Patricia Kind Family Foundation Partners Fund

Following in her sister's footsteps, Valerie has been leading the Patricia Kind Family Foundation (PFKK) as the managing trustee for the last 8 years. PKFF is the family foundation that her Mom started 30 years ago. After two primary and very fulfilling careers as a special education teacher and then parenting consultant, Valerie stepped into the role of managing trustee. This has been a wonderful experience for her, albeit busy and challenging at times, and through this work, she has cultivated many incredible relationships with non-profit leaders, fellow philanthropists, and community members. She is constantly learning in this role!

Over dinner one evening, her husband asked what is most important to her outside her family. Without hesitation, Valerie said relationships are the most important thing in her life. The opportunity for Valerie to get to know and connect with people has been core to her being–her leadership role at PKFF has allowed her to continue connecting with others and deepening this people-focused passion. Valerie is now incredibly excited about piloting the Partners Fund initiative which brings together her passion for relationships with the work of PKFF in a way that feels magical.

Valerie received a degree in Elementary and Special Education at George Washington University. She began her career as a special education teacher working with students struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges. For twenty years, Valerie worked as a Parenting Consultant and Behavior Specialist. In 2016, Valerie left her careers in education and mental health to devote more time to PKFF. Valerie and her husband, Andy, have four grown children and live in Bucks County.
 

Jane Golden is the founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia (Mural Arts). Under the driving force of Golden’s direction, Mural Arts has created more than 3,800 works of public art through innovative collaborations with community-based organizations, city agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, the private sector, and philanthropies. 

Through these partnerships, she has developed innovative and rigorous programs in youth art education, restorative justice, and behavioral health that have made it possible for thousands to experience and witness the power of art. She has also overseen a series of increasingly complex, ambitious, and award-winning public art projects, and is currently sought after nationally and internationally as an expert on urban transformation through art. 

Golden has received numerous awards for her work, including the Philadelphia Award, the Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art, the 2012 Governor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts, an Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Award, and Philadelphia Magazine’s Trailblazer Award, among others. 

She has also co-authored two books about the murals in Philadelphia and co-edited a third, Mural Arts @ 30 (Temple University Press, 2014), published on the occasion of Mural Arts’ 30th anniversary. 

Golden holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and degrees in Fine Arts and Political Science from Stanford University. In addition, she has received honorary PhDs from Swarthmore College, Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, Widener University, Arcadia University, LaSalle College, Haverford College, Rosemont College, and Villanova University.

Amy Holdsman is the Founder and President of Essential Leadership, a Philadelphia-based coaching and philanthropic advising firm that helps clients align their voice, vision, and values for greater impact. She works with individuals and families to establish, expand, or refine foundations and engage the next generation in philanthropy.

She is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®), 21/64 Certified Advisor, Certified Meaningful Giving Guide, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with training in Applied Positive Psychology from The Flourishing Center. Her speaking topics include Passion and Purpose, and Managing Difficult Conversations in Philanthropy, and Connecting Generations through Values and Action. She has also studied Family Systems at Georgetown University’s Bowen Center and the Council for Relationships.

With more than thirty years in nonprofit leadership, Amy has served as Executive Director of the Green Family Foundation, Maguire Foundation, and White-Williams Scholars/Charles Ellis Trust, and earlier at Leadership Philadelphia, where she served in a senior role placing executives on nonprofit boards.

She has mentored through Mighty Writers and Philadelphia Futures, chaired Philabundance, and served on boards of The Food Trust and Congregation Rodeph Shalom. A long-time Philadelphia Tribune Spelling Bee Pronouncer, she received the 2018 Give Back Award at the Baird Women’s Lifestyle Conference.

Amy holds an MA in Urban Studies from Temple University, a BA in Journalism from The George Washington University, and is a certified Yoga Instructor (RYT-200).
 

Brian Jones currently serves as Senior Program Officer at The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust, where his portfolio encompasses the Trust’s grantmaking in Basic Needs, Scholarship, Maritime Education, and Special Grants for the greater Philadelphia region. In this role, he works closely with nonprofit partners and undergraduate scholarship recipients.

Brian finds joy in assisting community-focused leaders in fulfilling their missions and amplifying the good news of their impacts. In his work at the Smith Trust, Brian supports the Foundation family in advancing the mission established by founder William Wikoff Smith—to enhance access to food, clothing, shelter, and higher education opportunities throughout the Philadelphia region, with a commitment to fostering both stability and social mobility. His engagement spans from visiting nonprofits and their teams within their communities to connecting with undergraduate scholarship recipients—blending strategic awareness with direct hands-on involvement.

Based in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the Smith Trust serves Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, along with the city of Camden, New Jersey. Brian’s scholarship and Basic Needs work reflect this regional commitment. He values the opportunity to support leaders and organizations whose work strengthens both the region’s safety net and its pathways to opportunity.

Megha Kulshreshtha is the Founder, CEO, and Head of Product at Food Connect, a logistics and technology nonprofit transforming how communities access food. What began as a small, volunteer-driven effort to close last-mile gaps in food distribution has grown into a national infrastructure delivering over 250,000 meals each month across five markets in 70 cities. Through logistics solutions and community-driven programs, Food Connect partners with local organizations to deliver healthy food with holistic care that makes food systems stronger, faster, and more equitable. 

