Love And Courage

My guest in this episode is Gara LaMarche who is one of the world’s leading voices on funding and philanthropy for social justice. Originally from Rhode island, Gara was the first in his family to go to college and he became the youngest person ever to serve on an ACLU policy committee. During his college years at Colombia he says he was a reluctant student and spent much of his time teaching at a nursery school in Harlem which he credits as being one of the most formative experiences of his distinguished career. As a former CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies, a former director of U.S programs for the Open Society Institute, and now the President of the Democracy Alliance, Gara has overseen the investment of tens of millions of dollars into social justice programs around the world. He has also worked with Pen America and Human Rights Watch, and is currently the chair of StoryCorps. I first met Gara several years ago when he was visiting Dublin as part of his work with Atlantic Philanthropies and it was great