As a National Urban Fellow, Manami Kano will be the Special Assistant to the Vice President, National Program and Director of Urban Education at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Prior to the fellowship, Ms. Kano worked in the nonprofit sector for nearly ten years in a number of managerial and leadership positions.

As a Senior Associate with Klein & Roth Consulting, Ms. Kano advised on fundraising and organizational development to non-profit organizations and foundations nationwide. Most recently, Ms. Kano was a featured speaker on organizational sustainability at the national YWCA conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Prior to consulting, Ms Kano was the Development Director for Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), which had a $900,000 budget. During her tenure, she was able to secure multi-year support from the Ford Foundation and the California Endowment, which allowed APEN to expand its environmental health program. As a member of APEN’s management team, Ms. Kano helped the organization to scale its impact from local to statewide. She also deepened community relationships through activities such as serving as secretary of board of the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice. Ms. Kano helped lead a transition for this organization, involving strategic planning that produced a national reproductive justice initiative.

Ms. Kano also served eight years as a volunteer and Board Member of Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian American multi-disciplinary community arts organization in the U.S. During this period, Ms. Kano was instrumental in identifying community needs and co-founding a multimedia arts festival of emerging artists, now a week-long festival that will celebrate its 10th year in 2008. During her service at the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, Ms. Kano founded an annual showcase of contemporary Japanese cinema at the University of California’s Berkeley Art Museum.

In addition to her experience in the nonprofit sector, Ms. Kano spent five years in Japan, first on the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) program, and subsequently as a television producer for an educational travel series.

Working at the intersection of media, arts and social change as an educator, producer, fundraiser, manager and consultant, Ms. Kano has gained an interdisciplinary perspective and approach to leadership and management. She believes that the arts, culture and public media play an essential role in our urban communities with the potential to be a unifying force in an increasingly divided environment. After completing the fellowship, her goal is to direct an organization that is engaged in creative cultural and economic innovations for urban communities.