Nilofer Ahsan
Lead for Knowledge and Partnerships at Children’s Bureau Learning and Coordination Center
Oakland, CA
Nilofer Ahsan is the lead for Knowledge and Partnerships at Children’s Bureau Learning and Coordination Center. Over the past 25 years, she has worked with the federal government, the governments of all 50 U.S. states, and municipal and community leaders in cities across the country to frame and implement a wide range of policies. Nilofer led several nationwide initiatives. She was the founding co-director of the FRIENDS National Resource Center, charged by the federal government to help states implement new federal family support policy. She led the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Strengthening Families Initiative, which has been adopted by 40 states, several foreign countries, and over a dozen collaborating national organizations and is cited as a national model by federal partners including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ahsan also works as an independent consultant on a variety of projects including developing model national policy around the sexual and reproductive needs of youth in out-of-home care; support for expectant and parenting youth in out-of-home care; innovative models for urban agriculture, and mutual aid and assistance strategies.
Ahsan has served as the lead author on dozens of publications, curricula and tools for professionals working to support children and families. She was named a Next Generation Leadership Fellow by the Rockefeller Foundation, and has been asked to sit on over a dozen national advisory committee and boards focused on issues of social and community change. A lifelong activist for social justice, Ahsan co-led the Indo-Pak Peace Initiative, as well as serving in the leadership of a number of groups focused on diaspora politics, women and violence, and educational reform.
Ahsan received her bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago where she was a Viola Bower Scholar, received the Howell-Murray award for contributions to student life, and was one of a handful of students accepted for simultaneous undergraduate and graduate admission.
Ahsan was born in Karachi, Pakistan and currently lives in Oakland, California.
“Family is complex. Growing up my family had its strengths and its challenges, all of which fundamentally shaped who I am. That’s why, for me, the most important thing is giving my girls a strong and loving base so they can bring that strength and that love into the world.”