Carmen James Lane

Senior Program Officer
cjlane@meyerfdn.org

Carmen James Lane serves as senior program officer for Meyer's education program area, with a focus on successful transitions to high school and post-secondary education, multiple pathways to graduation and post-secondary credentials, and education reform. Her passion is youth development and education, in particular meeting the needs and fulfilling the potential of low-income youth. Carmen chairs the Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG), a national network of grantmakers whose mission is to help all youth make a successful transition to adulthood by age 25. She is a member of YTFG's Multiple Pathways to Graduation work group. Locally, Carmen is a member of the S.T.E.P. Up Advisory Board, which addresses the graduation crisis in the District of Columbia, and serves on the advisory council of the Leadership Sanctuary. She represents the Meyer Foundation on the Collaborative for Education Organizing and the New Schools Venture Fund's DC Schools Fund. Carmen is a member of the 25th anniversary class of Leadership Greater Washington.

Carmen joined the Meyer Foundation in 1998 to lead the Initiative to Strengthen Neighborhood Inter-Group Assets, which was created in partnership with the Ford Foundation to strengthen relationships between recent immigrants and established residents. Previously, she served as deputy director of the Humanities Council of Washington, DC, where she developed award-winning programs for children and families living in public housing and helped to launch the cultural heritage tourism movement in DC. She holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies from American University.