Aurora Foundation Hires Program Officer for Leadership Program

The Aurora Women and Girls Foundation is delighted to announce that Anisah Colón-Simon has joined the staff as the part-time Program Officer for the Young Women’s Initiative, a new leadership-development program for high school girls of color based at the New Britain YWCA. It is the first of its kind in Connecticut.

Colón-Simon, a Hartford native, has extensive experience in community service, program coordination, and youth engagement in Hartford and in Middletown, where she is a senior at Wesleyan University majoring in American Studies with a concentration in Racial & Ethnic Politics. She is also double minoring in Caribbean Studies and Human Rights Advocacy.

Since 2022, she has served as Local Interagency Service Team Coordinator, Grant Coordinator and Project Manager for the Middletown Youth Service Bureau. She has also been a Board member of Hartford Promise since 2023.

And, this past summer she juggled two different internships: one as a Teaching Assistant at the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education, and the other for FRESH New London, a food justice non-profit.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anisah to the Aurora team. She brings experience with youth education and community organizing, as well as a passionate commitment to leadership development for young women. She will be a fabulous role model and mentor,” said Aurora Executive Director Jennifer Steadman, Ph.D.

“I am so happy to be working at Aurora,” said Colón-Simon. “As a Puerto Rican woman who grew up in a low-income neighborhood, it was opportunities like the ones Aurora provides to young women that helped me get to where I am today. I’m inspired by Aurora’s commitment to supporting women, and I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to contribute to their mission.”

Aurora is grateful to the following Community Partners for their annual operating support: Ares Management; Barnes Group; the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity (CWCSEO); Cowdery, Murphy & Healy; Eastern CT State University; Family First Life; the Goss Family; the Green & Blue Foundation; KeyBank; Liberty Bank; Max Cares Foundation; NBT Bank; Jennifer W. Pennoyer, MD; PeoplesBank; PNT Data; Pullman and Comley; Robinson + Cole; Ruel Ruel Burns Feldman & Britt; Shipman & Goodwin; Symetra; Tokio Marine HHC; UConn Health Disparities; The Village for Families and Children; Trinity College; Wealthspire; Whittlesey; and the YWCA Hartford Region.

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About Aurora Women and Girls Foundation

The Aurora Women and Girls Foundation was founded in 2000 by a group of community leaders who sought to lift up women and girls through focused philanthropy. Aurora galvanizes resources to increase gender and racial equity through economic security, educational attainment, and leadership for women and girls in the Greater Hartford region. We envision strong, equitable communities in which all women and girls realize their potential and are full, valued, and sought-after participants -- economically, politically, and socially.