Margo Brathwaite |
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Rose Gschwendtner |
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As co-founder and managing partner of the Jobin-Leeds Partnership for Democracy and Education, LLC, Maria with her spouse Greg plans and directs the firm’s research, investments, programs, client services, grants management, strategic alliances, communications and operations. She is leading the Partnership’s formation of a pipeline for progressive women candidates in Massachusetts.
For more than a decade, Maria has marshaled resources for candidates and ballot questions that motivate the electorate and speak to issues that are important to low income communities, African Americans, Latinos, immigrants and women. Maria’s career in philanthropy and civic engagement began at an early age from watching and helping her parents in their efforts on civil rights and feminism and global citizenship. She was born and lived in Puerto Rico as a child, and she spent time in the Sudan as a college student, where her education about the privileges of class, race and gender began. Maria started her education career as a health and biology teacher in a parochial, inner-city high school. She spent the first ten years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic providing counseling to people testing positive for HIV and training AIDS educators. She came to understand that only by addressing a root cause of the epidemic – the lack of political power on the part of people affected – would there be any chance for success in curbing the problem.
In 1999, Maria founded the Access Strategies Fund (www.accessstrategies.org). As Chair, with the board and staff, they address the political root causes of social and economic disparities. Access Strategies funds and assists community based organizations in underrepresented, low-income, communities of color and women’s communities to make their voices heard in the creation of sound public policies in Massachusetts. This collaborative, movement building work has produced large increases in voter turnout in urban African American, Latino and immigrant communities in the Commonwealth. Maria relishes and encourages the now frequent winning candidates resulting from community organizing and increased voter turnout supported by Access and she looks forward to the resulting shifts in policy and budget priorities. Maria’s strategy is to build organizational capacity for progressives and to help create opportunity for these personnel to become leaders and their organizations and issues to become mainstream and provide for the common good.
Maria helped found the Schott Foundation for Public Education in 1991, shaping mission, strategy, board, senior staff and outcomes, most recently as chair of the Strategy Committee. Schott supports the movement for high quality education by elevating the leadership of women and supporting the grassroots, bringing national attention to systemic discrimination against black boys, and leading funding efforts to better nurture all children.
Maria was a grants advisor to Tides Foundation Voter Action fund and is on the board of Campaign for America’s Future/IAF. The former Commonwealth Coalition of Massachusetts board also solicited her membership. She has advised donors and foundations focused on electoral engagement, and led workshops at foundation conferences showcasing the work of grantee partners in civic engagement. Her financial investment acumen marries socially-responsible investing with above-average returns. She is recognized by the Critical Impact Award from the Council on Foundations to Schott, the Monsignor Romero Award from the Foundation for Self Sufficiency in Central America (FSSCA), and the Morgenthau Award for Human Rights from the Cambridge City Democratic Committee. She was a 2008 recipient of the Center for Community Change Champion award honoring her efforts in immigrant and poor people’s civic advancement. Maria helped to established Young Sisters for Justice at the Boston Women’s Fund, getting girls to direct philanthropy to girls. Maria earned a Masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Bachelor’s degree from Colby College.
Greg Jobin-Leeds is currently writing a book on the art of transformative movement building. Greg is the Chair of the Board, Co-Founder and first President of the award winning Schott Foundation for Public Education. Under Greg's leadership, Schott nurtured the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) in 1993 and later helped found the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE). Through litigation, legislation, media and grassroots organizing, both organizations' efforts led to winning $7.4 billion for high-need New York schools to improve teacher effectiveness, early education opportunities and desperately needed resources. Schott won the Council of Foundation's 2007 Critical Impact Award for this victory.
In 2006, Schott began publishing the report, “The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males” which has created a groundswell of support for reforming public education. In 2008, Schott launched the Opportunity to Learn Campaign to build a national movement to close the opportunity gap in public education. Schott helped organize grassroots and religious groups across the country around the opportunity to learn framework.
He has made a career out of launching and nurturing successful, high-impact social change organizations. His talent for recruiting effective leaders and encouraging their efforts to break new ground has led to milestone victories for the nation’s historically underserved children and most under-represented families.
Greg has helped launch:
The Partnership for Democracy and Education whose mission is to nurture the systemic shifting of political power to constituencies and leaders who support an inclusive, educated society.
Access Strategies Fund, which has played a leading role in closing the racial gap in voter turnout in targeted communities and overturning racially unjust gerrymandered districts which has led to progressive leaders of color being elected.
The 501(c) (4) Education Voters of America that creates the political will to transform the nation’s public education system by holding public officials accountable for serving the needs of all children.
The Institute for Student Achievement (ISA), a leading high school redesign organization, with tremendous student outcomes.
The Alliance for Excellent Education — now a highly effective national advocate for public high school policy.
The CMP Media Foundation, and served on the corporate board of CMP Media.
Greg currently serves on committees of six investment portfolios with particular interest in mission related investing. In 2007, Greg was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve on the Massachusetts’ Readiness Project Leadership Council, specifically as a member of the Long-term Funding subcommittee.
