Senior Associate
Francie Zimmerman is a Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and works primarily on the Youth Thrive initiative, focusing on adolescents in child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She coordinates Youth Thrive’s National Network and supports New Jersey’s implementation efforts, including their federally funded Youth-At-Risk of Homelessness project. Previously, Francie was director of family services for Acelero Learning Head Start centers in North Philadelphia and Camden, NJ. In philanthropy, Francie established and operated the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Child Abuse Prevention Program, making grants to national nonprofit organizations for over a decade. For many years, she was a consultant to the F. B. Heron Foundation which made grants and investment to promote asset building, homeownership, and economic development strategies in communities with low incomes.
Early in her career, she was an advocate for children in foster care, a special needs adoption caseworker, and assistant to the director of New York City’s secure detention facility for children, ages 10-15 years old. She has served on several advisory boards, including Project FUTURES and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Knowledge into Action Committee. Francie has a Master’s degree from Hunter College School of Social Work and a Bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University.