Valery Jean

Valery Jean has a sixteen-year history of working for and consulting with activist, progressive and human service organizations in the areas of community organizing, housing development, youth development, management, marketing, program evaluation and funding development. She has since raised over $16.5M for organizations led by women and people of color and developed policy recommendations in child welfare, community development, public housing, community benefits agreements and access to jobs. Valery came on board as FUREE’s development director in 2006 and previously worked with the Student Liberation Action Movement at Hunter College, Neighborhood Youth & Family Services and The Brotherhood-Sister Sol.  She co-founded The Share for Life Foundation and served as an Advisory Board Member of the Medgar Evers College School of Professional and Community Development.  Valery serves on the steering committee of Living Wage NYC, a labor, clergy and community coalition. She is also a coordinating committee member of Right to the City New York and serves on the NYS Civic Engagement Table and Right to the City National’s Civic Engagement Work Group where she is responsible for co-developing a theory of organizing low income voters of color. Valery is also a co-founder of the Black and Brown Alliance, engaging over 30 national social justice, community based and faith based organizations to develop best practices and a national racial justice platform. Valery double-majored in Psychology and Africana, Puerto Rican & Latin Studies at Hunter College, is a life-long Brooklyn resident and a child of Haitian and Dominican immigrants. She dedicates her work to building a just society in honor of FUREE members, her family and especially her 16-year old son and a 5-year old daughter.