Fast 15: Susannah Shinn

As a child, Susannah Shinn joined her grandfather every Saturday as he went out to volunteer with different organizations.

“When I was young and forming all these really pivotal opinions about the way the world should be, he always encouraged me to experience the human condition,” Shinn said. “The only way I could do that was by being outside and serving.”

She was 16 when he died, and by then volunteering had become a way of life.

The Tulsa native came to Fayetteville in 2002 to attend the University of Arkansas. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science in 2006, and a master’s of public administration, with an emphasis in public policy, in 2009.

She spent a year working for the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition, a project of the Community Clinic at St. Francis House, and has been the clinic’s marketing and community relations liaison since March 2010. The clinic offers medical and dental care on a sliding-scale fee to the more than 100,000 uninsured residents of Benton and Washington counties.

“I’m just here to support the good work the clinic does and to get the word out in the community about what we’re doing,” Shinn said.

Her paid work and volunteer work blend seamlessly, as her job puts her in touch with health care and business leaders and elected officials around the state.

Shinn volunteers with many groups, and is politically active as well, having served as a consultant on state and local campaigns in Arkansas and Oklahoma. She also volunteered on Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s campaign.

Shinn chairs the health care action committee of Fayetteville Forward, a citizen-led initiative Jordan started in 2009 to address various issues. She’s also on Fayetteville Forward’s Economic Accountability Council.

She feels her generation has a special charge to shape public policy as it evolves.

“To be part of something big, something greater than yourself, is the biggest achievement anyone could want,” Shinn said.