Five New Jersey leaders whose groundbreaking work strengthens the health and well-being of children and families across the state are this year’s Burke Foundation Community Champions, it was announced today.

Chosen for their impact, innovation, and deep commitment to community partnership, the 2025 Burke Community Champions are:

Dominique D. Lee, Founder & CEO, BRICK Education Network, Newark

State Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, Majority Leader, New Jersey State Senate

Pamela Winkler Tew, Policy & Sustainability Lead, HealthySteps National Office, ZERO TO THREE

Jill Wodnick, Assistant Director of Maternal Policy & Early Relational Health, Montclair State University

Brandie Wooding, Program Director, Family Connects NJ

Each Community Champion plays a central role in enriching New Jersey’s early childhood landscape, from postpartum support and respectful maternity care, to pediatric developmental services, to cradle-to-career neighborhood transformation. Their work reflects the Burke Foundation’s mission to make sure every New Jersey child is born healthy and grows up supported, safe, and able to thrive.

“At the Burke Foundation, we’re proud to highlight the 2025 Community Champions, who are proving what’s possible when leadership is grounded in community and guided by evidence,” said Atiya Weiss, Executive Director of the Burke Foundation. “Their work is transforming how New Jersey supports families — from pregnancy through the earliest years of life — and helping make sure every child has a healthy beginning and the chance to thrive.”

2025 Burke Foundation Community Champions

Dominique D. Lee

Dominique Lee leads a nationally recognized, place-based transformation in Newark’s South Ward, weaving together high-quality schools, maternal and child health supports, stable housing, and pathways to economic mobility. Through BRICK Education Network and the South Ward Promise Neighborhood, he has created a multigenerational, cradle-to-career system designed in partnership with families themselves.Lee’s nationally acclaimed work helps families achieve long-term prosperity, from college completion to higher-wage careers. His leadership underscores the power of community-driven change.

State Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz

As Senate Majority Leader, Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz plays a central role in shaping New Jersey’s commitment to children and families. Since election to her first term in 2007, Senator Ruiz has emerged as one of the Legislature’s most influential leaders on policies affecting families during the earliest and most formative years of a child’s life. A driving force behind New Jersey’s progress toward universal preschool, Senator Ruiz champions public investments to expand access to high-quality early learning, strengthen the child care workforce, and improve stability for working families. Her leadership reflects a clear understanding that early childhood education is essential to children’s development, family well-being, and the state’s long-term economic health.

Pamela Winkler Tew

Pam Winkler Tew plays a pivotal role in expanding HealthySteps, a nationwide innovation that embeds early childhood development specialists into primary care pediatric practices. Her advocacy helped New Jersey secure additional Medicaid payment to practices that use HealthySteps, promoting long-term sustainability for families who rely on pediatric visits as their most consistent point of early-childhood support. Winkler Tew’s work helps parents receive guidance during the foundational first three years of a child’s life, strengthening early relational health and improving development.

Jill Wodnick

Maternal health advocate, childbirth educator, and doula, Jill Wodnick has advanced birth equity and respectful, community-centered maternity care for over two decades. Her work spans doula program development, midwifery and birth center expansion, Medicaid benefit design, national quality-measure development, and public education on childbirth and early relational health. Wodnick champions childbirth education as a powerful, too-often overlooked tool for empowerment — one that equips families with the knowledge and confidence needed for safer, more dignified birth experiences.

Brandie Wooding

Brandie Wooding leads state-run Family Connects NJ, launched in 2021 to bring nurse visits to all New Jersey families with newborns. With 20 years of experience as a nurse in clinical care, leadership, and public health, Wooding oversees a statewide system that provides postpartum families with trusted counsel, early screening, and connections to community-based supports.Under her leadership, Family Connects NJ — the second such state initiative in the U.S. — has so far reached more than 7,000 families, with the goal of no parent having to navigate the early days of postpartum life alone.

A Shared Vision for New Jersey’s Children

The Burke Foundation, based in Princeton, established the Community Champions recognition in 2022 to honor leaders across sectors who advance progress for New Jersey’s youngest residents. This year’s honorees are delivering impressive results for families, especially in the first 1,000 days from pregnancy through age 2, expanding equitable access to care, strengthening community-based healthcare, and elevating the voices and experiences of parents.

“The work these leaders do reminds us that when we invest early, listen deeply, and collaborate boldly, we change what’s possible for children,” Weiss said. “Their work strengthens not only individual families, but the well-being of entire communities.”

Previous Burke Foundation Community Champions

2024 — Lisa Asare, New Jersey Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority; Robyn D’Oria, Central Jersey Family Health Consortium; Craig Garfield, Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern University; Khaatim Sherrer El, Clinton Hill Community Action

2023 — Christine Norbut Beyer, New Jersey Department of Children and Families; Grysmeldy González, Central Jersey Family Health Consortium; Juwana Montgomery, South Ward Healthy Beginnings; Maritza Raimundi-Petroski, The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey; Reshma Saujani, Moms First

2022 — Jesse Kohler, Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice; Jaye Wilson, Melinated Moms; Ceil Zalkind, Advocates for Children of New Jersey; Twylla Dillion, HealthConnect One; New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy

About the Burke Foundation

The Foundation, reflecting the legacy of former Johnson & Johnson Chair and CEO Jim Burke, focuses on science-backed evidence that the first 1,000 days from pregnancy through age 2 are the most crucial to brain development and building strong caregiver-child bonds. Our grantmaking and partnerships with government, nonprofits and the private sector stem from the belief that communities benefit most when we invest in families at the earliest, most essential stages of life. The Foundation engages at the community level, learning from the people on the frontlines of delivering services and pressing for change. Learn more at burkefoundation.org.