Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow and Principal for The Emu Consultants, LLC

Kenn Harris is the principal of the newly launched consultant firm, The Emu Consultants, LLC. His personal philosophy is found in his business tagline, “looking back to leap forward”, which is rooted in his belief about the importance of history and how it plays out in our future. What drives him every day is his hope for better outcomes for all.

Kenn is one of the 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, selected to be part of  diverse cadre of leaders who are well-connected, well-prepared, and powerfully positioned to build the political will, change systems, and drive the policy agenda needed for the well-being and prosperity of all children and families.

He is the 2024 American Public Health Association’s Martha May Eliot Award winner honoring his exceptional achievements in the field of maternal and child health. This award is a tribute to the late Dr. Martha May Eliot, a powerful force in maternal and child health programs.

His immediate past job was as Vice President for Engagement and Community Partnerships at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) in Boston, MA where he was also the Director and Principal Investigator of the Heathy Start TA & Support Center, funded by the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau. His professional career in MCH and public health spans almost 35 years. 

While at NICHQ for the past five years, Kenn created vision for Healthy Start TA & Support Center and established an innovative and responsive center to serve over 100 grantees across the country. He  enhanced and strengthened the work of Healthy Start communities across the country committed to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities in birth outcomes. In addition to addressing infant and maternal mortality, Kenn partnered with the expanded MCH community to ensure fatherhood and men’s health was included in maternal and child health services. He continues to build on his experience with the federal Healthy Start program which began in 1991 with one of the originally-funded communities, Boston Healthy Start Initiative (BHSI) in Boston, MA and continued when he went to work as the Project Director and Principal Investigator for the New Haven Healthy Start program in New Haven, CT at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, where he was also Vice President for Community Engagement. His commitment to men’s health and fatherhood started when he was with the BHSI where he helped create the Father-Friendly Initiative. During his time in Boston, he also served on the “For Fathering Advisory Council” of the Medical Foundation, working with fragile families supporting responsible fathers. 

Kenn is a two-time past president of the National Healthy Start Association and helped establish the Association’s Dads Matter Initiative: Where Dads Matter, Washington, DC.  He is co-creator of the Core Adaptive Model for Fatherhood (CAM©), an evidenced-informed model for fatherhood/male involvement programs.  He also partners with the National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL) on the Fatherhood Learning Academy and Responsible Fatherhood Mentoring Academy. He is currently working on creating an evidenced-based home-visiting program for men and fathers that builds on the lessons-learned from the CAM model for Fatherhood.

Kenn is a national expert in the field of maternal and child health, public health, fatherhood/ male involvement, community engagement and community consortia development. He worked on “My Brother’s Keeper”, President Obama’s initiative to address the health of boys and men of color. He has demonstrated expertise across various interests such as exploring the impact of racism on health outcomes and  addressing men’s health in the age of mass incarceration.

Kenn co-authored and published an article “The Health of Young African American Men” in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, 2015). He is a frequent keynote speaker at  national conferences and universities. He is a highly skilled facilitator and trainer on topics that include infant and maternal mortality, breastfeeding, fatherhood and community engagement. He continues researching Black men’s health and focuses on the integration of health services into programs for men and fathers.

Kenn remains passionate about women’s health, children, fathers and families as well as the health and well-being of the communities in which they live, learn, play and pray. He is fiercely committed to the assurance of progress towards the achievement of optimal health outcomes by building thriving communities within systems and structures that facilitate betterment for all.