Bernadette Sangalang
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES DIRECTOR, PACKARD FOUNDATION
“We had our foundation way of doing things. We had to learn to listen in a deeper way.”
Bernadette Sangalang was a new program officer when she and her colleagues first came up with the vision for Starting Smart and Strong. A social worker by training, Sangalang was not used to the power imbalance embedded in the grantee foundation relationship. “As a social worker, you partner. You must meet people where they are at.” Yet still, as foundation staff, Sangalang and her colleagues had certain ideas about the way the initiative should work, how to define success, and the right way to offer support and resources. Over the life of the Starting Smart and Strong initiative, as relationships with community leaders grew, they learned to step back and trust local expertise. Today, as the Director of Children and Families for the Packard Foundation, Sangalang uses all she has learned in their new funding strategy in maternal and child health. This includes her approach to working in community as a grantmaker and knowledge about when to let communities lead. “All of it is about putting families and children at the center.”