Staff
Brandi Collins-Calhoun
Movement Engagement Manager for Reproductive Access and Gendered Violence
Aaron Dorfman
Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a research and advocacy organization that works to ensure America’s grantmakers and wealthy donors are responsive to the needs of those with the least wealth, opportunity and power.
Dorfman, a thoughtful critic, frequently speaks and writes about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in philanthropy, the benefits of funding advocacy and community organizing, and the need for greater accountability and transparency in the philanthropic sector.
Before joining NCRP in 2007, Dorfman served for 15 years as a community organizer with two national organizing networks, spearheading grassroots campaigns on a variety of issues.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Carleton College, a master’s degree in philanthropic studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and serves on the boards of Capital & Main, The Center for Popular Democracy and re:power.
Latest Posts By Aaron Dorfman
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Transformative power: Supporting civic engagement
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Ben Barge
As Field Director, Ben strengthens NCRP’s relationships with U.S. social movements and philanthropic organizations to move money and power to community-led advocacy and organizing.
Ben manages the Movement Investment Project and leads NCRP’s external engagement with the pro-immigrant, pro-refugee movement. He also oversees staff travel and presentations for NCRP’s major initiatives.
Prior to joining NCRP, Ben worked at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, where he facilitated grantmaking and special projects around the racial and gender wealth gap, democracy, criminalization, environmental advocacy and public education.
Ben hails from Georgia, and received his undergraduate degree in political science and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Brandi Collins-Calhoun
Brandi Collins-Calhoun is a writer, educator and reproductive justice activist. Brandi attended the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University where she studied African American History and found her passion for grassroots organizing.
Today she is the senior movement engagement associate for gender and worker rights with the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in addition to serving as the Director of Reproductive and Maternal Health at the YWCA Greensboro.
Brandi has ties to grassroots organizations like Southerners On New Ground, Sister Song and serves on the board of directors for the Carolina Abortion Fund.
Her free time is spent as a birth/abortion doula and trainer while also freelance writing for publications such as The Root and Rewire News critiquing pop culture and history through a reproductive justice lens and is a 2019-2020 member of the Echoing Ida writing fellowship through Forward Together.
Burhan Razi
Burhan Razi has more than a decade of experience in non-profit management and operations. He oversees NCRP’s finance, HR and administration functions.
Prior to NCRP, Burhan was the FP&A global manager at World Resources Institute. He led the collation and reporting of financial information to WRI’s leadership and board, providing advice on resource allocation and operational strategy to help inform decision making. He worked closely with WRI’s international offices and teams to build local operational & financial management capacity.
Before starting at WRI, Burhan worked with the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) in Pakistan for three years where he designed and implemented governance, disaster-risk management, and capacity building projects focused on rural development in Pakistan.
Burhan holds a B.A in Economics from the University of Michigan, and a M.A in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School at Brandeis University.
Caroline O’Shea
As Director of Resource Mobilization, Caroline O’Shea leads the NCRP development team’s efforts to build relationships with our institutional and individual supporters and raise the financial resources necessary to fund our work. She brings experience with fundraising and nonprofit management for progressive advocacy, organizing, and movement building organizations, as well as enthusiasm for helping philanthropy better serve marginalized people and social justice movements.
Prior to joining NCRP, Caroline supported a variety of nonprofit clients’ grants fundraising programs as a senior director at consulting firm Elevate. She previously served as the deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia (now called REPRO Rising Virginia) and as an account executive at a fundraising firm serving national progressive political organizations.
Caroline grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and is a long-time resident of Washington, DC, where she volunteers with local political and activist organizations. She received her bachelor’s degree in government from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
Cynthia Kazaroff
Cynthia Kazaroff serves as NCRP’s Fundraising Manager, where she supports fundraising operations and helps manage the organization’s relationships with grantmakers. Prior to NCRP, she served as Development Manager at the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit dedicated to defending science and critical thinking in examining religion.
