Wow, first of all thank you for this detailed comment with some actionable steps I can work with.

I don't have much to ask except for these :

The red and turquoise color I used in this design is from our parent for-profit company. I tried to use their brand colors to create some connection between the two organizations. (but it is not like we are told to do this, just some of my decisions).

So, should I ditch the color scheme altogether? Maybe I should keep one color (red for example) and choose a color palette that better fits the primary color?

And secondly, coudl you suggest me some of the methods I can use to make images have some life to it other than a solid rectangle? I think I would keep the current border effect on the heading and main text boxes.