Early in his career, he worked as a high school English teacher in rural Maine, then became head of the English Department of a high school in Columbia, South America. Later he trained adult literacy teachers at Roxbury Community College and then became a community organizer. Mr. Jobin-Leeds has a master's degree from Teacher's College, Columbia University, and thirty years of education, public policy, media, community organizing and leadership experience.
As the son of immigrants who escaped Nazi persecution, Greg lives the commitment of fighting for fairness and social justice. He is driven by the fundamental belief that excellence is the result of inclusion not exclusion. He often speaks and writes on the topics of Strategic Philanthropy, Organizational Development and Transformational Movement Building.
Ileana Cintrón is the Program Manager at the Jobin-Leeds Partnership for Democracy and Education, where she supports the development of the Women’s Pipeline for Change, a coalition of women of color, women of color-led organizations and allies who are building an infrastructure to advance the leadership of progressive women of color in political leadership. Ileana also coordinates grantmaking and research on progressive candidates for elected office in Massachusetts.
Prior to her work with the Partnership, Ileana served as the Senior Associate for Community Capacity Building at Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC), where she provided technical assistance to increase the effectiveness, deepen the impact and build the sustainability of community organizing groups across the northeast region. Ileana is a member of Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE), a former board member of East Boston Ecumenical Community Council (EBECC) and a member of the Emerge Massachusetts Class of 2011.
Prior to her work in Boston and the northeastern U.S., Ileana worked for over 12 years in her native Puerto Rico coordinating community-based prevention projects, providing training and technical assistance to community groups on social and economic community development, as well as supporting school reform efforts. She is one of the founders and former Executive Directors of the Corporation for the Support of Educational and Community Programs (CAPEDCOM by its acronym in Spanish), a nonprofit organization promoting alternative education, community development, and citizen participation in Puerto Rico. She also served as the first Coordinator of the Support Network for Community Groups in Social and Economic Development, a coalition of 14 community organizations focused on improving public policy and partnership opportunities with government agencies, businesses, higher education institutions and media enterprises to address the needs of low income communities in Puerto Rico.
Ileana received a B.A. in anthropology and Latin American studies from Yale University, graduate training in anthropology at UCLA, and an M.A. in public administration from the University of Puerto Rico.
Remona joined the Partnership for Democracy and Education, LLC, in 2007 as the Executive Assistant, and was later promoted to Operations & Special Projects Coordinator. She manages the administrative operations for the LLC. She brings a wealth of skills and experience from the field of human services and organizational management. Her experience and background consists of Human Services, Resident Organizing, Board Development, Criminal Justice, and Residential Property Management.
She has a passion for empowering people. A former member of the Boston Housing Authorities Resident Advisory Board she served 5 years as a board member and 3 years as a Co-Chair. In July of 2005 she initiated and successfully partnered with 8 organizations to hold the first Resident Leadership Summit for public housing residents in Boston. She continues to serve on the Community Committee sub-committee of Partners for Health and Housing Prevention Research Center. In 2008 Remona was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Advisory Board.
Remona has a M.S. in Organizational Management and a B.S. in Human Services with a concentration in Criminal Justice from Springfield College. She studied at Curry College for certification in Residential Property Management. When she is not involved in community service or playing Bingo, she enjoys spending time with her granddaughters Monet and Kennedi.
Michael provides federal and state-wide candidate research outside of Massachusetts. Previously, Michael served as National Electoral Project manager for three years. Michael brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the Partnership. Michael has led and worked with grassroots tenant and environmental organizations in Massachusetts and New England since 1987 in 501c3 and 501c4 capacities, as well as with grassroots political action committees. Starting out as a community organizer in Lowell, he worked as a tenant organizer in Boston, helped to launch renewable energy programs at Mass Energy Consumer Alliance, and held a previous staff position as New England Regional Director with the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund from 2000 to 2003. His experience and skills are in the areas of voter engagement, targeting, contact, and turnout programs; Electoral, legislative and grassroots strategy and organizing; Media communications, community education, and marketing. As a donor advisor since 2003, he has created and executed national funding strategy projects, directing resources to progressive efforts and organizations. Michael has a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University.
Alexandra Russell provides management consulting to the Progressive Massachusetts Funder Collaborative under the aegis of the Partnership. With her combined experience in the non-profit sector and as a donor advisor/foundation director in both the Eastern and Western ends of the Commonwealth, Alex brings a breadth of skills, understanding and finesse to the work of the Partnership.
Alex grew up in Western Massachusetts and after a few years in Seattle, Washington, DC and eight years in Boston, she is back in Western Mass.
In the late 90's, Alex worked on environmental and consumer rights issues with the Public Interest Research Groups, fundraised for a year with Citizen Schools and then pursued a masters degree in theological studies and social ethics at Boston University. After graduate school, Alex worked at Mass Voters for Fair Elections and at the Commonwealth Coalition and subsequently ran the Barbara Lee Family Foundation and Lee Family Office in Cambridge, where she pursued progressive politics and electoral work from a philanthropic perspective. Back in Northampton, Alex served as Program Director with the national media reform organization Free Press and recently became a consultant for foundations and non-profits.
Alex is a founding board member of Emerge Massachusetts, which works to recruit and train Democratic women to run for local office.
