Staff

Erin Bailey

Biography

Erin Bailey is the Director of the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute.  Her passion for working on Native American issues, and especially with young people, led to this role.  She came to the Center from the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, where she served as the Health Policy Advisor, under its then-Chairman Byron Dorgan.  Erin's issue portfolio included Native American health care, youth, food and nutrition, and a wide range of Indian social issues. In addition to working on the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, she led Senator Dorgan’s efforts to prevent Native American youth suicide and to improve mental health care services in Indian Country.

Erin serves on the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention on the American Indian and Alaska Native Taskforce, a public-private partnership advancing the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.  She received the 2010 Outstanding Congressional Staff Award from the American Diabetes Association for her work on the reauthorization of the Special Diabetes Program.  More recently, the National Council of Urban Indian Health honored her with its 2011 National Impact Award.

Erin is a North Dakota native and graduated from Georgetown University.

Josie Raphaelito

Biography

Josie Raphaelito is the Program Associate for the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute. Josie most recently graduated with a Master's Degree in Public Health from The George Washington University.

Her Master's thesis focused on a policy initiative, aimed to increase access to mental health services through workforce development strategies, for the Indian Health Service. Prior to graduate school, she studied Athletic Training at the University of New England in Maine. While living in DC Josie has interned at both the National Congress of American Indians and the National Indian Health Board. Other experience includes time at the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Josie grew up on the Ramah Navajo Reservation in New Mexico and is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.

Suicide prevention in Indian Country is an area of true passion for Josie.