Jennifer Davis, President
jennifer@mass2020.org
Assistant to the President, Tracy Abercrombie
tracy@mass2020.org
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Jennifer Davis is the Co-Founder and President of Massachusetts 2020, a non-profit foundation founded in 2000 focused on expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2020 currently focuses chiefly on efforts to expand and improve learning opportunities for Massachusetts’ children during out-of-school time. Over the last five years, Massachusetts 2020 has been a lead partner in launching eight major initiatives including Boston’s After-School for All Partnership, the largest public-private partnership dedicated to children in Boston’s history; the Keeping Kids on Track Statewide Campaign in partnership with the five largest United Way organizations in Massachusetts; the statewide Middle School Initiative in partnership with Citizen Schools and several funders; the Transition to Success Pilot which documented the academic impact of six after-school programs, the School Sites Initiative expanding after-school programs in 17 Boston schools; the Literacy Coaching Initiative in Boston supporting 21 after-school programs, and the Partners for Student Success initiative with Boston Public Schools and Boston Beyond focused on providing children in low performing schools in-school and after-school enrichment and support programming and services. In 2004, Massachusetts 2020 launched its most ambitious initiative to date, a research and policy effort to restructure public schools to extend their day. In 2005, the Massachusetts legislature passed a budget including funding to support this policy reform.
In 1998, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino appointed Jennifer Davis to serve as the Executive Director of the Boston 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative. In this capacity, Jennifer designed and implemented strategies to expand high quality, affordable, after-school opportunities for youth in communities across Boston. Jennifer’s work involved leveraging new resources, opening new programs in Boston Public Schools, launching an innovative training initiative, organizing press events highlighting the importance of after-school, and publishing several reports including one for the Mayor’s Task Force on After-School Time, “Schools Alone Are Not Enough: Why Out-of-School Time is Crucial To The Success of Our Children.”
Jennifer Davis served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Education. Jennifer’s responsibilities involved working with elected officials across the nation on a range of education reform issues. Jennifer also worked as the Special Assistant to Secretary of Education Richard Riley from March of 1993 until March of 1997 where she helped to coordinate the successful Congressional passage and implementation of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act.
From 1989 to 1992, Jennifer was the Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the bi-partisan National Governors’ Association (NGA), and advised the Director on education and health policy, management, and political issues. While at NGA, she served as a liaison to the White House in coordinating the 1989 Education Summit between the President and the nation’s governors, which led to the creation of the National Education Goals.
In 1988 and 1992, Jennifer managed Presidential campaign operations in several East Coast states, overseeing press strategy, field organization, volunteer operations, constituency groups and candidate visits.
Jennifer began her career as a consultant to the youth organization Communities in Schools and developed case studies on their innovative program to support at-risk youth in Houston, TX, Atlanta, GA, Columbia, SC, and Charlotte, NC.
Jennifer Davis has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California, and a Bachelor’s Degree with a concentration in government and sociology from Connecticut College. She was named a Coro Fellow in public policy in 1984 and participated in this leadership-training program in St. Louis, Missouri.
Over the years, Jennifer has served on numerous boards and advisory committees including the National and Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, Boston’s After-School for All Partnership Executive Committee, several U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation advisory boards, Harvard’s Program in Afterschool Education and Research Advisory Board, and the boards of two charter schools. She was recently named to the board of Boston After School & Beyond.
Jennifer was born and raised in Haverhill, Massachusetts and currently lives with her husband in Lynn, Massachusetts.
