Contact: Nicholle Granger
ngranger@voaches.org
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
Pastor Madeline “MAD” Long is a visionary on a mission to help save lives. She is often referred to as the “Health Crusader”. She has worn many hats in management, servant leadership and public health. Madeline started her career in direct services after college working as an Employability Skills Training Instructor with the DC Department of Human Services. A trailblazer, she was part of the first jobs opportunity and business skills program in the country designed to help persons on public assistance secure unsubsidized employment.
With an entrepreneurial spirit, she helped establish a cable construction company in 1989 which was subsequently featured in Black Enterprise. Long has over 20 years of experience in telecommunication, business management and organizational leadership. As COO for the company, she helped build the cable system in the District of Columbia. In 2009, she managed the digital television project (DTV) for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), converting consumers in five (5) states from analog to digital.
Pastor MAD commitment and dedication to advocacy and outreach began in 1995 after the passing of a family member from complications from breast cancer. She spent more than 17 years as a volunteer for Komen before becoming an Advocate in Science (AIS), a community of dedicated advocates who work to reduce the burden of breast cancer in their communities. She was honored to moderate the first Susan G. Komen St. Louis African-American Breast Cancer Disparities Roundtable to provide insight into best practices to reducing breast cancer mortalities through community collaboration.
In 2014, Pastor MAD was selected to represent the State of Maryland through a Johns Hopkins supported program as a Fellow with the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Heath (NLAPH), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a Fellow she is responsible for working with health leaders to help create strategies to improve health outcomes. NLAPH is a national program focused on improving population health by working with multi-sector leadership teams and training the teams through an applied, team- based collaborative leadership development model. She is a former Board Member of the St. Louis Family Violence Council, RAVEN and a former Corporate Advisory Board Member of NAFEO (representing 106 Historical Black Colleges and Universities).
Recognizing a need to end violence against women and children and improve family services, she established and served as the founder of the Forest Park Center for Family Resources, a crisis intervention center located on the campus of St. Louis Community College at Forest Park in St. Louis Missouri. She is also the creator, director and executive producer of “Pathways to Healing”, an Emmy Award-nominated monthly cable program. “Pathways to Healing” was dedicated to providing information about the myriad of services available to victims and survivors of violence.
She counts accepting her call to ministry in the African Methodist Episcopal Church as one of her greatest accomplishments. She later served for over six years as a Chaplain with the St. Louis Police Department assigned to the Homicide Division under the Homicide Ministers and Community Alliance Program, a program created to provide support for victim families. She currently provides ministerial support to several churches in the Maryland and DC areas.
Dealing with her own personal and family struggle with breast cancer, she opened the doors of a survivorship organization to support women of color with a message of health, hope, healing and quality care. The organization reached over 20,000 people in less than 2 years through community health programs, workshops and medical screening participation. Pastor MAD is the former Chief of Innovation, Be Sure, Inc., a medical device company advancing innovation in breast cancer early detection by breaking traditional inertia through the support of focused clinical research, innovative methods of screening, and mechanisms to provide risk assessment and early detection to communities of color and at-risk populations.
Pastor MAD is currently a Co- Founder and CEO of MAD Konnect Foundation, Inc, a nonprofit created to provide sustainable programs that improve economic circumstances, educational possibility, and the health and mental health of human beings that make up communities. She was selected as one of the Faces of Hope for the American Cancer Society – Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for the State of Maryland and an Ambassador for VOICES of Black Women study. In 2024, she joined forces with change agents in technology and healthcare to open Virtual Care Centers, a telehealth 2.0 solution. A fully functional tele access hybrid care model providing onsite, mobile and community walk-in centers offering virtual medical health examinations with a direct connection to a telehealth provider. The care model is simple, hybrid care offering access for populations often overlooked helping to address social determinants of health (SDoH).
She has appeared on Dr. Oz, Good Day Washington, recognized for her work in breast cancer by Vice President Biden, the Tom Joyner Morning Show and a speaker at various national conferences. Pastor MAD believes that people have intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions, and she is deeply committed to seeing their personal, professional, economic and spiritual growth.
We asked Pastor MAD a few questions…
What about VOACC inspired you to join the Board of Directors?
I absolutely love having the ability to help an organization that truly speaks to who I am as a servant leader. As a Board Member, I am honored to help advance the great work of VOACC.
What are you looking forward to the most in your role on the Board?
I’m looking forward to helping VOACC grow spiritually while making a huge difference in the nonprofit space. We have only just begun!
What does being “Called to Care” mean to you personally?
Being “Call to Care” means answering one of the most important assignments given to men and women of God. The Word says the greatest commandment is how we show love for one another. VOACC is a great example and it gives me an opportunity to operate in that gift!