Jason Franklin

Jason Franklin (born 1979) is an activist and researcher involved in urban policy reform, arts and culture, and private philanthropy. Born in 1979 to Susan and Wayne Franklin in Santa Ana, California Jason grew up in Newport Beach, CA and Portland, OR. He moved to New York City in 2002, where he currently resides.

Early life

While attending Lincoln High School, he founded Oregon Students Supporting Education [Buckingham, Matt. “Leadership 101” Willamette Week 13 March. 1996.] , an advocacy organization mobilizing public school students against proposed budget cuts after the passage of Oregon Ballot Measure 47 in 1995. He also chaired the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking [Austen, David. “Student working to reduce teen drinking” Oregonian 1998. Also see quotation from page 8 in Drug Impact Index, 9th Edition. Portland, OR: Regional Drug Initiative, 1998. 7 Feb. 2007 .] funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and founded and chaired the Multnomah County Youth Advisory Board, now called the Multnomah Youth Commission. He went to college at the George Washington University in Washington, DC where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Communication and organized for four consecutive years the largest team in the DC AIDS Walk [Avula, Deepa. "SPOTLIGHT: Student Makes Strides in AIDS Awareness." GW Hatchet 26 Feb. 2001. 12 Feb. 2007 .] .

Professional career

In Washington, DC, Jason worked in the Office of National AIDS Policy in the Executive Office of President Bill Clinton’s second administration, where he collaborated on the President’s Initiative for children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Following his tenure at the White House, he joined the staff of the 21st Century School Fund where he helped launch the national Building Educational Success Together collaborative funded by the Ford Foundation.

After moving to New York where he completed a MS in Nonprofit Management at the Milano Graduate School at the New School, Jason co-founded IAM LLC, a small real estate development firm focused on urban brownfield remediation and redevelopment. It was selected as the Best Blended Value Business in the 2004 Global Social Venture Competition [Napolitano, Jo, and Elizabeth Herr. "Good as Gold." Jungle Magazine 12 Aug. 2004. 7 Feb. 2007 . Also see: "Global Social Venture Competition Selects International Winners to Launch Businesses Beyond Pure Profit; Judges Impressed by Social Ventures Focusing on Educational, Environmental, Urban Regeneration Issues." AScribe: the Public Interest Newswire. 22 Apr. 2004. 07 Feb. 2007 .] sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

In 2004, he also joined the staff of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council [http://www.lmcc.net] where he helped launch a $5 million grant program supporting the arts in downtown New York with the support of the September 11th Fund. He then moved to the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University to run the Next Generation Leadership Alumni Network [http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/leadership/ngl] , a network of 118 public sector leaders supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

In 2007, he returned to the staff of the 21st Century School Fund as Deputy Director for Program Development, while continuing as a consultant with the Research Center and as Adjunct Faculty [http://wagner.nyu.edu/faculty/adjunctClinicRes.php] at the Wagner School. He is also working on a Doctorate in Public Administration at the Wagner School.

Civic Leadership

Jason civic activities have been primarily been in the areas of progressive philanthropy and donor organizing. Specifically, he serves on the Board of Directors of the North Star Fund and is Co-Chair of the Board of Resource Generation. As part of his work with both organizations, he is advising a new young donor education collaborative called GENERous explorATIONS organized by North Star, Resource Generation, 21/64, and the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. [Hempel, Jessi. “Young Donors In Training.” Business Week 29 Jan. 2007< http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_05/b4019095.htm>] .

Research

Jason has presented and published research in the areas of philanthropy and cultural development. Recent works include:

* “Political Philanthropy: The Impact of Charitable Foundations on the Policymaking Process” 2006 Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action. November 2006 [http://www.arnova.org/06ConferenceProgram.pdf]
* “Cooperative Inquiry as a Tool for Knowledge Creation and Network Building” 7th Annual World Congress on Action Research. August 2006 [http://www.wcar2006.nl/workshops22-8.pdf]
* “Public and Private Support for Rebuilding Lower Manhattan through the Arts: A Case Study” 2006 Annual Social Theory, Politics and the Arts Conference. July 2006 [http://stpa.culture.info/listings]
* “Art & Recovery: The Role of Arts and Culture in New York City’s Recovery from 9/11” 2005 Annual Social Theory, Politics and the Arts Conference. October 2005 [http://aad.uoregon.edu/downloads/pdf/final_program_stpa.pdf]

References

See also

* 21st Century School Fund
* North Star Fund
* Research Center for Leadership in Action
* Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

External links

* [http://www.wagner.nyu.edu| Bio of Jason Franklin at New York University]
* [http://21csf.org/csf-home/board.html| 21st Century School Fund Board of Directors]
* [http://www.northstarfund.org/bod.htm| North Star Fund Board of Directors]
* [http://www.resourcegeneration.org/Who/staff.html| Resource Generation Board of Directors]
* [http://www.ourcommission.org/youth/mycindex3.shtm| Multnomah Youth Commission]
* [http://www.stpa.culture.info| Conference on Social Theory, Politics and the Arts]