Sunflower Foundation is pleased to share a pair of staff announcements with the promotion of Alyssa Nava to Kansas Fights Addiction assistant director and the hiring of DJ Gering as our new grants and data analyst.
In Nava’s new role, which she assumed on June 1, she will assist in developing strategic funding recommendations for the KFA grant program and help ensure that its grants and funding initiatives are within regulatory compliance. She will help organize learning events and professional development opportunities for KFA partners and grantees, as well as assist in developing and implementing evaluation strategies to measure the impact of grants and programs.
Having previously served as KFA’s program manager, Nava helped coordinate development of KFA’s comprehensive statewide needs assessment of substance use disorder (SUD) services across Kansas.
Prior to joining the foundation, Nava served as both a prevention specialist and community support specialist at DCCCA, Inc., in Lawrence, Kan. She coordinated and facilitated statewide opioid prevention grant initiatives, including the Kansas Naloxone Program and Kansas Prescription Drug and Opioid Advisory Committee. As a community support specialist, she provided substance use prevention expertise, technical assistance, and training services to coalitions at the community level.
A resident of Lawrence, Nava grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Trinity University in San Antonio and later her Master of Public Health, with a focus in program management and mental health, from Boston University.
As grants and data analyst, Gering manages all phases of the foundation’s grant cycle, maintaining data integrity and system functionality. He delivers actionable insights through reports and dashboards, supporting strategic decisions and process improvements for both Sunflower and Kansas Fights Addiction grantmaking. Gering’s first day with the foundation was June 16.
Prior to joining Sunflower, Gering served as a public health analyst with the CDC Foundation under the Overdose Response Strategy, where he worked with state and local partners to develop overdose fatality review boards, enhance naloxone distribution, and improve coordination between public health and public safety. He previously worked in HIV/STI surveillance at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and as a public health analyst for the Reno County Health Department during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gering also has served as an adjunct professor at Wichita State University, teaching undergraduate courses on health politics and drug policy.
Originally from Wichita, Gering earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wichita State University and a Master of Arts in Global Security from Arizona State University. He is a past recipient of the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award and the Midwest HIDTA Public Health/Public Safety Collaboration Award.