Cynthia has a passion for solving problems and improving processes that she believes she should apply to making the world a better and more just place. After graduating with dual degrees from the University of Akron, she began her professional life as an elementary music and movement teacher in New Mexico and Illinois. She returned to her home state of Ohio and completed a year of national service as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Disaster Services at the Summit County Red Cross.
She spent the next fifteen years in higher education, first as a concert production/events manager at the Cleveland Institute of Music and then as a technician in the Annual Fund at Oberlin College.
Cynthia lives in rural Ohio with her husband, son, and dog. She is a voracious reader known to her local library staff by name.
Jennifer Amuzie
With a background in traditional and social media, Jennifer Amuzie (pronounced “ah-mooz-yay”) has extensive experience leveraging communications to push movements forward.
Before coming to NCRP, Jennifer worked for CREDO Action and the Interfaith Immigration Coalition and consulted for Just Futures Law and Faithful America. She is proud to have learned to organize in Savannah, GA and continues to organize in Washington, D.C.
A first-generation Nigerian-American who grew up in the lowcountry of south Georgia, Jennifer enjoys making messes in the kitchen and listening to podcasts. She has a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Communications, both from Georgia Southern University.
Jessie
Katherine Ponce
As the Senior Associate for Special Projects, Katherine Ponce engages in both qualitative and quantitative research projects to advance NCRP’s mission.
Before NCRP, Katherine’s passion to strengthen the involvement of community in philanthropy grew during her time at the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy. Here she analyzed data trends for the center’s publications and outreach to uplift field partners focused on participatory grantmaking.
Katherine earned a dual degree, an MBA in Social Impact and MS in Global Health Policy and Management, in 2021 from the Heller School at Brandeis University, and a BA in 2015 from Towson University.
Outside of work, Katherine is an avid soccer fan and coach.
Lisa Firnberg
Lisa Firnberg brings 15 years of experience at the intersection of nonprofit operations, database implementation and information management to her role as NCRP’s Information and Data Director. Lisa collaborates with staff from across all NCRP’s teams to develop and maintain an accessible, purposeful, and adaptive information management system that fits the diverse needs of stakeholders across the organization.
Throughout her career, Lisa’s passion has been to “make order out of chaos” – to unravel complexity, establish consistency, and ultimately strengthen the operational foundation that allows mission-driven organizations to thrive. Prior to joining NCRP, Lisa served as both Director of Information Management and Deputy Director for Operations at the Maryland Coalition of Families (MCF), a nonprofit organization serving caregivers of those with mental and behavioral health challenges. While there she implemented and managed a new Salesforce database system, which transformed the way the organization managed its programs and its funder reporting. Before that, Lisa held numerous roles within the Professional Services department of Social Solutions (now part of the Bonterra family of technology products), implementing case management and outcome measuring software with nonprofit organizations, funders, and government agencies across the United States.
Lisa holds a B.A. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two young children. Outside of work and family life, Lisa is a volunteer leader with Jews United for Justice (JUFJ), an organizing group in the DC/Maryland region that advances social, racial and economic justice campaigns that bring immediate and concrete improvement to people’s lives.
Russell Roybal
Russell Roybal has nearly three decades of experience as an activist, organizer and resource mobilizer. A seasoned executive leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, they previously served as Chief Advancement Officer of San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), Deputy Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, and Director of Training & Capacity Building at the Gill Foundation.
They have served on the boards of directors of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the International Imperial Court System, and the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training. Russell currently sits on the boards of directors of OutRight International, Springboard Health Lab, and chairs the Rockwood Leadership Institute. In addition, they were appointed to and elected as Chair of the California Commission on the State of Hate.
Russell was honored by the California LGBT Legislative Caucus as a Pride Honoree in 2017 and was named Grand Marshal of the San Diego LGBT Pride celebration the same year. They are also a recipient of the Harvey Milk Social Justice Award and the Jose Julio Sarría Civil Rights Award. Russell was the inaugural recipient of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Equality Award.
