Senior program director Cynthia Freeman oversees a $10+ million portfolio of fiscal sponsorship projects; manages capacity-building initiatives and regranting programs for foundation, government, and corporate clients; and supervises staff and consultants. Prior to joining Community Partners in 2006, Freeman worked as a policy director for the Association of Community Human Service Agencies. Previously, she spent seven years in the field of philanthropy, most recently at the New York Foundation, making grants to community organizing, advocacy, and start-up projects in New York City's five boroughs. Freeman has consulted for numerous nonprofit organizations and worked on initiatives with government entities including the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, Burbank Police Department, and New York City Department of Homeless Services. She began her career as a community organizer and fundraiser for ACORN.
Freeman has served on the steering committees of Interfaith Funders and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy NY and is prior board chair of Jumpstart and co-leader of the Southern California Fiscal Sponsors Network. A trained Heart to Heart racial justice dialogue facilitator for LA's Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation initiative, Freeman serves on the Saturday Dialogues facilitation team for the Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere - Los Angeles (AWARE-LA). She is a graduate of Brown University, to which she received preferential admission as a legacy and full-pay applicant, and has an MPA in nonprofit management from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.