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Longtime human rights leader Maryam Elahi becomes the next president of the Community Foundation starting Sept. 19, according to Paul D. Nunes, chair of the board of trustees. She was chosen after a six-month search to succeed former president Alice Fitzpatrick, who retired after 18 years at the end of June. The search committee was led by former Board Chairs Bridget Baird and Laurel Butler.
“Maryam brings a remarkable resume to her new role in community philanthropy,” Nunes reports. “She has spent 25 years in the international human rights community: as an advocate, teacher, and grantmaker. Just before joining us, she was director of the International Women’s Program at the Open Society Foundations (OSF), where her grantmaking and advocacy strengthened women’s empowerment.”
Prior to OSF, Elahi was the founding director of the Human Rights Program at Trinity College in Hartford, which offered the nation’s first undergraduate human rights major. During her ten years at Trinity, she established international human rights study programs in Cape Town, Santiago, Trinidad, and Hong Kong.
Before that, she served as the Advocacy Director on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe for Amnesty International. She travelled extensively on Amnesty missions, gave testimony before Congress, and lectured widely
Nunes says Elahi, an Old Saybrook resident, is looking forward to learning “everything” about eastern Connecticut.
“Maryam and the staff are already busily planning an exhaustive three-month ‘fact-finding tour’ to introduce her to the fundholders, organizations, volunteers, and community leaders in our 42 cities and towns. As she said modestly to me, ‘I’m going there to listen.’” The Community Foundation will post details of upcoming meetings.
Elahi is looking forward to the challenge. “My work over the last two decades has taught me that real and positive change is realized through local initiatives,” she notes. “Everywhere in the world, people seek to improve their living conditions. Local agents of change transform dreams into practice. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work in my home state helping local advocates to address their communities’ concerns.”