Monday, August 20, 2018
PROVIDENCE, RI – Mayor Jorge O. Elorza today announced that Jenn Steinfeld will serve as Providence’s Director of Strategic Partnerships and Economic Advancement where she will be responsible for leading the City’s Urban Innovation Strategy and working with departments that contribute to the City’s business development and retention efforts.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Jenn to City Hall to spearhead our urban innovation efforts and build upon our relationships both in Providence and outside of our city,” said Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. “Throughout her esteemed career, Jenn has brought stakeholders and policymakers together and bridged divides with collaborative, community based outcomes. These skills make her a natural fit for this role.”
Steinfeld‘s career in organizational and program management spans nearly twenty years. Most recently, Steinfeld served as the Social Innovation and Student Development Program Manager for Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service where she coordinated and developed co-curricular programming to support students exploring innovative ideas to address social challenges through community-based research, design thinking, robust partnerships and asset-based community development.
“Mayor Elorza and I share the same passion for social justice and equity and I’m excited to apply those subjects to my role with the City,” said Steinfeld. “Through Mayor Elorza’s Urban Innovation Strategy, we will begin to think of new ways to expand Providence’s economy that will benefit all of our residents.”
Prior to her work in higher education, Steinfeld served as a Coordination and Facilitation Consultant for the Rhode Island Racial Justice Coalition, supporting the coalition to address root causes in racial disparities in employment, wages and incomes.
Steinfeld also served as Transitional Executive Director to the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island from January 2015-April 2016 where her successful stewardship of the legislative agenda led to an increase in the state minimum wage and earned income tax credit, as well as the inclusion of pregnancy as a protected class under state fair employment law. Steinfeld was a founder of Marriage Equality Rhode Island and helped steward the organization for more than a decade through the successful passage of equal marriage legislation in 2013.
Steinfeld earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology, Brain and Behavior from Brown University and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management and Leadership from Boston University. Her professional certifications include: a 40-Hour Mediation Certification from the Center for Mediation and Collaboration in Providence, RI. Steinfeld is currently working on a Master of Arts in Mindfulness Studies from Lesley University with an expected completion date of December 2018.
A Providence resident, Steinfeld has garnered multiple awards including the inaugural Julie Pell Empowerment Award for Social Change and Civic Engagement from the Equity Action fund at the Rhode Island Foundation in 2010.
Steinfeld’s first day will be August 27, 2018.