Under Megha’s leadership, Food Connect has become a trusted partner to cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco, helping integrate delivery, data, and equity into public health and food policy frameworks. The organization’s rapid-response logistics network has been activated during crises from government shutdowns to SNAP cuts ensuring families receive nutritious food. Its model now supports hundreds of organizations nationwide, bridging distribution gaps between surplus and scarcity with measurable impact. Recognized regionally and nationally for innovation in the hunger relief and technology sectors, Food Connect embodies the very spirit of partnership and systems change.

Megha is a Roddenberry Fellow, Board Member of Sunday Love Project, Pat-Templeton West Award for Innovation Recipient, and published in the peer-reviewed Johns Hopkins Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved for Tech Led Solutions to Address Food Insecurity during a Global Pandemic. Before founding Food Connect, Megha worked in finance as an Equity Portfolio Analyst at Aberdeen Asset Management and a Corporate Actions Specialist at J.P. Morgan; experiences that sharpened her ability to build scalable, data-driven solutions. She holds an M.A. from Villanova University, where she received the Student Leadership Award, a B.A. double major in Economics and Political Science, and Concentration in International Studies. 

​​Tim Massaquoi’s life reflects transformation, resilience, and a deep commitment to community healing. A former standout athlete from Parkland High School and two-time All-Big Ten tight end at the University of Michigan, Massaquoi was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006. After a career-ending knee injury, he faced the difficult task of redefining his purpose.

Turning to mental health and service, Massaquoi earned a master’s degree in counseling and became a licensed professional counselor, drawing on his own struggles with trauma and identity to connect with others. His focus turned toward communities facing gun violence and collective trauma.

In 2024, supported by a three-year U.S. Department of Justice grant, he founded Kingsessing Heals, a community resilience center in Southwest Philadelphia. As executive director, Massaquoi leads efforts to help residents recover from the emotional and social effects of violence. The center provides trauma-informed counseling, community programming, and peer-support groups like the “Situation Room,” which fosters emotional awareness and healthy habits among men affected by violence.

Massaquoi often describes resilience as more than “bouncing back”—it is rebuilding spiritual, social, and emotional strength. His leadership is rooted in recognizing existing community resources and filling service gaps to create sustainable healing.

Beyond Kingsessing Heals, Massaquoi serves on the boards of the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, Healthy NewsWorks, and the American Red Cross. He is also the Vice President of the NFLPA retired players Philadelphia Chapter.
 

Dr. Michelle Carrera brings 25 years of experience of her work in underprivileged communities across the United States and the Caribbean. Raised in the public housing projects of Puerto Rico, she intimately understands the hardships faced by individuals and communities grappling with poverty. With a doctorate in Education and a focus on Leadership and Management, she is a catalyst for change, specializing in community engagement and organizational transformation. Her passion stems from a profound realization: poverty transcends mere scarcity of resources; it leaves an indelible mark on the soul, shaping one’s character, resilience, and unwavering commitment to advocate for equity. Driven by this personal mission, she embraces the urgency of the challenges faced by families and children. It is her solemn duty to ensure that we uplift one another, embracing lives that honor our most fundamental human rights. For her, true prosperity lies not in individual success, but in the collective journey towards shared abundance.

Since 2023, Michelle has launched Xiente’s flagship initiative The Prosperity Project, designed to serve 200 families with individualized economic mobility services over five years.

In 2023, Michelle was named a 2023 USA Eisenhower Fellow. This prestigious fellowship recognizes her outstanding leadership in advancing social mobility and addressing poverty in Philadelphia. She is also the recipient of the 2025 Philadelphia Family Women of Influence Award.

Jason Ray is the President & Chief Investment Officer of Zenith Wealth Partners. Zenith is a Philadelphia-based financial advisory firm that manages money and creates financial plans for families, businesses, and the institutions that serve them. Jason founded Zenith with the vision that race and gender should not pre-determine the ability to create wealth or value.

Jason previously worked in client-facing investment advisory roles at Carnegie Wealth Management, FS Investments, and Lincoln Financial Group. His skills include portfolio management, mergers and acquisitions, business valuation, and leadership. Jason studied politics and won an Ivy League football championship at Princeton University. 

He still enjoys basketball, golf, and running today. He grew up in Michigan and now lives in Philadelphia with his wife Rukiya and daughters Juniper and Josephine. Jason contributes civically as a board director to the Cobbs Creek Foundation (treasurer), Untours Foundation (treasurer), Vetri Community Partnership (finance committee), and Students Run Philly Style (finance committee).
 

Dr. Howard Stevenson is a nationally recognized psychologist and educator whose work focuses on racial literacy, community healing, and emotional well-being for children, families, and schools. At the University of Pennsylvania, he serves as the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education and Director of the Resilience Empowerment Collaborative, which brings together researchers, community leaders, and families to advance racial healing and resilience in neighborhoods and schools.

He is also the Founder of The Lion’s Story, a social impact organization dedicated to teaching racial literacy and narrative healing through story-based training. From 2015 to 2021, Dr. Stevenson co-directed Forward Promise, a national philanthropic initiative supporting community organizations that help boys and young men of color heal and thrive.

Dr. Stevenson’s contributions have been recognized with the 2020 Gittler Prize from Brandeis University and his election to the National Academy of Education in 2021. He was also named among the top U.S. education scholars influencing public policy and practice in the 2021 RHSU Edu-Scholar Rankings.

Dr. Stevenson holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from Eastern College.

Media: Ted Talk on racially charged encounters