As a Latinx, male-bodied, non-binary queer leader, their activism is rooted in a tradition of public service and the pursuit of social justice. When not working you can find Russell underwater scuba diving or living their life on the dance floor.
Ryan Schlegel
Before joining NCRP in April of 2014, Ryan worked at Cultural Tourism DC, where he nurtured a love for all things in the District, and at the University of Maryland’s student affairs division.
At NCRP Ryan has produced research on family foundation grantmaking, nonprofit leadership development and a 10-year philanthropic landscape study. He also supports NCRP’s connection to the economic equity movement.
He’s passionate about economic justice, RuPaul’s Drag Race and starting – but never finishing – books about history.
Ryan holds a B.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland and is a native of Columbus, Ohio.
Senowa Mize-Fox
Senowa Mize-Fox is a climate justice organizer/activist.
Prior to working with NCRP as the Movement Engagement Manager for Climate Justice, she spent four and a half years with the Climate Justice Alliance – a national grassroots alliance made up of frontline member organizations working towards a Just Transition – doing operations and membership engagement work.
In previous years, she worked closely with Black Lives Matter Vermont, The Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC), and her former labor union, United Electrical Workers.
She has a degree in Natural Resources Planning from the University of Vermont, and a Masters’ Degree in International Sustainable Development from the University of Manchester in the UK.
During her free time, Senowa is involved in her neighborhood mutual aid group, and loves to hike, swim, and peruse the internet for anything with rainbows on it. Senowa resides in Baltimore, MD with 3 cats and an ample amount of house plants.
Spencer Ozer
Spencer joined the NCRP team in December 2019 as a research and development intern and has since become a vital member of the organization’s Research team. As a Research Associate, his efforts have focused on data collection and analysis for NCRP’s Movement Investment Project, as well as assisting the Engagement Team.
Before NCRP, Spencer held several hands-on positions working with animals. While he is passionate about protecting wildlife and natural resources, he now enjoys putting his skills as a researcher to good use strengthening communities and supporting the mission of NCRP.
Spencer received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Eckerd College. As an undergraduate student, he developed a passion for research, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data to study the relationship between people and the environment.
Other than large datasets, Spencer enjoys the outdoors, music and his cat.
Stephanie Peng
As Senior Manager for Movement Research, Stephanie is passionate about using data to support communities on the frontlines of change.
She analyzes qualitative and quantitative data to empower nonprofit organizations and push philanthropy to be more just and equitable. She primarily conducts research for NCRP’s Movement Investment Project. In the past, she has worked on As the South Grows and the Philamplify initiative.
Stephanie holds a B.A. in International Affairs from American University and a M.A. in Comparative and Regional Studies from American University. During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she became passionate about the pro-immigrant and refugee movement.
She is a native of New Jersey. In her free time, she is either running or hiking in one of the many parks in the D.C. area, and loves to talk about food and fitness.
Suhasini Yeeda
Suhasini Yeeda’s background in creative writing and social action is invaluable in her role as NCRP’s Editorial Manager. Her task is simple – to help bring the messages and stories of NCRP staff, members and partners to life in the full service of impacted communities fighting for an equitable world.
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Suhasini has always been curious about the ways in which creativity and social justice collide. During the beginning of pandemic times, Suhasini began working as a freelance communications consultant where she supported small business owners, grassroots activists, and creative entrepreneurs with their communications needs.
As a result of enjoying community-driven work, she launched Niti Communications, which prioritizes uplifting QTBIPOC communities through the power of storytelling and strategic marketing plans. In 2022, she organized and MC’d a Reading and Fundraiser for Abortion Access at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in partnership with Shout Your Abortion.
Suhasini believes that words – born of ideas – surrounded by community and seeded with proper resources – can carry with them the potential to make meaningful change. Her creative work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories, and Best of the Net. She is a 2021 recipient of the California Arts Council Emerging Artist Fellowship.
Suhasini lives in Los Angeles, loves to bake, and is an unapologetic addict of cooking competition shows.
