Executive Director
hope@teenhealthar.org
Hope L. Crenshaw, PhD, has served as Executive Director of Teen Health Mississippi for eight years, the parent organization supporting Teen Health Arkansas. She leads strategy and growth across states, working closely with staff, boards, funders, and community partners to build youth-centered health initiatives rooted in real community needs.
Hope holds a PhD in Educational Policy Studies with a specialization in Program Evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Her work focuses on designing and scaling programs at the intersection of youth health, education, workforce readiness, and systems change—especially in rural and historically under-resourced communities.
Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Hope has traveled and trained extensively throughout Arkansas, working alongside educators, healthcare providers, and community leaders in both rural and urban communities. Her experiences on both sides of the river prepare her to connect and build capacity with the local leaders pursuing healthier communities from a place of understanding and empathy.
Outside of work, Hope is energized by meaningful conversations, community-rooted spaces, and the belief that when young people are supported to thrive, whole communities rise with them. A former teacher, Hope is the trusted adult to a 14-year-old and an 8-year-old.