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Joelle-Jude Fontaine

Joelle-Jude Fontaine is a senior program officer at the Kresge Foundation, which supports the advancement of human services to accelerate social and economic mobility for people with low income. She has spent most of her career promoting the development of equitable systems at the local, state and national level. Currently, Ms. Fontaine is leading the Human Services program's efforts to help the human services sector improve its effectiveness through better practice, policy development and advocacy. She is also helping to promote collaboration across sectors to improve the integration of service delivery, community engagement and economic development at local levels. Recognizing implications of racial inequality as a significant barrier to opportunity, central to Ms. Fontaine's work is a focus on applying a racial equity lens to advancing social and economic mobility. Before joining Kresge in 2017, Joelle-Jude served as a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she led the development of its early childhood funding strategies focusing on obtaining equitable outcomes for children pre-birth to age eight. She also led the development of the foundation's infant toddler funding strategy, designed to maximize outcomes for young children and their families.