Karen FitzGerald

As the Senior Director of Capacity Building, I lead the Foundation’s work to strengthen the infrastructure and resiliency of Meyer’s grantee partners. I am also building out Meyer’s Interim Outcomes framework through which the Meyer staff and board understand the progress and impact of our grantee partners in changing systems that create and perpetuate racial and economic injustice. I am a connector, linking people and organizations to each other and to resources that can help them make their visions a reality.

COVID’s lethal effect on Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color underscored for me how dozens of policies and practices developed over hundreds of years, as well as racial biases that are deeply embedded in all aspects of American life, work together to devastating effect to advantage some and disadvantage others. It reinforced for me why talking explicitly about racism must be at the center of any discussion to create a more just and equitable world.

I joined Meyer in 2000.