Trey Withers
Trey Withers is an organizer and advocate who is passionate about public service, building community, and centering the experiences of people most impacted by injustice in the fight for collective liberation. As NCRP’s Field Manager, Trey supports the organization’s relationships within philanthropy and brings extensive coalition-building experience to the role.
Prior to joining NCRP, Trey served as Program Officer at the Grove by Cypress Fund where she developed strategies and oversaw grantmaking within communities of color across North Carolina. She has also worked on local and national campaigns related to reproductive justice, voting rights, and protecting democracy.
Trey received her undergraduate degree in comparative literary studies from Northwestern University. She enjoys traveling, spending time out in nature, and experiencing the arts. A lifelong learner, Trey is inspired by the work and teachings of Black feminists who have led with courage, compassion, and consideration for the collective.
Valerie Mensah
NCRP’s Executive Assistant and Operations Associate Valerie Mensah has a heart for all people in all places. She works with NCRP’s Burhan Razi on addressing a variety of the organization’s administrative and organizational needs, including planning and scheduling important events for NCRP Board and senior leadership team.
Valerie has a passion for optimizing group systems and creating positive environments that inspire communication and collaboration.
Prior to working with NCRP, Valerie was a private tutor and administrative assistant who continuously found time to serve others outside of work. After college, she lived in Germany for many years where she volunteered at senior homes, centers for unhoused peoples and refugee service facilities.
Valerie holds degrees from Virginia Tech and The Technical University of Berlin. In her free time, she enjoys learning languages, music, watching films and tutoring college students in math and sciences.
Zarina Cornelius
Zarina Cornelius serves as NCRP’s Administrative Associate for the Strategic Programs Division, providing additional support and structure to the organization’s Field and Membership work. Her role primarily focuses on support for virtual and in person events, monitoring proposal and event deadlines, and collaborating with other internal teams on logistics and details.
Zarina graduated from Bowling Green State University, obtaining a degree in Ethnic Studies with a focus in Black History. After graduation, she worked at the school’s Center for Women and Gender Equity where she advocated on behalf of marginalized groups locally and regionally. She later moved into the finance sector, where she further honed the organizational skills that would go on to benefit the work done she is doing with funders and nonprofits here at NCRP.
A Detroit native, she likes to spend time exploring the city with her partner and child. She also loves reading fiction novels, watching her favorite TV shows, and collecting crystals.
Board
Dr. Dwayne Proctor
During his nearly 20 years in philanthropy, Dr. Dwayne Proctor has always worked to ensure that American communities were healthy and thriving.
Before becoming president and CEO of Missouri Foundation for Health in 2021, he served in a variety of roles at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 2002, he joined as a senior communications and program officer, providing strategic guidance and resources for several child health and risk-prevention initiatives such as Nurse-Family Partnership, Free to Grow, Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol-Free, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy.
In 2005, Dr. Proctor was tapped to lead RWJF’s national strategies to reverse the rise in childhood obesity rates. In this role, he worked with his colleagues to promote effective changes to public policies and industry practices, test and demonstrate innovative community and school-based environmental changes and leverage sustainable changes using both “grassroots” and “treetops” advocacy approaches to educate local and national leaders on their roles and opportunities to prevent childhood obesity.
Prior to RWJF, Dr. Proctor was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine where he taught courses on health communication and marketing practices to reach multicultural populations. During his Fulbright Fellowship in Senegal, West Africa, his research team investigated how HIV/AIDS prevention messages raised awareness of AIDS as a national health problem.
Dr. Proctor received his doctoral, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in marketing and communication science from the University of Connecticut. He is the former chairman of the board of directors for the Association of Black Foundation Executives and currently is the chairman of the board of trustees for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Foundation.
Daaiyah Bilal-Threats
Daaiyah Bilal-Threats is a labor, social justice and public education advocate who currently serves as the Senior Director for Education Policy at the National Education Association (NEA), America’s largest labor union.
