For four decades, Fran Barrett has dedicated herself to improving lives and providing opportunities for poor New Yorkers. Fran founded CRE in 1979 to give the leadership of small neighborhood groups in New York greater access to the training, resources and support they needed to sustain excellent services, and to build strong and effective infrastructures to position their organizations to affect poverty. Fran has served on the Boards of FoodChange, the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee, the Community Service Society, and the Campaign for Human Development. She sits on the selection committee for the New York Times Company Nonprofit Excellence Awards. Fran plays a leadership role in Gray Matters NYC and the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative. She has a Masters in Politics and Education from Columbia University. Fran’s work has been honored by a number of community institutions, including the Amethyst Women’s Program, Andrew Glover Youth Program, Asian Americans for Equality, Flatbush Development Corporation, and the Industrial Areas Foundation. In 2005, Fran was inducted into Thirteen/WNET’s Community Hall of Fame, and in 2006 she received the Brooke Russell Astor Award to honor her as “an outstanding individual whose dedication and perseverance have made an important contribution toward improving the quality of life in New York City.” Fran was recently honored by the Alliance for Non Profit Management, she was granted the Lifetime Achievement Award.

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