Rachel Graham is the Director of Programs for the Lefkofsky Family Foundation in Chicago. In this role, she oversees the Foundation’s education grantmaking and runs Success Bound, the Foundation’s middle grades initiative. With a deep focus on middle grades, the Foundation believes that students in this developmental stage will thrive if they have access to supportive learning environments that allow them to explore who they are and who they want to be in the social, economic and civic world.
Success Bound is a free middle school program enhancing those middle school environments. Rachel serves as the Co-Chair of the Youth Guidance’s Working on Womenhood Advisory Council and is on the Local School Council of Otis Elementary School in Chicago.
Rachel believes that young people will change the world, and has a long standing passion for enabling young people to be at the table when decisions that effect them are made.
Previously, she created the Youth Program for Chicago Ideas, which during the course of five years empowered thousands of high school students to spark ideas into action and make change in themselves, their schools and their communities. Prior to her role at the Lefkfosky Family Foundation, Rachel worked as a school psychologist in a suburban elementary school. Rachel has a Masters in School Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston.