Chong Anna Canfora

PRESIDENT | Chong-Anna is an experienced non-profit executive, community organizer, and advocate. She is passionate about mission-driven work, building community, and leveraging public and private resources as a force for the greater good.

She has been in top leadership roles as a professional in workforce development, civic engagement, political and non-profit fundraising, but her most treasured role is being champion for fellow survivors. Most recently, she served as the Director of Development for the Michigan State University Museum and worked with survivors to co-curate the award-winning exhibition Finding Our Voice: Sisters Survivors Speak.

Chong-Anna is currently the Executive Director of Michigan Community Action, the statewide association for all of Michigan’s Community Action agencies that make up the largest network of anti-poverty organizations in the state. She served on the Firecracker Foundation’s Development Committee for five years before joining the board in 2019 and assuming the role of President in 2020.

She lives in Lansing with her husband, two children, and two cats. 

Tyler Dyke

TREASURER | Tyler Dyke is a grammar and spreadsheet nerd. He pays his bills by working in securities regulation as a financial institution examiner (think stocks and bonds, not security guards). Tyler enjoys volunteering and participating in the community. Currently, he also serves as the treasurer for Michigan Pride, on the board for the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, and is the president of the Grand River Connection. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, home update projects, skydiving, reading, and brunching.

Apryl Pooley

SECRETARY | Apryl is a local author, artist, and scientist. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Michigan State University where she is currently a Research Associate in the MSU Neuroscience Program. Apryl researches the effects of traumatic stress on the brain, with particular focus on how hormones, sex/gender, and early-life developmental processes influence how individuals respond to trauma. Apryl is the faculty advisor for the MSU chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) where she works to ensure that all people struggling with mental health issues on her campus receive the resources and respect they need.

Apryl is passionate about educational outreach and institutional policymaking as it pertains to building a community that invests in the holistic healing of those who have survived sexual trauma. She believes in the healing properties of yoga, art, music, and writing as therapeutic modalities for trauma recovery. Apryl’s own story, Fortitude: A PTSD Memoir, was released in 2015 and her art has been featured in ArtPrize. Apryl enjoys practicing yoga, writing and playing music, going to concerts, and making fun of her two dogs, Lady and Bean.

Elizabeth Abdnour

Liz Abdnour owns her own law and consulting firm providing legal representation to individual clients, as well as independent investigative services, consultation, and training in K-12, higher education, and workplace discrimination and harassment matters to employers and educational institution clients.  Liz’s specialty areas include special education, school discipline, Title IX, disability, discrimination, harassment, and other civil rights issues, as well as family law, housing, and personal protection order matters.  Liz previously worked in legal services providing free representation to low income individuals with a specific focus on advocating for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, children, and immigrants, and as a university Title IX and civil rights investigator. In her free time, Liz enjoys sleeping, eating, and watching funny cat videos.

The Firecracker Foundation is seeking applications from community members interested in serving as board members charged with the oversight of this ambitious 501©3 nonprofit organization.

As a newly-launched grassroots nonprofit, the board of directors operates as a volunteer work force developing programs, policies and procedures that will ensure the sustainability of this invaluable community resource. The Firecracker Foundation provides free, high quality holistic healing services to children that have survived sexual trauma in the tri-county area and their families.

Currently board positions are available for individuals with the following professional experience;

• Legal expertise pertaining to nonprofit business and/or child advocacy law and policy in the state of Michigan.
• Trauma Sensitive Yoga training, practice experience and/or a passion for building therapeutic yoga programs.
• Experience cultivating and training a team of advocates to participate in crisis intervention for children and their families.
• Financial expertise related to nonprofit accounting, best practices and accountability.

If you’re interested in applying for a position on the board, complete the Board Application and send your resume or CV to board@thefirecrackerfoundation.org.