Sengsouvanh (Sukey) Leshnick
Senior Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation
Why do you do what you do?
As a first-generation Laotian American with a deep passion for social change work, I have focused my career on lifting up best practices to address some of the most pressing challenges facing low-income communities of color. I approach this work through the lens of evaluation and learning with the goal of shifting policies towards more equitable conditions for our most vulnerable communities.
What drew you to the foundation?
I am inspired by the San Francisco Foundation’s bold mission, which centralizes racial equity and racial justice in all aspects of its work. As an organization, the foundation continually strives to learn, reflect, and adjust strategy so that those most deeply impacted by structural inequality are best served. I am especially drawn to the foundation’s interdisciplinary approach—investing in people to transform systems, investing in opportunities to shift power, and investing in places to meet the specific needs of local communities.
How would you describe your role?
I collaborate with staff across the foundation to support, assess, and track progress towards achieving our racial equity agenda. I work with staff to co-create systems to collect and use data to make strategic and informed decisions about our work. My goal is to develop and implement data systems that are formative and flexible to promote evaluative thinking internally and externally so that we can surface shared learning.