The Better Health Foundation (BHF) appointed local business
leader and community organizer Mr. Avery Pearl to its Board of Directors at the organization’s Annual
meeting last week.
Pearl, a 2024 QC Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, is the West End Revitalization Coordinator in
Rock Island, IL. He also serves as a strategic consultant to area nonprofit organizations that seek
transformational change through capacity building and community empowerment.
Pearl volunteers for several organizations, including the boards of the Quad Cities Jazz and Heritage
Festival, and the Azubuike African American Arts for the Council, as well as the board of the Center
for Nonprofit Excellence hosted by the Quad Cities Community Foundation.
Pearl completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and African Studies from Augustana College
and received the Ralph Bunche Masters Certificate in Political Science and Data Analytics from Duke
University in Durhan, N.C.
“We are delighted to welcome Avery to the Board,” said Dr. William Langley, president of the Better
Health Foundation Board of Directors. “Avery has shown a deep commitment to the community
through his professional and volunteer pursuits. We will grow stronger as an organization by
accessing Avery’s knowledge, skills and passion for the community.”
Langley and fellow board officers, Mr. Rob Woodall, vice president, and Mrs. Sandi Deke,
secretary/treasurer, were also re-elected at the Annual meeting.

With the addition of Pearl, seventeen community and business leaders comprise the BHF Board that
ensures the private foundation achieves its mission of mobilizing philanthropy to measurably improve
community health for all the people of the 9-county greater Quad Cities Region.
Better Health Foundation accepts grant requests from qualified 501(c)3 organizations in Cedar,
Clinton, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott counties in Iowa, and Henry, Mercer, Rock Island and Whiteside
counties in Illinois.
For more information, visit www.thebetterhealthfoundation.org, or contact Elaine Schilling,
eschilling@thebetterhealthfoundation.org.

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Sean Leary Director of Digital Media

Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.