We’re thrilled to welcome Anita Kumar to Community Vision’s Board of Directors. Anita is the Director of Community Coalitions & Investment at the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), where she leads initiatives within BARHII’s National Action Lab to support the capacity of community-based organizations and coalitions to advance health equity in place.
Her role focuses on strengthening the alignment of place-based investments with community priorities and advancing systems-level strategies for community investment. Her portfolio includes growing a national network of cultural community development leaders and supporting the growth of a cultural belonging fund.
Prior to BARHII, Anita was the Director of Neighborhood Collaborations at Easy Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) in Oakland, CA where she oversaw the organization’s Healthy Neighborhoods portfolio.
Prior to being Director, she was the collaborative backbone manager for a neighborhood-based collective impact initiative that raised $2.7 million over six years. She supported 30+ partners across multiple sectors to align and implement upstream, place-based strategies to strengthen residents’ health and well-being in East Oakland.
Anita started her career as a qualitative researcher with a focus on the role lived experience plays in shaping safe, accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare for low-income communities of color. She worked as a researcher at Amnesty International USA, helping to launch the organization’s health and human rights campaign.
While healthcare access for under-resourced communities is a critical need, she found herself gravitating to research highlighting the increasing role of neighborhoods and community development in driving health and well-being. Her training in ethnography is a unique skillset she brings to her work in coalition building and network building.
Anita brings a decade of experience in place-based health equity and a deep passion for how the built environment shape our health and well-being. Anita has a PhD and M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Southern California and B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.
We look forward to the invaluable expertise and perspective Anita brings to Community Vision and are honored to have her join us in advancing economic equity and strengthening communities across California.
