California Criminal Justice Funders Group Welcomes New Committee Members

The California Criminal Justice Funders Group Steering Committee is comprised of powerful and dynamic representatives from various local and statewide foundations and philanthropic institutions. Learn more about the new Committee members, Iris Garcia of Akonadi Foundation and maisha quint of Libra Foundation below. 

The full Committee includes:  Kathryn Snyder, Libra Foundation (CCJFG Chair); Anuja Mendiratta, Race, Gender and Human Rights Fund; Cecilia Chen, Northern California Grantmakers; William Ing, The California Endowment; Christopher Punongbayan, California ChangeLawyers; and Jidan Terry-Koon, San Francisco Foundation.  

maisha quint, Program Officer, Libra Foundation

 maisha quint’s (she/her/hers) career has been guided by her commitment to build power and self-determination in marginalized communities.   Her two decades of on-the-ground leadership as a social justice organizer, community programs director, arts and policy manager and family advocate are essential to her new role as Program Officer focused on Libra’s Criminal Justice work. Is it possible to only include a portion of this and then link to another page with the full bio and say: Read maisha’s full bio here.

maisha served most recently as the Multicultural Fellow at the San Francisco Foundation where she led its $3M Arts & Culture portfolio, and co-designed working groups for Immigrant & Refugee Rights and Youth Organizing. She also helped develop strategies for the foundation’s $8M   housing and anti-displacement efforts in the Bay Area. Before joining SFF, maisha worked as Community Programs Director at EastSide Arts   Alliance, advancing intersectional approaches to cultural strategy and place-based equity, with a particular focus on the development of a Black   Cultural Zone in East Oakland. She also served several years with the statewide network Legal Services for Prisoners with Children as   Communications Director and Family Advocacy Coordinator, helping families advocate for policies on behalf of their incarcerated loved ones.

An extensive writer, frequent speaker, experienced trainer, and passionate community organizer, maisha has campaigned with Committee to Free the San Francisco 8, Stop the Gang Injunctions Coalition, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. She currently serves as adviser to the Center for Political Education, is a recent fellow of both the Justice Funders Network’s Harmony Initiative and CompassPoint’s Arc Towards Justice Leadership and Solidarity Program, and is presently a poetry fellow with Cave Canem. A Bay Area native, maisha holds a BA in African American Studies from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MFA in Poetry from Mills College.