Lateefah Simon Appointed President of Akonadi Foundation
Oakland, CA June 14, 2016
The
Board of Directors at Akonadi Foundation is pleased to announce the
appointment of Lateefah Simon as Akonadi Foundation’s next president,
effective August 22, 2016. Lateefah will succeed Quinn Delaney, Founder
of Akonadi Foundation, who will continue to serve as the Board Chair for
the Foundation. A nationally recognized advocate for civil rights,
Lateefah brings over 20 years of executive experience advancing racial
and social justice causes in the Bay Area, most recently as Program
Director for the Rosenberg Foundation.
“We are excited for this new chapter
of growth for Akonadi Foundation,” said Quinn Delaney “and are confident
that Lateefah’s commitment to racial justice action and her leadership
in the field of philanthropy will deepen Akonadi Foundation’s overall
strategies of providing long-term investments in organizations and
initiatives that are on the frontlines of racial justice movement
building.”
Since 2011, Lateefah has served as
Program Director of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, a
statewide grantmaker that takes on systemic barriers that stand in the
way of full access to equity and opportunity for Californians. Lateefah
managed the Foundation’s portfolio of grants aimed at supporting
groundbreaking advocacy in the areas of criminal justice reform,
immigrant rights, low-wage workers’ rights and civic engagement in
California. In 2016, Lateefah helped launch the Leading Edge Fund, a new
$2 million fund created to seed, incubate and accelerate bold ideas
from the next generation of progressive movement leaders in California.
“It has been a real privilege to
spend the past five years working with Lateefah to change the odds for
Californians most deeply impacted by injustice and inequality,” said Tim
Silard, President of the Rosenberg Foundation. “From advancing criminal
justice reform to championing bold and brave movement leaders, her
strength, wisdom and wonderful spirit have been invaluable to Rosenberg.
I am very excited about this new chapter in Lateefah’s leadership and
look forward to continuing to work with her and the Akonadi Foundation
to advance our shared missions of racial justice and equity.”
Prior to joining Rosenberg, Lateefah
was Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the
San Francisco Bay Area, where she revamped the 40-year-old
organization’s structure and implemented successful community based
initiatives, including the Second Chance Legal Services Clinic.
Lateefah’s passion for supporting low-income young women and girls, and
her advocacy for juvenile and criminal justice reform, began at the
Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD) in San Francisco. Now called
the Young Women’s Freedom Center, the grassroots organization is run
for and by systems impacted young women. At age 19, Lateefah stepped
into the role of Executive Director for 11 years. Lateefah also led the
creation of San Francisco’s first reentry services division under the
leadership of then District Attorney Kamala D. Harris, where she
spearheaded the flagship program, Back on Track, an advocacy program for
young adults charged with low-level felony drug sales. Back on Track
reduced the recidivism rate for the population it serves to less than 10
percent.
“Akonadi Foundation’s commitment to
ending racialized oppression is in deep alignment with my values and
experiences,” said Lateefah Simon, “and I am so honored to join the
organization as its President. This nation is at a turning point.
Akonadi is not standing idle. The Foundation actively supports groups
and leaders who are explicit about the need to transform unjust systems
and structures that perpetuate harm to people of color. This is where I
want to be.”
Lateefah has received numerous awards
for her work, including the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the
Jefferson Award for extraordinary public service. She was named
“California Woman of the Year” by the California State Assembly, and
also has been recognized by the Ford Foundation, the National
Organization for Women, Lifetime Television and O Magazine. In 2016,
Lateefah was named one of The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 40 Under 40,
and in 2016, was appointed by the Governor of California to the
California State University’s Board of Trustees.
Founded in 2000 by Quinn Delaney and
her husband Wayne Jordan, Akonadi Foundation began as an outgrowth of
their commitment to racial justice. Through the years, the
Foundation has given over 1,300 grants totaling $30 million to
nonprofit organizations, primarily in the Bay Area as well as across the
country. In 2012, Akonadi Foundation shifted its grantmaking to focus
solely in Oakland in order to concentrate its financial and human
resources toward building a localized racial justice movement.
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