Metria Munyan joined Public Health Institute in 2006 supporting a broad variety of nutrition education and obesity prevention strategies and initiatives that reach low-resource Californians through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education interventions. Metria’s passion for increasing youth opportunity and supporting youth voices in community change approaches complements the Center for Wellness and Nutrition’s Youth Engagement efforts, and she continues to support Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) projects as well as new approaches and innovations.
Metria has systematically coordinated and managed several training and technical assistance structures supporting youth leadership strategies such as YPAR. Provided countless training and provided technical assistance to up to 52 programs across California. Additionally, she contributed to the creation and dissemination of a statewide beverage education campaign known as the Rethink Your Drink Campaign.
Metria also brings extensive training, technical assistance, and event coordinating expertise. She designs and executes training and support structures for specific program delivery, direct education, community engagement, and public campaigns. She favors hands-on and collaborative learning strategies adapted to individual organizational needs. Ms. Munyan understands that one-touch training is rarely enough for the successful implementation for complex strategies or programs. Attendees often need an overlay of technical assistance or peer support to be successful to ultimately be able to sustain implementation independently.
Additionally, she has contributed to the logistical coordination for web-based training and collaborative events, youth forums of up to 100 young people and state conferences up to 800 attendees.