For over 20 years Daaiyah has played a critical role in helping build and secure policy advances and programs that make our schools stronger and our political system more democratic. She has advised movement leaders, run winning political campaigns, championed the cause of quality public education internationally and has helped lead some of the progressive movement’s most important organizations.
As policy lead for the nation’s most powerful union, she currently oversees NEA’s research; health and safety program; international affairs; and its policy development and advocacy arms with a focus on domestic and international education policy. In previous NEA roles she led NEA’s philanthropic giving and strategic alliance programs: bringing in external funding to enhance signature NEA programs and facilitating NEA’s strategic engagement with more than 100 key national and international partners. In 2020 she built NEA’s largest-ever independent political campaign, highlighting educators as trusted members of every community. This campaign helped create the conditions necessary to elect a new U.S. president as well as numerous federal and state candidates that supported worker rights, racial and social justice, unions, and public education.
She has worked in large-scale social change her entire career beginning with the World Wildlife Fund, American Red Cross, and the Health Information Network.
She has served in leadership positions with numerous progressive political and civic organizations. She currently serves in leadership roles with the American Prospect Magazine, Partnership for the Future of Learning, and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Donald M. Ragona
In addition to serving as Director of Development and House Counsel at Native American Rights Fund, Don has also guest lectured on federal Indian law and Indian issues at various universities such as Brown University, University of Colorado and University of Arizona.
He frequently speaks on estate planning, philanthropic and current issues in Indian country and their potential effects on Native nations at Native conferences such as those sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians, National Indian Gaming Association and Native Americans in Philanthropy.
He is a member of the Matinecock tribe.
Molly Schultz Hafid
In her former role at the TCC Group, Molly Schultz Hafid was responsible for leading, managing and advising projects in foundation strategic planning and grantmaking, foundation learning and capacity building, landscape analyses and grantmaking portfolio review, multi-party partnerships and funder alignment.
She also contributed to the design and execution of TCC Group’s philanthropy sector research agenda and thought leadership with a specific focus on social justice philanthropy and exploring how strategic equity commitments and internal institutional practices can align and reinforce each other.
Farhad Ebrahimi
Farhad Ebrahimi (he/him) is an organizer, trainer, and story-based strategist active primarily in the philanthropic sector.
Ebrahimi was previously the Founder and President of the Chorus Foundation, which works for a just transition to a regenerative economy in the United States.
In addition to his work at Chorus, Farhad is a Co-founder and returning Board Member of Solidaire, and a member of the Center for Story-based Strategy trainer network.
Farhad identifies first and foremost as an abolitionist with respect to the concept of private philanthropy. As such, he’s most interested in the question of how extracted and consolidated wealth can be redistributed in ways that directly support a Just Transition to a world in which such wealth is no longer extracted and consolidated in the first place. It’s in this context that the Chorus Foundation itself has been structured as a transitional form, and will have spent down its entire endowment by the end of 2023.
Mayra Aguirre
Mayra Aguirre is an empathetic leader, community advocate, and dedicated visionary in the community development and philanthropic sectors. The daughter of immigrants raised in Emporia, KS, the first-generation Latinx college graduate has dedicated her career to collaborating with the communities around her, and leading change in a way that recognizes, appreciates, and listens to the voices of those individuals most connected to the community’s challenges.
Since 2020, Mayra has served as President of the Hall Family Foundation, a private philanthropic organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of human life in the Greater Kansas City area. Before serving her community as a steward of the Hall Family Foundation, Mayra shared her time and talents as a senior program officer at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Executive Director of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF), and a coordinator at Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)’s Metropolitan Council on Early Learning. She currently sits on the boards of the Greater KC Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Development Fund, and KC2026 World Cup.
Sharon Alpert
Sharon Alpert is the former president of Nathan Cummings Foundation, where she served as the foundation’s fourth president and first female leader. A seasoned philanthropic leader, Ms. Alpert has more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of inequality and environmental issues.
