Laylah Allen serves as the Senior Community Builder and Research Associate at the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities, part of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. In her role, she is instrumental in advancing NIMC’s mission to harness the power of transformative interdependence. Her primary focus is on enhancing resident engagement through the ongoing implementation of the Woodhill-Buckeye Choice Neighbors Initiative, which involves building meaningful relationships, amplifying voices, and crafting actionable plans. She finds herself most energized while coaching, facilitating, and mobilizing communities. Laylah is a Certified Adult/Youth/Teen Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Community Health Educator, and published author who enjoys assisting individuals and organizations in discovering new paths and acquiring the most effective tools for identifying solutions, setting appropriate goals, and carrying out innovative plans of action.
Laylah is the founder of COPE Network, a social enterprise that provides tools and services to adolescents and their families to ensure that mental health issues and stigma are no longer a barrier to leading productive lives. She has developed programs and curriculum for mental health agencies, school districts, and hospitals with the goal of enhancing the general well-being of youth, recently incarcerated adults, and single moms.
Laylah attended Ursuline College's MBA program in Management and The University of Toledo's Healthcare Administration program. In 2022, she was named Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor of the Year by Mental Health America of Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio and received the Valeria A. Harper Cultural Competence in Mental Health Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness for her outstanding work with minority populations in the mental health field