Turahn Dorsey, Chief Impact Officer, Eastern Bank Foundation

For 30 years, Turahn Dorsey has led and supported civic change. His passion and career center around systems change and civic innovation at the intersections of education, health, housing and economic development in Boston and across the country. Rahn began his career as a public policy researcher at Moore and Associates in Southfield, Michigan and, later, at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he supported national community-led health and anti-poverty initiatives. After 13 years at Abt, Rahn served as the Director of Evaluation and a Senior Program Officer in education at the Barr Foundation in Boston. In 2014, Mayor Martin J. Walsh appointed Rahn Chief of Education for the City of Boston where he co-led the design of Boston’s Universal Pre-K system, early stage planning for the City’s investment in new school construction, the redesign of high school learning experiences and the expansion of summer learning and post-secondary opportunities. Rahn currently serves as the Chief Impact Officer at the Eastern Bank Foundation where the team is focused on accelerating economic mobility and expanding economic inclusion across communities in Eastern Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire and parts of Rhode Island. In recent years, Rahn has focused a great deal of attention on further amplifying the vitality of Boston’s historic Nubian Square. As board chair at Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, Rahn is working with the college’s leadership as well as public and community partners to bring the school’s new headquarters to Roxbury. Further, he is partnering with local entrepreneurs and investors to bring the Jazz Urbane Cafe – a state-of-the-art performance venue and full-service restaurant – to the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building. Finally, Rahn is a founding member of Movement Family Farm in Loudon NH, a collective of ten Afro-descended people committed to building an ecologically and economically regenerative farm and intergenerational gathering space. The all-volunteer farm produces about 2,000 pounds of fresh food per year for families in Boston neighborhoods of color.