Previously, she rose from program officer to director of Surdna Foundation’s Sustainable Environments Program, then as vice president of programs and strategic initiatives.
Ms. Alpert began her career in philanthropy at the Ford Foundation, where she implemented a cross‐portfolio initiative to address inequality in housing, employment, and environmental opportunities in Camden, New Jersey. She also reshaped Ford’s environmental justice portfolio to focus on next-generation leadership from communities of color and the intersection of health and the environment.
Christine Cordero
Raised by a Filipino immigrant family in the working-class town of Pittsburg, CA, Christine acts from the deep belief that we are stronger together and can go farther together than we ever could alone. She is Co-Director of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), organizing with immigrants and refugees for a healthy environment and thriving economy for all communities.
For over 20 years, Christine strategized, organized, and built coalitions across environmental health and justice, workers rights, and economic and racial justice issues. Previously, she was Executive Director at the Center for Story-based Strategy, training 2,000+ people and working with 200+ groups to reinvigorate narrative strategies for social justice. She is an alumnus of Rockwood Institute’s Leading from the Inside Out Yearlong Fellowship, one of the nation’s leading executive leadership programs for experienced social change trailblazers. She is one of three recipients of Stanford University Centers for Equity, Community, and Leadership’s 2023 Changemaker Award. Christine is an ordained priest of the Chozen-ji line of Rinzai Zen, and trains in Oakland, CA and Kalihi Valley, HI.
Sarita Gupta
Sarita Gupta is Vice President of U.S. Programs, overseeing the Ford Foundation’s domestic work including Civic Engagement and Government, Creativity and Free Expression, Future of Work(ers), Technology and Society, Disability Rights, and Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice.
Gupta joined the foundation in 2019 as director of the Future of Work(ers) program, bringing more than two decades of experience working to expand people’s ability to take collective action to improve their workplaces, communities, and lives by creating meaningful solutions.
Gupta previously served as executive director of Jobs With Justice, co-director of Caring Across Generations, and a leader in the fight for workers’ rights, and played a key role in building numerous campaigns, like the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, a global coalition of trade unions, workers’ rights, and human rights organizations pushing for higher wages in the global garment industry, and the United Workers Congress, focused on raising labor standards and protections for low-wage workers across industries.
Gupta was also co-director of Caring Across Generations, a national movement transforming the way America defines care so all families can live well and age with dignity.
Gupta earned a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College, with studies in women, health, and society. She has served on the boards of several organizations, including Restaurant Opportunities Center United, the International Labor Rights Forum, and General Services Foundation. She currently sits on the boards of the Institute for Policy Studies, United States Student Association Foundation, All Above All, School of Labor and Urban Studies Foundation at CUNY, Mount Holyoke College, and Ownership Works.
She is the co-author of The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century.
Nana Gyamfi
Nana Gyamfi is the Executive Director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), a Black national organization that fights for the rights of Black migrants and African Americans through organizing, legal advocacy, research, policy, and narrative building to improve the conditions of Black communities by advancing racial justice and migrant rights.
A Movement attorney for over 25 years, Nana is co-founder of Justice Warriors 4 Black Lives and Human Rights Advocacy, organizations dedicated to fighting for human rights and Black liberation. She is a former professor in the Pan African Studies Department at California State University Los Angeles and the former President of the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL).
Dr. Jeanine Abrams McLean
Dr. Jeanine Abrams McLean is the President at Fair Count, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, founded by Stacey Abrams.
The goal of Fair Count is to ensure that every person in Georgia and the nation is seen, heard, and counted for a fair and accurate census and to building pathways to continued civic participation, including voter education and redistricting.
Jeanine is a highly skilled researcher with over 15 years of experience designing, managing, and implementing population-based studies and projects. While at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she applied her expertise in computational biology and population research to advance public health initiatives. She has extensive project management experience as well as work in community organizing.
In addition to her work in public health, she is passionate about finding creative ways to tackle community-based issues using both strategic planning and innovative ideas.
