Jennifer Godinez is the Director of Community Leadership & Systems Change at The CareWorks Project, where she partners with leaders, institutions, and communities to strengthen public systems and expand who has power in shaping them. She helps organizations move from analysis to action through disciplined research, strategic alignment, and leadership development.

For more than two decades, Jennifer has worked at the intersection of community, government, and social policy — equipping state and national leaders, educators, and advocates with tools to build more responsive and effective public systems. Her work weaves together policy analysis, leadership training, and community engagement to create change that is both grounded in lived experience and capable of lasting at scale.

Most recently, she served as Senior Director of Training and Education for a federal strategies team at Race Forward, where she advanced approaches to policymaking that center structural reform and community voice. Previously, as a co-leader of the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership, she guided statewide strategic planning and visioning processes with educators, communities, and policymakers — helping multiple communities shift their policies and practices toward more inclusive and accountable education systems. Jennifer holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota and was a White House Fellow regional finalist in 2015.