Maggie Williams

"Having worked for the State Senate, North Star's funding and work seem even more critical. New York needs an organization that is committed over the long-term to supporting grassroots organizations fighting for progressive legislative change."

Maggie Williams brings to North Star Fund's board extensive experience in grassroots community organizing to ensure that all communities have their voices heard in the political and legislative process. She founded and directed the Voter Enfranchisement Project at The Bronx Defenders, which received one of its first foundation grants from North Star. She also completed a 5 month fellowship with MoveOn.org.

Over the past two years, Maggie has applied her experience of collaborating with grassroots communities to her work analyzing and drafting legislation in the New York State Senate, first as counsel to then Senator now Attorney General Schneideman and then as Judiciary Counsel for the Democratic Majority.  During the 2010 legislative session, two key bills that Maggie worked on were signed into law-- Senator Schneiderman's bill to end prison-based gerrymandering and Senator Hassell-Thompson's bill to establish no-fault divorce.

According to Maggie, "Having worked for the State Senate, North Star's funding and work seem even more critical. New York needs an organization that is committed over the long-term to supporting grassroots organizations fighting for progressive legislative change."

Maggie also brings to the board her background in donor organizing for social justice philanthropy, a central part of North Star Fund's mission. For the past five year she has served on the board of Resource Generation, an organization that works with young people with wealth to leverage resources for social change.