Carmen A. Anderson

Carmen Anderson is Vice President of Equity & Research at The Heinz Endowments. She leads efforts to address social injustice and inequity in communities served by the Endowments. Carmen is responsible for organizational development as it relates to diversity, inclusion and equity, including the creation of guiding principles for the foundation and learning opportunities for staff and grantees. She monitors the field to identify best practices for improving the Endowments’ operations, policies and behaviors. Carmen develops strategic partnerships to advance equity in local communities and spearheads the foundation’s implementation in its overall goals, communications, grantmaking and financial investments. She also maintains a grantmaking portfolio in the Learning area primarily focused on family health and wellness, and holistic education.

Carmen previously was the Endowments’ senior program officer for children, youth and families, and focused on advancing the primary emphases of meeting the critical needs of children in the first eight years of life, addressing the special needs of adolescent youth, and strengthening families as a means to promoting healthy development among children. Carmen’s work included identifying innovative programs to strengthen parents’ skills in child rearing and supporting their children’s health. She examined ways to provide financial education for parents and adolescents. For 10 years beginning in 2007, Carmen led the Endowments’ African American Men & Boys Initiative, which was created to identify educational, economic, social and leadership opportunities for African American men and boys in the Pittsburgh region, efforts that have been incorporated within the foundation’s current equity work. Carmen also assisted in the Endowments’ development of strategies to make inclusion and diversity a defining element of the region.

Prior to joining the Endowments in 2000, Carmen was the executive director of Healthy Start, Inc., a federal public health initiative to reduce infant mortality in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Her leadership and commitment to the mission helped Healthy Start meet its primary goal of reducing the infant mortality rate in the six areas served by the program – one of the historically highest in the country – by 50 percent.

Carmen's professional work has focused primarily on women and children’s issues, particularly family violence and child maltreatment. In addition to many years of administrative and management work in the community, she has lectured and conducted workshops on a variety of topics pertinent to women, children and families. She has been active in promoting healthy families through community organizing and public awareness, including co-hosting a 15-part television series on the issue.

Carmen has a master’s degree in mental health, a bachelor’s degree in mass and interpersonal communications, and certificates in nonprofit management, business administration and victim services. She has received the U.S. Department of Human Services Commissioners Award for outstanding service in the field.