In June 2021, SAAPRI’s Board of Directors welcomed Anita Banerji as a new SAAPRI board member!
Anita Banerji is currently a consultant to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Education Fund, a national nonprofit organization. Formerly, as Forefront’s Democracy Initiative Director, Anita created and led the Illinois Count Me In 2020 program composed of an IL funders’ collaborative and a nonprofit advocacy coalition. She worked closely with the City of Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois and nonprofit organizations for 2020 Census outreach efforts. She also served as a City of Chicago Complete Count Committee Member and was an appointed member to the Cook County Complete Count Census Commission.
Over the course of two decades, Anita has worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and the Illinois State Government, as well as the larger nonprofit sector. Anita has lobbied on the sugary sweetened beverage campaign through the American Heart Association and also served as Legislative Director for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She holds a master’s degree in communications from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a 2010 Illinois Women’s Institute in Leadership (IWIL) alum, a 2019 Edgar Fellows Alum, and in spring of 2021 was appointed to the State’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.