Katy Armendariz Founder & Visionary Roots Wellness Center

Katy Armendariz is a dedicated social worker from the Twin Cities, known for her passionate engagement in community-based advocacy and providing culturally responsive care through a harm-reduction, somatic, and de-westernized lens. Serving on the NASW Board, she is also the Founder and President of Roots Wellness Center, where she spearheads grassroots, innovative programs to address community gaps. Katy’s work emphasizes the need for culturally humble, trauma-informed care. Katy and her team has successfully launched an innovative pilot program in collaboration with Yale University, pioneering the first attachment and trauma-focused in-home treatment program in Minnesota. This program boasts an impressive 86% success rate in preventing out-of-home placements for Black and Native families, addressing significant disparities in the perinatal population. Katy’s efforts are not only healing for generations to come but also counteracting centuries of practices that have dismantled Black and Native communities.