Lorella Praeli
Lorella Praeli is the Co-President of Community Change and Community Change Action.
Lorella is passionate about building collective power to win transformative policy change at all levels of government, so that people can thrive. Most recently, she was the ACLU’s Deputy National Political Director, where she fought to defend and expand the rights of immigrants and refugees. Prior to joining the ACLU, Lorella mobilized the Latinx vote as Hillary Clinton’s National Latino Vote Director.
Lorella moved from Peru to Connecticut with her family at the age of ten. Her life was transformed after coming out as “undocumented and unafraid” and organizing undocumented students to step into their power in Connecticut. She then served as United We Dream’s Director of Advocacy and Policy, where she led the campaign to implement DACA and was part of the team that persuaded the Obama administration to protect four million undocumented Americans through DAPA.She currently serves as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) National Board, Edward W. Hazen Foundation Board of Trustees, FWD.us Board of Directors, and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) Board of Directors.
Lorella is a proud Latina who believes that we will win.
Michael E. Roberts
Michael Roberts returned to First Nations Development Institute in 2003, and was appointed president by the board in 2005. He previously had served as chief operating officer for the organization until 1997.
In the interim, Mike spent five years in private equity, including advising angel investors, working for a $500 million telecommunications fund and for an early-stage Midwest venture capital firm. Mike has worked at Alaska Native corporations and for local IRA councils, primarily in accounting and finance.
He has taught a graduate business course on venture capital at the MBA program of the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri Kansas City, and an undergraduate business course on entrepreneurship at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Mike serves on the Board of First Nations Development Institute and is chairman of the Board of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. He is also a Steering Committee member of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders Network, and on the Investment Committee for the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Mike’s past service includes board positions for Native Americans in Philanthropy and The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), as well as on the Advisory Council of the Center for Native American Public Radio, and on the National Advisory Committee for the National Center for Family Philanthropy.
Most recently, in 2019 Mike was named a 2019-2020 fellow in the “Philanthropy Forward: Leadership for Change Fellowship” program of Neighborhood Funders Group and The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. And in 2018, he was appointed as one of 14 trustees of the new $266 million Native American Agriculture Fund that was created as an outgrowth of the Keepseagle v. Vilsack case. Its mission is to fund the provision of business assistance, agricultural education, technical support, and advocacy services to Native American farmers and ranchers to support and promote their continued engagement in agriculture. The new Native American Agriculture Fund is the largest philanthropic organization solely devoted to serving the Native American community.
Mike holds an MBA degree from the University of Washington with an emphasis in finance and operations management, and a bachelor’s degree in architecture through the environmental design school at the University of Colorado. In April 2016, Mike received the Asset Builder Champion (ABC) Award, an initiative managed by the Center for Global Policy Solutions and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. Mike was recognized along with fellow awardees Congressman Charles Rangel, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and former Ford Foundation Vice President Melvin Oliver.
Jocelyn Sargent
Jocelyn Sargent is a political scientist and institutional change agent with over two decades of experience advancing democracy and social justice agendas.
A co-founder of the Center for Social Inclusion, now a component of Race Forward, she has spent the bulk of her career devoted to social equity, civil society, and leadership development. She aligns her social science training and her extensive experience managing philanthropic programs to support clients and institutions committed to making long lasting impact for equity and justice.
Currently, Ms. Sargent is the Director of Restorative Justice and Transformation in Medicine at the American Medical Association Center for Health Equity.
Ms. Sargent is dedicated to promoting social justice through the empowerment of marginalized communities. To this end, she has facilitated community change efforts with legislators, business leaders and grassroots advocates to improve local non-partisan voter information and outreach activities in low income communities.
