Congratulations to Binh Tran for his promotion to Vice President of Boston Community Based Services! Binh will be overseeing all community based programs across Boston and will supervise Shawnese Givens, the new Executive Director of JRI Health. Welcome Shawnese!

Binh holds a master's degree in social work and is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with extensive experience in developing and managing a variety of child welfare and behavioral health programs contributing toward child/youth, adult and family well-being. Binh joined JRI in 2013 to manage the successful start-up of the Dimock Community Service Agency (CSA). In 2018, Binh was promoted to Director overseeing the Connecticut Community Based Services (CBS), Metrowest CBS, Boston CBS, DMH Flexible Support Services, Dimock CSA, and the SMART Team. Binh went on to become Boston Regional Director in 2022 managing Community Services programing, which also includes Long-Term Services and Supports and Hospital Diversion.

Prior to JRI, Binh worked for almost 13 years at the direct-service arm in Rhode Island of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and several years before that, in various community-based and outpatient settings in Boston and New Hampshire areas.

Shawnese Givens, LMFT is the Executive Director of JRI Health. In this role, Shawnese oversees Health division programing and services which are dedicated to mitigating social determinants of health, especially for underserved individuals, and those communities living with and at risk for HIV and HCV. JRI Health is comprised of Boston GLASS, Program RISE, YouthHarbors, Supported Housing, STRIVE, Peer Support Services, PACT, the Training and Technical Assistance Team, and the Health Law Institute.

Having worked in the social services field since 2010, Shawnese is a social justice advocate and change agent, who has applied her expertise in systems theory to various roles in both the nonprofit and private sector. Those roles have spanned clinical, case management, quality improvement, and administration, giving Shawnese an appreciation for the many forms social justice can take.

Shawnese holds a Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy from Syracuse University and trained in the Psychotherapy Center for Gender & Sexuality at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. In addition to her role as Executive Director of JRI Health, Shawnese maintains a clinical private practice specializing in providing trauma-informed care to individuals with marginalized identities.