Researcher, policymaker and strategist promoted to new role to advance the Foundation’s impact

Eastern Bank Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Boston-based Eastern Bank, is pleased to announce the promotion of Turahn Dorsey to Chief Impact Officer, a newly created role focused on advancing the Foundation’s impact across the communities it serves in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. For over 25 years, Mr. Dorsey has been leading and supporting civic change and building collaborative solutions as an evaluator, grant maker, strategist and public official focused on reform and innovation at the intersections of education, health, housing and economic development in Boston and across the U.S.

“With more than $250 million in assets and annual donations of more than $14 million, the Eastern Bank Foundation is seizing this moment to advance our focus on addressing economic inclusion and mobility while continuing to support more than 1,000 local non-profit organizations on a wide variety of social needs during a time of unprecedented need,” said Nancy Huntington Stager, President and CEO of the Eastern Bank Foundation. “Rahn Dorsey is a transformational leader with comprehensive experience and knowledge across the issues of importance to the Foundation. His track record of effective leadership, recognized community impact, and multi-layered perspectives in philanthropy, corporate volunteerism and public advocacy, combined with his firsthand familiarity of our organization as a Foundation Fellow, will continue to serve us exceptionally well. We are excited to benefit from his leadership and congratulate him on his well-deserved promotion.”

The Chief Impact Officer will play a key leadership role in advancing the Foundation’s approaches to economic mobility and inclusion, as well as guide efforts in measurement, evaluation and learning.

From 2014 to 2018, Mr. Dorsey was the Chief of Education for the City of Boston and prior to that, served as Evaluation Director and Education Program Officer at the Barr Foundation where his responsibilities included developing and leading the evaluation practices for the Foundation’s education and climate change portfolios. He was also deeply involved in programs supporting youth, including co-founding the Opportunity Youth Collaborative and co-designing Boston’s nation-leading Summer Learning System. As Boston’s Chief of Education, Mr. Dorsey co-led the creation of the City’s Universal Pre-K system as well as the first phase of the Boston Public Schools’ facilities master planning process, which led to $200 million in school improvement investments. He also led the redesign of the City of Boston’s college scholarship program and co-created the Family-Led Stability Pilot focused on ending homelessness among Boston Public Schools families. Prior to these roles, Mr. Dorsey was a program evaluator and researcher at Abt Associates and Moore and Associates where he led research projects spanning public policy and community change issues for government entities and foundations.

Most recently, Mr. Dorsey served as an Eastern Bank Foundation Fellow where he developed and executed strategies to improve early childhood outcomes in the region. In addition, he is currently dedicated to projects expanding economic opportunity in Boston’s Nubian Square, co-developing the Jazz Urbane Café, a state-of-the-art arts and restaurant venue, and as Chair of the Board at Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, partnering with college leadership to build a new headquarters in Roxbury. Mr. Dorsey will initially ramp up in his Chief Impact Officer role with the Eastern Bank Foundation on a part-time basis, while he continues to deliver on his current commitments serving the Roxbury community.

“In my time at Eastern, I’ve learned that ‘Join Us for Good’ is far more than a slogan. It is an expectation of civic leadership and partnership that the organization aspires to live up to every day across the communities it serves. The Eastern Bank Foundation delivers on this expectation by operating in a community-centered way, encouraging shared learning and collaborative problem-solving. I am excited to help lead the Foundation’s team and to work with our many community partners to ensure that the places we call home are places where all who live and work there can thrive and prosper,” said Turahn Dorsey.

About Eastern Bank Foundation

Created in 1994, the Eastern Bank Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Boston-based Eastern Bank. Through philanthropy, employee volunteerism, advocacy and collaborations with other businesses and community partners, Eastern Bank Foundation responds to community needs and supports sustainable solutions to our communities’ most vexing challenges across eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. To learn more, visit easternbank.com/foundation.

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