GreenLight Fund Announces Detroit Executive Director

Local nonprofit executive and community leader Jasahn Larsosa tapped to lead GreenLight Fund Detroit

Detroit, MI – November 7, 2023 – GreenLight Fund, a national nonprofit funder, welcomes local leader Jasahn Larsosa as the new GreenLight Detroit Executive Director. Born and raised in Detroit, he joins GreenLight with a deep passion for the community and experience bringing people together to solve problems of racial inequities and social justice. As executive director, Larsosa will provide on-the-ground support to the three organizations in GreenLight Fund Detroit’s portfolio of evidence-based programs. He will also lead the community-driven process for strategic investment into the next set of social innovations to scale to Detroit to close opportunity gaps.

“Want to know what Detroiters need to thrive? Ask them. This is the fundamental ethos of GreenLight Fund Detroit. It’s why The Skillman Foundation has been a supporter from the start and why we look forward to the next chapter. Jasahn Larsosa, with his strong community organizing background and Detroit roots, will lead the organization forward in lockstep with residents,” said Angelique Power, President & CEO of The Skillman Foundation.

Larsosa served most recently as Founding Director of Advocacy, Equity, & Community Empowerment for the Detroit-based and nationally renowned civil rights, human services, and racial justice organization Focus: HOPE. As a nonprofit leader, Larsosa has attracted more than $10 million for advocacy, economic opportunity, research, and social Justice initiatives. As a community organizer, he has mobilized over 15,000 volunteers to advance local agendas. As a DEI and justice facilitator, he has trained over 10 thousand corporate and public sector executives and contributors across the U.S. and in 90 countries. He is a published researcher for dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline harming Detroit youth in partnership with the University of Michigan CREATE Center and Wayne State University School of Social Work, and is a Principal Investigator on a community-based youth participatory action research project based in the HOPE Village neighborhood, which includes partnerships with the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Detroit Urban Research Center (URC) to improve economic, workforce, and mental health outcomes for Black youth in workforce programs.

“I’m excited to be part of the future of social innovation investments here in the nation’s largest majority-Black city with the highest concentration of Arab Americans and a growing Latinx/Latino population. I truly believe Detroit can become a global model for racial, economic, and social justice, while creating generational wealth and prosperity for the families here,” Larsosa said. “I look forward to partnering with Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), Springboard Collaborative, and New Teacher Center while also investing in new models that support the strengths, aspirations, and successes of Detroiters.”

GreenLight Fund Detroit partners with the local community to identify opportunities to break down barriers and support inclusive prosperity then selects proven nonprofit organizations with measurable results elsewhere in the country that can best address those community-identified needs. The organization invests in bringing proven models to Detroit that are additive to the local ecosystem and help address deep-rooted disparities, particularly across race. As executive director, Larsosa will partner with the local Selection Advisory Council, an inclusive, cross-sector group of community leaders, along with residents proximate to the areas they are looking to address to vet and select evidenced-based programs to bring to Detroit.

GreenLight Fund’s CEO and Co-founder Margaret Hall remarked, “We’re thrilled to have Jasahn on the team leading this important work in Detroit. Jasahn’s deep local roots, passion for the city and commitment to equity are truly valuable qualities as he leads GreenLight Fund Detroit, supporting existing portfolio organizations and selecting the next set of proven programs to deliver measurable change.”

GreenLight Fund launched in Detroit in 2016 and has supported three organizations to scale to Detroit to effectively address community-identified unmet needs. Larsosa will provide ongoing strategic support to those local organizations: Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), helping people returning home after incarceration achieve positive outcomes; New Teacher Center, working with the DPSCD to provide peer teacher mentors with tools to support the work of new teachers for both teacher and student success; and Springboard Collaborative, promoting reading and achievement by coaching teachers, training family members and celebrating learning for early elementary school students.

“As Senior Director of Policy and Practice at UpTogether, an organization with a longstanding collaborative relationship with GreenLight Fund, both locally and nationally, and as a close colleague and friend of Jasahn, I am confident that his vision, passion, and expertise will be instrumental in driving positive change as the incoming Executive Director of GreenLight Fund Detroit,” said Kofi Kenyatta.

The $5M GreenLight Detroit Fund II will fuel the next four community-driven selections and is made possible by the following generous supporters: American Axle & Manufacturing, Anonymous, Aptiv Foundation, Lizabeth Ardisana, Bain Capital, Jim & Carolyn Bellinson, Bridgewater Interiors, Center for Arab American Philanthropy, The Children’s Foundation, Kevin & Jeanine Clark, Matthew & Karen Cullen Family Foundation, Brian & Connie Demkowicz, Detroit Future City, Detroit Lions, Detroit Pistons, Walter E. Douglas, DTE Foundation, Ernst & Young, First Independence Bank, Flagstar Bank, Ford Motor Co., Ford Foundation, Eric Fornell, Gentherm, Carol & Tom Goss, Pat Greene, Neil & Annmarie Hawkins, Hudson-Webber Foundation, Jabil, Hans-Werner & Anke Kaas, Bill & Melissa Kozyra, The Kresge Foundation, Fred & Michelle Minturn, Rishi Moudgil, MSX International, The Paulateer Family, PwC, Derron & Selam Sanders, MacKenzie Scott, John & Susan Simon, Matthew & Mona Simoncini, The Skillman Foundation, Shannon Smith, The Song Foundation, The Stebbins Family Foundation, Strategic Community Partners, Alice Thompson, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Rick & Kathy Wagoner, Walker-Miller Energy Services, Monica Wheat, and Ken Whipple.