Rae Leiner

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Rae is a Black-identified, multiracial, queer organizer and parent. During their youth in the Bronx, Rae was shaped by the struggles of their parents—their Jewish American father and their mother, a Black woman who was devoted to the Bronx students she taught.

In addition to serving on the North Star Fund Hudson Valley Community Funding Committee, Rae continues to support the racial and economic justice movement by helping groups and organizers develop and incorporate sustainable and “embodied organizing,” creative thinking, and art and culture. Currently, Rae is the director of the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative in the city of Newburgh, convening a task force of over 100 organizations and conducting deep and authentic resident engagement to raise the voices of the most impacted in leading the charge for systemic change of delivery of service and accountability.

Rae has worked with community organizations like Community Voices Heard, Critical Resistance, Community Solutions, and Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Services Center, as well as designed youth leadership curriculum, focused on racial and environmental justice.

English