The Federal Transition and Its Implications for the Youth Development Field: Out-of-School Time Bimonthly Funder Meetup

February 4, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm ET

Join us for a conversation about the federal transition and its implications for the youth development field. For our first hour, we will have a conversation with four leaders:

• Jodi Grant, Executive Director, Afterschool Alliance
• Brian Ortega, K-12, Sr. Policy Analyst, UnidosUS
• Shawna Rosenswieg, CEO, Camp Fire
• Hal Smith, Senior Vice President for Education, Youth Development and Health, National Urban League

See more information about the speakers below.

We’ll be talking about what they are seeing and hearing from their constituencies in the tumult of this federal transition and identifying immediate and longer-term field needs. At the top of the hour, our panel will sign off and we will spend the remainder of the session in funder-only conversation about potential philanthropic actions.

About the Series

Join the EdFunders Out-of-School Time Impact Group for an ongoing conversation with Grantmakers for Education members who fund or are interested in funding the out-of-school time sector. Each video call will provide opportunities for learning and collaboration.

Register once for the ongoing series and join as your schedule allows. Registration is open to Grantmakers for Education member funders.

Calls are scheduled from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET on the first Tuesday every other month.

About the Speakers

Jodi Grant
Executive Director
Afterschool Alliance

Since 2005, Jodi Grant has been executive eirector of the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality, affordable afterschool programs. As executive director, she oversees federal policy efforts, works with the field to help programs tap into federal funding streams, and supervises research to help national, state and local afterschool advocates and providers support, create and expand quality afterschool programs.

Prior to joining the Afterschool Alliance, Grant served as director of work and family programs for the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she worked to protect and expand the Family & Medical Leave Act and was a member of the team that successfully defended the law before the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, she worked on Capitol Hill as general counsel to the Senate Budget Committee and as staff director for a Senate Committee. Her legislative accomplishments include expanded support for the child tax credit, the Child Health Insurance Program, and class size reduction. She also served as liaison to the National Governors’ Association, where she worked closely with Republican and Democratic governors.

Grant graduated from Yale University with honors in 1990 and was elected senior class president (class secretary). She received her law degree from Harvard University, where she was elected class president (first marshall). As a student, she volunteered at an afterschool program. She currently serves as a board member of the Search Institute and as an advisory council member to America250. Grant and her husband live in Washington, D.C.

Brian Ortega
K-12, Sr. Policy Analyst
UnidosUS

Brian is the K-12, Sr. Policy Analyst at UnidosUS, the largest nonprofit Latino advocacy organization in the U.S. Formerly, he served as the Director of Community Affairs and Advocacy at Acero Schools, a prominent K-12 charter school network that serves over 6,400 students across the city of Chicago. Brian’s extensive background also includes leadership roles in youth programming focusing on Out-of-School Time Learning at the YMCA of Metro Chicago, where he served as the Director of Youth and Family Programs. His advocacy extends to championing equitable services and programs for Latino and undocumented families, both in Chicago and now on a national scale. Brian holds a Bachelors in Business Management from Northeastern Illinois University.

Shawna Rosenzweig
CEO
Camp Fire

For more than a decade, Shawna has worked in positive youth development, bringing expertise in program innovation in out-of-school-time settings, organizational strategy, civic engagement, and scaling national partnerships. Shawna joined Camp Fire in June 2013; during her tenure, she has led culture change efforts and leadership transitions at the national office, as well as designed and launched diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) efforts across the network, including creating an equity task force to address and end cultural appropriation in the organization. Previously, she worked at Thrive Foundation for Youth and Global Kids in New York City. Shawna also spent time in the Middle East, developing and facilitating educational material for various organizations promoting conflict resolution among teens in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, including Seeds of Peace, Just Vision, and Parents Circle-Families Forum. In 2024 Shawna was recognized as one of Worthy’s 100 impactful changemakers creating innovative impact in diverse fields, including art, entertainment, business, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy. Shawna earned a master’s degree in curriculum & instruction at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a B.A. in sociology and a minor in education and applied psychology from University of California Santa Barbara. She lives in Seattle with her wife, Stef, their two children, Raffi and Crosby, and their two dogs.

Dr. Hal Smith
Senior Vice President, Education, Youth Development & Health
National Urban League

Hal leads NUL’s programmatic, advocacy, engagement, policy and research work. Before joining the National Urban League, Hal held teaching, administrative, policy and advocacy positions with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, the City College of New York, the College of the Holy Cross, Northern Illinois University, Lesley University and Harvard University. He holds a B.B.A. in human resource administration from Temple University, an M.A. in Africana studies from the State University of New York at Albany, and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. in community education and lifelong learning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.