River Rally 2026

Biography Chalk
Dr. Chalk is a fourth-generation resident of New Orleans' 7th Ward and the Founder and Executive Director of Healthy Community Services, a non-profit focused on public health issues in the community. She is a former President of the Louisiana Public Health Association and has served on the American Public Health Association’s Center for Climate, Health & Equity Steering Committee. Her work emphasizes Community Science, the Urban Heat Island Effect, and its impact on African American communities, aiming to address urban flooding, food insecurity, and climate resilience.
Chalk serves on several advisory boards including the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the American Geo-Physical Union Thriving Earth Exchange. She is a nationally certified Community Engagement Facilitator by the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners. Currently, Dr. Chalk is a Visiting Adjunct Professor at the Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine,

Under her leadership, Healthy Community Services received the 2022 Outstanding Non-Profit Award from the U.S. Water Alliance. Recently, she was awarded a 2026 Intuit QuickBooks Mailchimp ‘Small Business Hero Award’ and was named a 2025 Climate Change Maker by the New York Times.

Chalk holds a BA in Mass Communications with a minor in Public Health from Dillard University; MS in Health Care Management from the University of New Orleans; and a Doctor of Health Administration from Virginia University of Lynchburg. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.