Melissa’s 18+ years career is centered around building community power and pursuing racial, social, economic, and gender justice - as a movement and community organizer, a facilitator and convenor, a relationship-builder, and as a grantmaker and funder. She currently serves as a program officer at the Piper Fund, an initiative of Proteus Fund. She joined the Piper Fund’s Right to Protest program in August 2023. She’s honored to be part of the resourcing and supporting communities who are building power and working towards a multi-racial, just, vibrant democracy.
Prior to joining the team at Piper, Melissa served as the Director of Programs and Grantmaking at Headwaters Foundation for Justice (Minnesota) where she worked for 8 years, where she led Headwaters participatory, community-led grantmaking.
Before her time in philanthropy, Melissa served as a community organizer for 15 years. She is passionate about ensuring that communities and movements have the resources they need and deserve.