About

Jinna Samara Halperin, M.P.H. (she/her)

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Jinna's headshot
Position
Consultant
Bio

Ms. Halperin worked with DMA as a subcontractor and subsequently joined the firm in 2014 as a Senior Associate, becoming a Principal in 2019. She served as a member of DMA’s Management Team, Board President and Vice President, and had a lead role in planning and implementing DMA’s cooperative conversion. In August 2025, she resumed her status as a subcontractor and continues to support multiple DMA projects. Ms. Halperin provides program management, evaluation, technical assistance, and proposal and report writing services to numerous social service agencies, health care providers, community hospitals, and nonprofit organizations. She has facilitated dozens of listening sessions, focus groups, planning meetings, and key informant interviews on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and other partners. Ms. Halperin is currently supporting the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care in its efforts to plan, recruit, and implement a Family Advisory Council. She also serves as Project Manager and Lead Evaluator for several behavioral health providers with their Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) funded projects as well as supports evaluation and implementation of the recently established Rhode Island Mental Health Treatment Court. In addition, Ms. Halperin provides technical assistance and capacity building support to a behavioral health provider around data analytics and reporting.

Ms. Halperin has completed several projects with the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), including collaborating on an evaluation of the statewide Family Resource Center network that culminated in OCA submitting a report of findings and recommendations to increase access and improve service delivery to the Massachusetts State Legislature. She provided extensive technical assistance and support to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) Recovery Support Services, including co-leading the Bureau’s FY18 Recovery Coach Workforce Scan, co-developing a widely cited Peer Support Worker Comparison Chart, presenting findings to the Governor’s Recovery Coach Commission, leading the Bureau’s 2021 Recovery Coaching Landscape project, and serving as a reviewer for the BSAS-funded Peer Recovery Support Center procurement in 2023. She previously served as the project manager and a lead evaluator for DMA’s five-year evaluation of Caring Together, the Department of Child and Families’ Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project to redesign the Commonwealth’s residential and community-based services in partnership with the Department of Mental Health.

Ms. Halperin applies an equity lens throughout her work and is committed to reducing behavioral health care disparities by supporting providers in their efforts to increase service access and engagement in marginalized and underserved communities. Ms. Halperin earned her Master’s of Public Health from Boston University, a certificate in Health and Human Rights from the Harvard University School of Public Health, and Bachelor’s of Arts with honors in Anthropology and African Studies from Beloit College.

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