. She was solely responsible for conducting a document scan on black maternal health, specifically noting the contributing factors to high maternal morbidity and mortality rates for black birthing people, as well as successful interventions to improve the health outcomes for black birthing people and their babies. In addition, Jazzlynn co-facilitated interviews with providers, community advocates, and government officials to understand their vision for black birth equity and assessment of the current landscape within black maternal and infant health. The final deliverable was a report outlining the past, present, and future of black maternal and infant health based on the document scan, as well as the current and aspirational state of black birth equity. She highlighted the origins of the obstetrics field, the estimated decline of obstetrics physicians, and the possibility of midwives being a bright spot to meet the demand for better care. Insights from the key stakeholders included the fragmented political landscape, gaps in services, and access to quality maternal healthcare. Moreover, the resounding sentiment was a desire for community-centered, patient-centered quality care that was affordable and accessible to all black birthing people.

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At the Evans Consulting lab, Jazzlynn supported a Latino-led nonprofit in learning how to build an evaluation process. She developed a sixty-page handbook to use as a tool for building an evaluation that encompasses the literature review findings and insights gained from staff.  Clients were very pleased and appreciative of how well the work reflected who they were and where they were going. They also loved how accessible and easy to follow the handbook was. This project was a great demonstration of leading with curiosity, collaborating with stakeholders, and being grounded in data. 

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Jazzlynn earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in Operations Management and Marketing from the University of Delaware. 

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