New Skillman Foundation Leader Has History of Prioritizing Anti-racism

The Detroit-based youth nonprofit The Skillman Foundation recently announced Angelique Power as its new President and CEO. Power comes to Skillman after serving as President of the Field Foundation in Chicago, another large organization focused on community empowerment. Now, Power says she will bring her experience in promoting racial equity to Detroit education.

“I think I really started to practice anti-racism work because of the time I spent in corporations and nonprofits … which are largely race agnostic. Racism is so exquisitely designed into our systems that we don’t even recognize them.” –Angelique Power, The Skillman Foundation

Listen: The Skillman Foundation’s new leader Angelique Power on Detroit, equity and the way forward.

Guest

Angelique Power is CEO and President of The Skillman Foundation. She says education is the single most important determinant of a society’s well-being, and that she, “comes to this work as the daughter of a public school teacher … we had tremendous dinner table conversations about the systems that perpetuate inequity.” Power says The Skillman Foundation is no stranger to thoughtful racial justice work, an area where some organizations have fallen short. “I think I really started to practice anti-racism work because of the time I spent in corporations and nonprofits … which are largely race agnostic. Racism is so exquisitely designed into our systems that we don’t even recognize them.” 

After spending much of her life in Michigan, Power says she is excited to do nonprofit work in Detroit. “I have such admiration for this city, and am so over the moon to begin at Skillman.” She says she’ll start at her new position by talking to young visionaries in Detroit about what they need from The Skillman Foundation. “I think you start with young people … we’ve seen from this past year uprisings around the globe, and these were youth-led. These were Black and brown youth-led.”