Susan Naimark

Susan Naimark (she/her) is an independent consultant and trainer who integrates many years of experience in nonprofit community development, grassroots leadership development, public education, and racial justice organizing. For the past decade, her work has focused on racial justice capacity building for community-based organizations, schools, and nonprofit and public agencies.

Susan’s approach to racial equity work recognizes that they come to this work from a vastly diverse range of personal experiences and perspectives. She strives to honor and respect each person’s unique starting point and build shared understanding and authentic relationships. She believes that truly transformational change takes time, trust, and addressing both personal and structural aspects of racism.

Susan has served in leadership roles in several nonprofit community development organizations, most recently as Director of NeighborWorks® National Community Building and Organizing Programs. She was a founder of the Boston Parent Organizing Network and a 2-term (8 year) member of the school board for the City of Boston. She served for many years as co-chair of the board of directors for Community Change, Inc., a Boston-based racial justice education and organizing group.

Susan has come to believe that they will never get to creating truly just and equitable community without addressing the deep legacy of racism in the United States. She is the author of The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools (Levellers Press, 2012) and is a part-time faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Graduate School of Education.