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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 our grantmaking teams and contributing to numerous projects across the Foundation, fellows gain dynamic hands-on leadership experience. Former fellows now serve as executive directors and development directors in nonprofits, as program officers in foundations, as government officials, and as professionals and academics who serve or work with nonprofits.
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
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, individual coaching, mentorship, access to local service sector leaders, and countless opportunities to build a professional network.
Photo: 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.
Our 2010-11 class of Multicultural Fellows
Abony Alexander is the community development program fellow. Abony recently worked as a law clerk for the East Bay Community Law Center, focusing on a policy initiative to end the “family cap” practice in federally funded welfare programs and providing legal advocacy to families facing problems with their CalWORKs and General Assistance grants. Previously, Abony interned with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York as a law clerk in its political participation practice, and clerked for the Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center in San Francisco, where she focused on workplace discrimination and harassment litigation in its racial equality practice. Prior to attending graduate school, she was an information technology training specialist for the United States Department of Justice, and taught high school English as part of the Teach for America program in her native Washington, D.C. Abony received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Government from Georgetown University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
Jessica (Jessie) Buendia is the environment program fellow.
Before joining The San Francisco Foundation, Jessie studied
environmental policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs. As a graduate consultant, she worked
with Mayor Cory A. Booker to create a sustainability action plan for
the City of Newark. She also worked with Chintan Environmental Research
and Action Group, an environmental justice organization in India, to
promote the role of waste-recyclers in India’s climate change
mitigation policies. Before attending graduate school, Jessie was a legislative field representative for East Bay Senator Loni Hancock and
a policy fellow at the Greenlining Institute. In both capacities, she
led initiatives by multi-ethnic coalitions to improve the
environmental, health, and economic opportunities of communities of
color in California. While Jessie’s heart is in California, her roots
are in the Midwest. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from
Macalester College in Minnesota, and was raised by an incredible single
mother and extended family in Iowa and Mexico.
Tara Genea Wilson is the education program fellow.
Prior to joining The San Francisco Foundation, Tara worked on critical
state policy issues affecting California’s most vulnerable children and
families as program manager of Child Care Law Center. After graduate
school, she continued her investigation of early childhood education
policy issues as a consultant with the Center for the Study of Child
Care Employment. A San Francisco native, Tara has worked to enhance the
educational opportunities for young people in the city’s underserved
communities with notable organizations including Aim High, Community
Network for Youth Development, and Boys and Girls Clubs of San
Francisco, where she served as director of training and professional
development. Tara completed the Leadership Program in Early Childhood
at Mills College, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Educational
Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from the University
of California at Berkeley.
Applications for 2011-2013 Fellowships
The San Francisco Foundation will begin recruiting in the fall for the 2011-2013 Community Health and Arts and Culture Fellows. Information will be available on this page in September.
If you have questions regarding the Fellowship Program or the recruitment process, please contact Jamillah Washington-Weaver at 415.733.8557 or fellowship@sff.org.
In Conversation: Multicultural Fellows Reflect on the Power of the Fellowships
June 2010
As Arts and Culture Fellow Vanessa Camarena-Arredondo and Social Justice Fellow Navin Moul conclude their fellowships, we asked them to look back on the past two years of hands-on leadership experience. Watch the brief video below to hear them discuss the power of Fellowships in building their own success and strengthening their communities.
Multicultural Fellowships: A Model to Strengthen and Support Emerging Leaders of Color
There is growing recognition that leadership within the fields of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector are not reflective of the racial/ethnic diversity of the nation as a whole. The 2009 cohort of The San Francisco Foundation Multicultural Fellows drafted a paper, entitled "Multicultural Fellowships: A Model to Strengthen and Support Emerging Leaders of Color," detailing how the Fellowship can be used as a program model to encourage the development of leaders of color in nonprofit, governmental, and philanthropic sectors. The San Francisco Foundation’s commitment to supporting emerging leaders of color, as well as the longevity and success of the Fellowship Program, puts the fellows in a unique position to share our experience and offer recommendations on how similar fellowship programs could be developed in other sectors and foundations. The paper includes reflections from former and current fellows and is specifically focused upon the impact that the Fellowship Program has had on our careers and capacity as leaders. Click here to download a PDF of this paper.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors' Report on Diversity in Action
In July 2009, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors released its report entitled "Diversity in Action: Strategies with Impact." This report highlights ideas, approaches, and programs from CEOs and trustees of foundations who have implemented solutions to ensure greater reach into diverse communities, including The San Francisco Foundation's Multicultural Fellowship Program. With an aim to promote best practices, leaders share perspectives on both the rationale and the methods of their diversity strategies. Click here to download a PDF (1.7 MB) of this report.