Erin and her dad, Don Snyder, in Haiti
Meet Board Member Erin Ulric
Supporting Healthy, Empowered Communities in Colorado and Haiti
Erin Ulric is a Colorado native with an amazing husband and two young daughters. She started her career as an actuarial analyst, but after two trips to Haiti, she quit that career and moved to Port-au-Prince for a little over a year. Now back in Colorado, Erin is the Implementation Director of the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger, a collaborative network aimed at eliminating hunger in Colorado during the next five years.
“One of the things that was shocking to me after nearly a decade working in Haiti and other countries, was the inequities that exist in my own backyard. The fact that 1 in 11 Coloradans, and 1 in 8 children in Colorado struggles with hunger is unacceptable,” Erin said.
Erin in Petit Trou in 2008 working with the health aides doing training on home-based life saving skills.
Erin first traveled to Haiti in 2004 with her dad, long time CHP supporter and ex-board member Don Snyder, when CHP was still doing mission trips. Many of the long term relationships she created in Haiti were solidified through the trust and friendship her dad already established. To this day, many still call her Pitit Don, Don’s daughter. “Haiti for me holds friends that I consider family, places that I consider home, and memories of both joy and heartbreak,” Erin said.
Erin has watched CHP’s health program shift over time from medical mission trips to supporting the local clinic. “If I’ve learned anything over the years working in public health, it’s that communities hold their own solutions,” she said. “I am a big believer in systems change and transformation, but the ideas for changes and transformations must come from those experiencing them. I’ve also seen the way that CHP has transformed its own work. They’ve really worked to shift their relationship to be more authentic and less power-based and this is resulting in real sustainable work that is led by the community in Petit Trou.”
Fun fact about Erin: She is super competitive and still plays co-ed soccer! She also played for the Tigress, a Port-au-Prince competitive amateur women’s soccer team, when she lived in Haiti and won the national championship with them!
“Haiti is such a special place for me. I feel like so much of your growing up happens during your twenties, and I spent a huge amount of time during that decade in Haiti.”
Erin is featured on an episode of the podcast, “Uncharted Territory.” Click below to hear her discuss the challenges and successes of leading a team to select grantees of the Colorado COVID-19 Emergency Hunger Relief Fund.