Lauren N. King Program Officer Lauren N. King is a program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, she supports the foundation’s systems change efforts to promote thriving children, working families and equitable communities.
As a program officer focused on employment equity, King identifies and nurtures opportunities to effect positive systemic change within communities; executes programming efforts aligned with the organizational direction; and works closely with other staff to ensure the integration and coordination of initiatives. Throughout her career, King has brought together cross-sector partnerships to promote workforce equity and create innovative pathways to economic security and wealth building.
Prior to joining the foundation, King was the director of workforce programs at the Greater New Orleans Foundation. While serving as director, she staffed the New Orleans Works Collaborative (NOW) and lead the New Orleans Workforce Innovations Program (NOWI). This collaborative brought together philanthropy, city government and grassroots organizations to create a nationally accredited, entry-level stormwater management curriculum that provided jobseekers with skills needed to advance their careers. Prior to this, King served as director of community and economic development at Delgado Community College; director of workforce development at Delgado Community College; and project director for JOB1 Business and Career Solutions. King has volunteered on several nonprofit and governmental committees and boards, currently serving on the Jobs of the Future- Workforce Subcommittee for the City of New Orleans and the Hospitality Mobility Collaborative.
King holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Xavier University of Louisiana and a doctorate in Urban Higher Education from Jackson State University’s Executive Ph.D Program. She was recognized as an Aspen Institute Workforce Leadership Fellow in 2019.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work, and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.