MIAMI –Bahia Ramos-Synnott will direct the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s donor-advised grants to community foundations around the country, including a recently announced initiative of $70 million over seven years, the foundation announced today.
The appointment is part of Knight Foundation’s efforts to deepen its commitment to ensuring that communities are informed about and engaged in the issues and opportunities that face them.
The partnership between Knight Foundation and community foundations is a logical one, Ramos-Synnott said. “Community foundations have the grassroots connections to identify strategic actions that reach a community’s full potential and help move communities towards that goal,” she said.
“Bahia Ramos-Synnott’s experience in community engagement will make her an effective leader, as she works with community foundations, identifies opportunities for transformational projects and fosters informed and engaged communities” said
Ramos-Synnott will continue working at Knight Foundation in her capacity as a National Urban Fellow until July 30. The leadership development and graduate-degree program was founded in 1970 to target the best and brightest multiethnic, mid-career professionals for groundbreaking work in the public and nonprofit sector. She will complete her fellowship at the end of July, earning her master’s in public administration from the Baruch College School of Public Affairs in New York.
Ramos-Synnott joined Knight Foundation’s National Programs and Strategic Initiatives team in September 2009 and has managed several national projects.
Before being named a National Urban Fellow, Ramos-Synnott was based in London, consulting with Man Group Plc, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund. Prior to that, she had an extensive career in the cultural nonprofit sector, serving as government and community affairs director at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Children’s Museum.
Ramos-Synnott has been a member of the Grant Advisory Committee for the New York Women’s Foundation since 2004 and sits on the Board of Trustees for Saint Ann’s School, an independent school in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.
She received her bachelor of arts degree in history from
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. In eight of these communities it maintains offices and local program directors, in the 18 communities it works in partnership with local community foundations.
Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change.
For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
Hi-res photo: www.kflinks.com/ramos-photo
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