A philanthropic fund with $3 million in recently raised capital has a new chief.
The GreenLight Fund, which expanded to Cincinnati in 2015, has named Clare Zlatic Blankemeyer its next executive director, effective Sept. 14, according to a release. She replaces Tara Noland, who launched the organization's Cincinnati presence and left in February to join Ignite Philanthropy.
Blankemeyer most recently served as vice president for strategic initiatives for the Manuel D. & Rhoda Mayerson Foundation. She has been a member of GreenLight's local Selection Advisory Council (SAC) since 2016, the release states.
She joins GreenLight roughly three months after the organization raised $3 million from several of the city's biggest names in business to support its second fund. Its backers include Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Western & Southern Financial Fund, Taft Stettinius & Hollister and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
"The global pandemic has only exacerbated the racial and economic disparities that have always been present and necessitate action," Blankemeyer said in a statement. "Hand-in-hand with our neighbors who are most affected and my SAC colleagues, I look forward to bringing my community building experience to GreenLight to tackle Cincinnati’s most challenging poverty-related issues. I have been humbled to witness GreenLight’s impressive due diligence process and am eager to lead the work as we build infrastructure to help our region thrive."
GreenLight Cincinnati seeks to aid low-income children, youth and families in high-poverty areas by identifying critical needs, importing innovative nonprofits to address them and supporting those initiatives so they can have the most impact.
In Cincinnati, GreenLight has supported three initiatives using its first $2.5 million fund. Those efforts were aimed at prison recidivism, kids aging out of foster care and helping families out of poverty:
- Center for Employment Opportunities out of New York came to Cincinnati to provide employment services to people reentering society after incarceration.
- Family Independence Initiative from the Bay Area now helps about 500 families a year work their way out of poverty.
- First Place for Youth now helps foster children build skills they need to support themselves as they age out of the system.
