Funding and building partnerships
with progressive civil society organizations
People’s Support Foundation (“PSF”) was founded in July 2017 to fund and build partnerships with progressive civil society organizations dedicated to advancing justice, peace and equality worldwide. Since its formation, PSF has successfully provided funds to build capacity in political education, research and media for the needs of the people and infrastructure for growth and sustainability. In addition, PSF has funded convenings that have strengthened relationships with and among current grantee partners and opened opportunities to meet potential grantee partners. PSF is a US 501(c)3 private foundation.
Board Members
Jodie Evans (President/Director)
Jodie is the co-founder of CODEPINK and the after-school writing program 826LA, and serves on the CODEPINK Board of Directors. She has been a visionary advocate for peace for several decades. An inspired motivator, Jodie invigorates nascent activists and re-invigorates seasoned activists through her ever-evolving, always exciting methods to promote peace. She served as Director of Administration in California Governor Jerry Brown’s first administration, and also managed Governor Brown's 1991 Presidential Campaign and instituted a cap on financial contributions which resulted in a stronger push for campaign finance standards. Jodie sits on the board of directors of numerous organizations leading environmental, charitable, educational, socio-political and healthcare causes.
Jo Anderson-Figueroa (Secretary/Director)
Jo was educated at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Jilin University in China where she studied Modern Languages and Literatures and International Relations respectively. She has spent the majority of her professional career in the fields of Social and Economic Justice. She has worked on programs in education, community empowerment and supporting special needs communities focusing on development, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of programmes. She has also volunteered with anti-discrimination programmes and organizations promoting women’s rights. A firm believer in community and collectivity, Jo currently dedicates her time to working with social movements and people’s organizations to advance their individual and collective objectives.
Layan Fuleihan (Director)
Layan Sima Fuleihan is a popular educator, organizer, and lifelong student of historical and contemporary struggles of the oppressed. She is the Education Director of The People’s Forum and an editor at 1804 Books in New York City.
Jason Pfetcher
Jason Pfetcher joined the board of directors of People's Support Foundation in 2017 after leaving ThoughtWorks, Inc., where he had served as General Counsel since 2011. As an officer and board member of PSF, Jason provides leadership and expertise around board governance, international grant making, investment portfolio management, and mission-related investments.
While at Thoughtworks, Jason helped found an in-house legal team in 2000, and assisted in the company's expansion from a solely US-based business to a transnational enterprise spanning twelve countries. As General Counsel, he managed a global legal team that provided strategic, business, and legal counsel to help amplify ThoughtWorks impact.
Prior to joining ThoughtWorks, Jason was in private practice as a principal in the law firm of Goodwin & Pfetcher, where his practice focused on information technology, intellectual property, corporate, and employment law. He obtained his J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago Law School, as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Economics and Global Studies from Rockhurst University. Jason is a member in good standing of the Illinois bar.
Carolyn Baker
Carolyn is an educator, organizer, and co-founder and director of the General Baker Institute in Detroit, Michigan. The Institute is a movement incubator that includes educational programming, a community center, print shop, Ghetto Coffee Shoppe, and community garden. They are fully rooted in Detroit but share an internationalist vision with their movement comrades across the world. They are partners in the ongoing activism around racist policing, hosting teach-ins that bring together emerging leaders with movement elders from Detroit's long history of anti-racist labor and human rights organizing. The Institute follows the legacy and insight of General Baker of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement in saying, "We must turn fighters into thinkers and thinkers into fighters."
