|
Lois joined the Packard Foundation as the director of the Children, Families, and Communities Program in March of 2002. The Children, Families, and Communities (CFC) Program works to ensure opportunities for all children to reach their potential and has three goals: achieving preschool for California’s children, promoting access to health insurance for all children, and implementing after-school programs for all elementary and middle school-aged children in California. Lois leads a program staff of ten in devising grantmaking strategies to achieve these goals. She also participates in the senior management of the Foundation.
Prior to joining the Foundation, for over eight years Lois served as the chief executive of Children Now, a research and action organization recognized nationally for its policy expertise, up-to-date information, and work with the media. She also worked for 19 years at Public Advocates, where she conducted complex litigation and advocacy concentrating on civil rights, education, health, and consumer issues.
Lois was the founding chair of Health Access, a California consumer coalition representing over 200 organizations. She served as the national co-chair of the advisory committee to the Children’s and Adolescent Health Measures Initiative, a joint effort of the National Committee on Quality Assurance and the Foundation for Accountability (FACCT). Recent appointments include the working group on early education appointed by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Masterplan for Education, the Executive Planning Committee of the California Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and the Board of Directors of the Parkinson’s Action Network. Lois has appeared frequently in the media including The Today Show, Nightline and NPR and has authored numerous opinion pieces published in the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee, and other publications. She previously worked as a school administrator, counselor, and inner city teacher. She holds a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and a BA from Reed College. | 