Fay Gibson

Project Officer

Office: 919-843-9136
fay_gibson@unc.edu

Bio

Fay Gibson is a Project Officer at Active Living By Design, where she works to develop and implement Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The initiative's primary goal is to support healthier communities for vulnerable children and families across the United States through healthy eating and active living policy and environmental change initiatives. With over thirty years of experience in program development and management in public, private and non-profit sectors, Fay supports a diverse portfolio of grantees and multi-disciplinary community partnerships through technical assistance, consultation and program support.

To her role at ALBD, Fay brings the expertise and perspective of a career working within large, complex, and highly political systems. Previously, she managed operations for a National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) demonstration project at Columbia University, as a Senior Program Associate, and later served as Co-Principle Investigator for a related clinical trial. Before that, she spent 17 years in progressively more senior positions in City of New York public agencies, having served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Agency for Child Development; Director of Human Resources for the Office Of Family Services; Senior Management Analyst for the Department of General Social Services; and Contract Analyst for the City of New York's Department for the Aging.

Fay earned a B.A. in sociology from the Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York, and a master's of science in community organizing and planning from the Columbia University School of Social Work.

Outside the office, Fay enjoys working in her yard, listening to music and spending time with her husband and family.

Active Living Story

As a native New Yorker, reliance on public transportation, sidewalks, access to public parks, and participation in athletic activities was a way of life that I very much took for granted. Only after my relocation to more suburban and rural environments did I realize and begin to appreciate the importance of an active living lifestyle, and how the quality of the built environment affects the health and well-being of a community, particularly among vulnerable populations. Until joining ALBD, my career focused primarily on the socioeconomic inequalities that often prevent children and families from becoming self sufficient. As a natural trajectory, I am thrilled to be part of an initiative that is committed to addressing environmental inequities in order to reverse the trend of childhood obesity.