Joan Cromwell serves as President of Chelsea Black Community, a nonprofit community organization that promotes inclusion, diversity, and partnership to improve the economic, social, educational, health and safety conditions for community all members in Chelsea, MA. She also serves the MA Department of Public Health as a Public Health Nurse Advisor in the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Science. Previously, her career as a Registered Nurse has allowed her to work at Boston Children’s Hospital, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Mass General Hospital, Chelsea Public School District (as a school nurse), and Chelsea Public Health Department. She received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from University of Massachusetts, Boston and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Simmons College.
As a child, Joan marched (in a stroller at the age of two) for MLK and Civil Rights, walked holding her mother’s hand at the age of four for Fair Share, played hours at the polls as her mother held up signs on many election days, and canned for Biafra with her older siblings. Today as a community organizer, she strives to uplift and empower our youth, and respectfully serve our seniors. She is the mother of four adult children and the grandmother of two.