While at the Open Society Foundation and then later at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, she designed philanthropic and government programs to leverage and coordinate resources to increase the capacity of and encourage multi-sector, cross community collaboration for economic and social equity. Ms. Sargent, the former Executive Director of the Hyams Foundation, was recognized for her outstanding sectoral leadership on issues of racial equity and social justice in 2017 by the Boston Business Journal and in 2018 by the Boston Magazine. In 2020-2021, as the Executive Strategic Consultant, Ms. Sargent led and managed the organizational and programmatic development of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund – a ground-breaking philanthropic initiative created to provide financial support, essential resources, and thought leadership.
As a researcher, Ms. Sargent has developed and directed large-scale impact evaluations of major philanthropic programs of the Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation, as well as various local community foundations. She has designed research strategies, directed assessment activities and analyzed data to make recommendations that informed the philanthropic sector’s practices and resource allocations for strengthening community organizing and grassroots advocacy for social justice.
By virtue of her roots in the US South, Ms. Sargent possesses a deep personal passion for a fair and just society. She also brings a professional background in grant making, public policy, community development, and research and assessment. She has taught university courses, written reports, and presented conference papers pertaining to racial and economic justice; health inequities; social networks; and public policy targeting low-income populations and communities of color.
Joe Scantlebury
Joe Scantlebury is the President and CEO of Living Cities, a collaborative of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions who work together to fight poverty in America’s cities.
He previously served as the vice president for program and strategy (places), where he led, designed and implemented strategic programming efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families in the foundation’s priority places, including: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans in the United States, and internationally in Haiti and Mexico.Previously, he served as senior program officer, U.S. Program Advocacy, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Prior to the Gates Foundation, he was a staff attorney at the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he advocated and litigated nationally to reduce disproportionate minority confinement and addressed conditions within the juvenile justice system.
OJ Semans, Sr.,
OJ Semans, Sr., is the Co-Executive Director, Four Directions Native Vote along with his wife Barbara Semans (Dillon). Four Directions Native vote is a non-partisan voting rights advocacy organization that has successfully litigated Federal Voting Rights Lawsuits on Montana, Nevada and South Dakota working with Tribes and Tribal members.
Both OJ and Barb received their Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Clairmont Graduate University, are members of the Sicangu Oyate and have 7 children.
As Chairman of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation an entity of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, OJ’s work involves meeting with Congress, Federal Agencies, Profit & Non-Profit Corporations and Tribes throughout the United States. OJ is also the Executive Director of the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT), a group whose mission is to protect the Treaties and Sovereignty of Large Land Based Tribes and to work with the United States government on funding, legislation, economic development.
Pamela Shifman
Pamela Shifman currently serves as the president of the Democracy Alliance.
Shifman is the former executive director (2014-19) at NoVo Foundation, which she joined in 2008. She advanced NoVo’s efforts to end violence and discrimination against girls and women, and developed a sharp racial and gender justice lens for the foundation’s work, culminating in such efforts as <em>Move to End Violence</em>, a 10-year initiative to strengthen the movement to end violence against girls and women in the U.S., and a historic $90 million commitment to support girls of color.
Prior to NoVo, Ms. Shifman led UNICEF’s efforts to end gender-based violence in conflict-affected settings. She also served as the co-Executive director of Equality Now, and as a legal advisor for the ANC Parliamentary Women’s Caucus in South Africa.
Ms. Shifman is the recipient of the 2011 Lucretia Mott Award from Women’s Way and has been named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Women’s e-News.
Eric Ward
Eric K. Ward is a nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy. He brings over three decades of leadership in community organizing and philanthropy to Race Forward, having worked with leaders from government, law enforcement, business, and civil rights groups to advance civil rights work. Eric also serves on the boards of several organizations.
An author, in-demand speaker, and media source, Eric has written multiple works and has been quoted in various widely read mainstream media outlets. His singer-songwriter talents helped launch the Western States Center Inclusive Democracy Culture Lab. In 2021, Eric became the first American recipient of the Civil Courage Price, adding to the awards and distinctions he has received throughout his career, including the Peabody-Facebook Futures Media Award.
His previous work in philanthropy includes holding various positions with Atlantic Philanthropies and the Ford Foundation.
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