White House Liaison to the African-American Community Take Non-Profit Job

Heather Foster, a former White House staffer, will head

up White House-backed charity My Brother's Keeper.

Photo: The Network Journal

White House Liaison to the African-American Community Take Non-Profit Job

Heather Foster, the woman who helped to coordinate President Obama’s response to the Charleston shooting and Ferguson protests, has left the White House staff in order to head up a new, White house-backed charity focusing on young men of color.

President Obama helped to launch My Brother’s Keeper Alliance in May to help boys and young men of color gain access to early education, keep them out of the criminal justice system, and help them enter the workforce. Foster will begin working there in the fall, where she will help to coordinate public-private partnerships for the non-profit, which has corporate backing.

Foster is well suited for the job. She was President Obama’s lead liaison to the African-American community, where she had a hand in shaping the White House’s response to a number of issues. Following the Trayvon Martin trial, Foster developed the administration’s outreach strategy, and went on to help formulate responses to the Ferguson, Staten Island, and Baltimore protests against police brutality. She was also involved in the response to the Charleston shooting, and attended the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney.

Her time at the White House was not all about sad events though. She also led planning efforts for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which allowed her to speak to civil rights leaders about their experiences. For Foster, who grew up in Atlanta, it was kind of a dream come true.

Foster was moved by the families and communities she interacted with during her tenure with the White House, and is excited to begin her new position, which will allow her to directly impact those and other communities across the country.

She is being replaced by Stephanie Young, who served as the White House’s associate communications director. Young previous served as the communications director for the 112th Congress of the Congressional Black Caucus, so the White House’s relationship with the African-American community should still be in good hands.