Teresa Younger, CEO & President
Ms. Foundation
As part of the Vivid Vocal Visionary celebration on March 18, Teresa Younger will be joining Women’s Fund CEO, Donna Haghighat, for a “talk show” style conversation about investing in women and girls. Teresa is familiar with Western Massachusetts as she previously served as the executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and as executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut – making her the first African American and the first woman to hold that position. Although she works in New York, Teresa resides in Connecticut.
Teresa is a renowned thought leader, strategist, advocate, activist and amplifier having spent over 20 years on the frontlines of some of the most critical battles affecting the lives of women and their communities. Under Teresa’s leadership at Ms. Foundation, the Foundation launched #MyFeminismls, a multimedia campaign sparking a national conversation on feminism; funded a groundbreaking report on the sexual abuse to prison pipeline; joined leading women’s foundations at the White House (under the Obama Administration) to announce a $100 million funding commitment to create pathways to economic opportunity for low-income women and girls; and led a campaign to hold the NFL accountable for violence against women. Most recently, Teresa led the development of the Ms. Foundation’s bold new strategic plan, in which the organization has chosen to center women and girls of color to challenge the philanthropic sector (and all of us) around how women, particularly women and girls of color, are being invested in.
Donna invited Teresa to be the guest speaker for the Vivid Vocal Visionary event because the Ms. Foundation’s new strategic plan closely aligns with the recent focus of the Women’s Fund on young women and girls of color through the Young Women’s Initiative, as well as a shared goal to have more women step into political leadership. Donna and Teresa first met in Connecticut when Teresa was the executive director for the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and Donna was the executive director at Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls in Greater Hartford.
Teresa sits at the critical intersections of gender and race in the philanthropic space serving on initiatives to shape and change the narrative of women and girls, including Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Funders for Reproductive Equity, Philanthropy New York, and Black Funders for Social Justice. Additionally, Teresa serves on a number of boards including the Ethel Walker School and Essie Justice Group. She is a proud lifetime Girl Scout and Gold Award recipient.
We’re excited to be able to introduce Teresa to our supporters on March 18th. Learn more about the Vivid Vocal Visionary event here. Tickets for the program and dinner are $125 individual and $1250 for a table of ten. All proceeds support the mission of the Women’s Fund. The celebration honors the Women’s Fund founders Dianne Fuller Doherty, Sally Livingston, and Martha Richards, as well as Kristi Nelson, founding executive director.
