Community Councils - Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Community Councils

Community Councils offer important wisdom to the Foundation in support of our Education strategies and grantmaking.

Community Advisory Council

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation convened the Community Advisory Council to refine our strategy for supporting literacy efforts within individual schools. Over two years, this group of district, school and nonprofit leaders will help the Rainin Foundation design a literacy funding pathway that is focused on students from historically marginalized backgrounds and schools that have high percentages of Black students and multilingual learners. The Community Advisory Council is comprised of leaders who are proximate to these student groups and representative of the organizations and schools that the Foundation aims to fund.

Community Advisory Council Members Include:

  • Dr. Leroy Gaines, OUSD Network Superintendent 
  • Dr. Bri Moore, OUSD Network Superintendent
  • Tammie Adams, OUSD Principal
  • Shawn Stibbins, OUSD Principal
  • Lissette Averhoff, OUSD Principal
  • Faris Jabbar, OUSD Principal
  • Jennifer DeMara, OUSD Literacy Coach
  • Devika Sood, FULCRUM Director of Program
  • Lindsey Fuller, The Teaching Well Executive Director
  • Susan Singleton, Families in Action for Quality Education Family Organizer

Community Strategy Council

By trusting the wisdom of community members, we strengthen our efforts to work together to address systemic barriers to learning. The Community Strategy Council, which was active from March 2020 to November 2021, worked alongside Rainin Foundation staff to strengthen our Education Program strategies. We made a concerted effort to include members who were racially and ethnically diverse and who weren’t already active in other coalitions. Our hope was to increase our proximity to people with diverse perspectives and experiences in schools. 

The Foundation also worked with grantees to advance their diversity goals. In 2022, roughly 70% of literacy leaders in our portfolio identified with a racial group other than white. We will continue these efforts.

Collage of Community Strategy Council member headshots.
Some of the Community Strategy Council members who worked alongside Rainin Foundation staff to strengthen our Education Program strategies. Photos courtesy of the Council members.

Community Strategy Council Members Included:

  • Daisy Barrera, Tutor, Cox Academy
  • Noah Bradley, Chief Academic Officer, Education for Change
  • Taji Brown, African American Male Achievement Program Manager, Oakland Unified School District
  • Dana Cilono, National Director, FluentSeeds
  • Clarissa Doutherd, Executive Director, Parent Voices Oakland
  • Jerome Gourdine, African American Male Achievement Program Manager, Oakland Unified School District
  • Emily Grunt, SEEDS of Learning Coach, CARES for Learning
  • Christie Herrera, Executive Director, Oakland Unified School District Early Childhood Education
  • Lisa Holt, SEEDS of Learning Coach, CARES for Learning
  • Francis Jimenez, Tutor, Achieve Academy
  • Andria Kemp, Teacher, Emerson Elementary
  • Hana Ma, Senior Policy Analyst, The Education Trust—West
  • Pecolia Manigo, Executive Director, Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network
  • Monica Scott Green, Program Director, Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network
  • Asha Sitaram, Associate & Research Lead, National Equity Project
  • Kareem Weaver, Director, Full and Complete Literacy Now, Oakland NAACP
  • Teneh Weller, Executive Director, High Expectations Parental Service
  • Woo Williams-Zou, Associate, National Equity Project