Get to Know Chloe Nettles

Working as a teacher and school leader in Louisiana, Bloomberg Fellow Chloé Wiley Nettles saw firsthand how trauma, poverty, and unmet health needs could hinder a child’s ability to learn and grow beyond their circumstances.  

She also saw the limits of what could be accomplished inside a classroom. 

“Throughout my time in the school system, I consistently found that what mattered most to a student's ability to succeed was rarely their performance in the classroom, but more often circumstances out of their control, such as their home lives and social circles," Nettles says. 

Today, as a Senior Program Officer for the Louisiana Blue Foundation, Nettles helps direct more than $3.5 million in annual investments to improve health outcomes for children, families, and communities across the state. Her work ranges from evaluating grant opportunities and partnering with nonprofits and public agencies to bringing leaders together around complex challenges such as behavioral health, maternal health, and access to care. 

In Louisiana, that work often also means working across political divides. 

Nettles has learned that advancing better outcomes for young people does not require everyone to approach a problem from the same political or professional perspective. Instead, she focuses on identifying goals that everyone has in common--giving children and families the opportunity to thrive. 

In 2015, local high school students developed and launched the Peer Initiative, a program that helps prevent teen suicide by training young people to recognize when their peers are struggling and connect them with professional support. Following the passing of a classmate, these students and their teachers saw a need for a stronger support system for all young people in their school, regardless of where they sat socially or politically. In 2022, Nettles and the Louisiana Blue Foundation funded the expansion of the program to help the students bring together people with different perspectives and help them find common ground in the belief that young people deserve support before a crisis occurs. 

For Nettles, the most powerful stories from the program are often the simplest. She has heard from students who sought help because a friend noticed something was wrong and reached out. Those stories illustrate what can happen when communities focus on what they can accomplish together. 

Across her work, Nettles builds coalitions that include schools, health care, nonprofits, businesses, and government, grounding conversations in evidence, community experience, and the practical needs of young people. Through her Bloomberg Fellowship, Nettles hopes to gain the skills and connections needed to advance this work in her community and state for many years to come.