Multicultural Fellowship Program

In an area with such a wealth of young talent, it is essential to cultivate the next generation of community leaders to reflect the diversity of our region. In our Multicultural Fellowship Program, we select young professionals of color with the promise and passion to create significant social change. By working in teams across the Foundation, fellows gain dynamic hands-on leadership experience to prepare them for future positions in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors.

The San Francisco Foundation's Multicultural Fellowship Program aims to increase diversity in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. The Program provides young professionals of color with challenging work experiences and leadership opportunities in the areas of grantmaking and community building. The Fellowship includes an intensive curriculum and dynamic hands-on professional experience.

(The 2008-09 class of Multicultural Fellows are [pictured above, L-R] Grace Ma, Navin Moul, Josaphine Stevenson, Gloria Bruce, Vanessa Camarena-Arredondo, and Nacala Jendayi.)

2009-10 Fellowship Recruitment

The San Francisco Foundation recruits three fellows per year beginning in January. The next fellowship recruitment will begin January 2009 in the areas of Community Health, Community Development, and Environment. Please check our website at that time for more information on how to apply. Please contact fellowship@sff.org with questions.

Our 2008-09 class of Multicultural Fellows are:

Gloria Bruce (Community Development)

Most recently, Gloria served as Senior Program Associate at the Berkeley Alliance, a partnership between the City of Berkeley, UC-Berkeley, and the Berkeley Unified School District, where she convened meetings of community and city leaders, streamlined organizational operations, and coordinated a volunteer program serving homeless and low-income youth. Gloria brings a range of non-profit experience in the housing, education, and environmental fields as a teacher and policy researcher in Washington, D.C., the Boston area, and China. In the Bay Area, she has worked with Urban Habitat, Affordable Housing Associates, the City of Richmond, the National Park Service, and East Bay Housing Organizations, focusing primarily on equitable development and affordable housing. Gloria received her Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in history from Harvard University.

The Fellowship taught me the dynamics within a region or community that have been really helpful when thinking about how you can make change at a national or state policy level.

            -Recent Fellow

Grace Ma  (Environment)

Grace most recently served as the coordinator for urban forestry policy, planning and management in San Francisco with the Department of the Environment. She developed a city urban forest plan, tree pruning standards, landmark tree program, and educational materials. As a graduate student she worked with Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests (LEAF) on backyard trees and developed a public campaign to protect trees within the City of Toronto. She previously worked on pesticide databases, publications, and partner organization relations at Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). Grace holds a Master's degree in Forest Conservation from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor's degree in Conservation Resource Studies from University of California Berkeley.

Josaphine Stevenson (Community Health)

As a researcher Josaphine most recently examined oral health disparities, with a focus on Latino children’s access to oral health care, while working for the University of California at San Francisco. Prior to this, she worked on research projects that focused on access to nutrition in low-income communities, senior access to health care, the lack of ethnic diversity in University of California medical schools, and Native American legal rights. Organizations that Josaphine has worked with include the Prevention Research Center, Greenlining Institute, Native American Legal Rights Foundation, and Partners in Care. Previously a co-owner of the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley, Josaphine co-led the development of a sister cooperative in San Francisco from idea to profitable business. Josaphine received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Native American Studies from the University of California at Davis and is a candidate for her Master’s degree in Applied Medical Anthropology from California State University, Long Beach.

Nacala Jendayi (Education)

Nacala just relocated from New York, where she directed the education department at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in Manhattan. Prior to this, she worked at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation in Brooklyn, where she served on a team of parents, teachers, and community organizers to open a new high school focused on cultural studies, community service, and college preparation. Nacala also has significant experience working with nonprofits in the Bay Area. She led intensive community-focused and wraparound services for foster youth primarily from Oakland and created a support group for adolescent girls through Lincoln Child Center. She also ran a leadership program for teens and coordinated educational and recreational activities for low income youth of color through the San Francisco International Institute, taught a culture, history, and social awareness class for black students at Francisco Middle School, and directed an afterschool program at Berkeley High School. Nacala holds a Master of Arts degree in international educational development from Teachers College at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Howard University.

Navin Moul (Social Justice)

Before joining The San Francisco Foundation, Navin was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Ethnic Studies Department. Her doctoral research looked at citizenship and belonging using the deportation of Cambodians living in the United States as a case study for understanding incorporation and identity. As a Fulbright Fellow, she lived and conducted field research in Cambodia, interviewing “returnees” who were forcibly removed from the U.S.. While in Cambodia, she also worked as the program director for Global Youth Connect, an organization that works to build and support a community of youth who are actively promoting and protecting human rights, and to educate and inspire the next generation to work for peaceful change. Prior to graduate school, Navin taught first grade at Spruce Primary in Washington State. She holds a Master’s degree in Ethnic Studies from University of California Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in American cultural studies from Western Washington University. She anticipates earning her Ph.D. in December 2008.

Vanessa Camarena-Arredondo (Arts and Culture)

Before transitioning into the fellowship, she was a program assistant in Education and Community Development at the San Francisco Foundation. Prior to this, she was the program coordinator at the Latina Breast Cancer Agency. Additionally, Vanessa worked with the California Faculty Association at her university in a collective effort to address state budget cuts. She worked for two years with Self Help Graphic Gallery and Print Shop on the Day of the Dead celebration and Deaf Children’s Arts Festival. Vanessa also interned with the Mark Taper Forum’s Latino Theater Initiative, and was a youth program coordinator at Bienestar, an HIV education and service center serving the Latino community. Vanessa sings with Las Bomberas de la Bahia and is a student at Los Centzontles Mexican Cultural Arts Center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies from California State University, Los Angeles.