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Change can come unexpectedly. And change can bring with it both challenge and opportunity.
In February 2009, Felice Yeskel, Class Action’s executive director and co-founder, was diagnosed with cancer. For several months, she stepped back from leadership of the organization to focus on her healing. Class Action’s board, staff, and volunteers stepped up greatly to help Class Action thrive in this period.
With her treatments going well and her support community warmly in place, Felice assessed how she could best contribute to achieving Class Action’s mission while tending to her ongoing healing journey. She decided to step down from the role of executive director and continue to apply her considerable knowledge and skill to the content of our programs.
With Felice’s blessing and the unanimous appreciation of the Board and staff, Class Action’s Deputy Director Kristen Golden was offered and accepted the position of executive director.
An experienced leader and fundraiser, Kristen Golden is well suited to lead Class Action. She has been a feminist activist for 25 years, working in a variety of social justice movements on the local, regional, and national levels. In her role this past year as Class Action’s deputy director, she has focused on strategic planning, organizational development, and fundraising—securing new grants and working in partnership with Felice to develop and fund long-term initiatives.
Previously, Kristen served as executive director of Safe Passage, a community-based domestic violence prevention agency where she successfully led the expansion of programs, facilities, and funding through a $1.2 million capital campaign. She spent a dozen years in New York City as a fundraiser, writer, and organizer, including as the original project director of Take Our Daughters to Work Day at the Ms. Foundation for Women. Her breadth of experience includes a BA in Theatre Arts and an MBA from the Simmons College School of Management.
As a member of the program team, Felice will contribute her expertise to special projects, such as a web-based presentation on class and classism for foundation staff, an anthology of writings on the experience of class, and a training of trainers to widen the circle of skilled presenters. These projects, along with trainings by Rhonda Soto, Class Action’s Race and Class Intersections program coordinator, and Class Action’s Associates—including Class Action’s Co-founder Jenny Ladd, Board members Jerry Koch-Gonzalez and Betsy Leondar-Wright, Alan Preston, Tanya Williams, and Rachel Rybaczuk -- will expand Class Action’s resources on class and classism.
In this time of economic turmoil, the voice of Class Action is especially needed to inspire action to end classism. We appreciate the role you play this endeavor: bringing your raised awareness of class issues to your community, workplace, and family; raising Class Action’s visibility; and contributing what you can to expand the scope of our efforts.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
Board President
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