Mayor Mamdani Announces New Mayor’s Fund Board

The Mayor’s Fund will be chaired by Chief of Staff Elle Bisgaard-Church, who will steer its efforts to further the administration’s affordability agenda

The administration will also launch a Child Care Action Fund, with a goal of raising $20 million by the end of the year

NEW YORK – Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced a new Board of Directors for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that partners with 50 City agencies and offices, philanthropic organizations and community leaders to invest in the most urgent challenges facing New Yorkers. The fund will play a key role in advancing the Mayor’s signature affordability agenda.

Elle Bisgaard-Church will chair the board, joined by six additional members. Kate Smith will continue to serve as Executive Director.

Under Mamdani, the Mayor’s Fund will look different from past administrations — centered not on corporate leadership, but on working New Yorkers and advocates who organized and fought for bold and progressive action on picket lines, protests and public forums in their communities. From Christina Cover, a Bronx public school teacher to Tony Perlstein, a UAW union organizer who built a career as a longshoreman, the board reflects the working people at the heart of this city — and the center of this administration’s mission.

The administration views the Mayor’s Fund as a complement to, not a substitute for, public investment. While advancing major government-led efforts to lower costs – including the first municipal grocery stores and a historic expansion of free child care – the Mayor’s Fund will help accelerate progress on core commitments to the movement that brought them to City Hall.

Elle Bisgaard-Church serves as Chief of Staff to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and managed his successful mayoral primary campaign. She previously served as his Chief of Staff and Legislative Director in the State Assembly, where she helped lead winning campaigns to deliver debt relief for taxi drivers, secure historic investments in the MTA through #FixtheMTA and defeat a proposed fracked gas plant. She holds a master’s degree in social policy from the London School of Economics and Columbia SIPA, and has worked on issues including incarceration, homelessness and adult literacy.

Julie Chen is the Institutional Giving Manager at CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, where she supports efforts to build Asian immigrant and tenant power in New York City communities. Her previous work includes fundraising for an immigration bond fund, researching labor conditions for Chinese fast fashion workers in Italy and advocating for parents in the family policing system. She also serves in leadership roles with the Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG)'s Democratizing Development Program and the Resource Development Committee for Right to the City (RTTC).

Christina Cover is an English Language Arts teacher and the Literacy Coordinator at a Bronx public high school. She previously worked as a fellow with Seek Common Ground, served as Communications Coordinator for Assembly Member Khaleel M. Anderson and participated in AmeriCorps through City Year.

Shawn V. Morehead is a philanthropic leader and legal advocate with over two decades of experience advancing equity in education, civil rights and social justice. She currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer at The New York Community Trust, where she oversees a $60 million annual grant making program supported by more than $1.5 billion in endowed funds.

Rickke Mananzala (he/him) has spent more than 25 years working alongside grassroots leaders, community organizations and movements advancing racial, economic and gender justice. He currently serves as President of the New York Foundation, which supports community organizing and advocacy to help build a more just and inclusive New York City. Previously, he was Vice President of Programs at Borealis Philanthropy.

Javier H. Valdés is director of the Civic Engagement and Government program. He supports grant making to strengthen representation, participation and leadership in US democracy so that communities can shape their futures, with dignity, inclusion and equitable access to economic resources. Javier joined the foundation in 2021 after previously serving as co-executive director of Make the Road New York (MRNY) and Make the Road Action.

Tony Perlstein brings decades of experience as a union and community organizer and a lifelong commitment to working people, community empowerment and public service. Born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, he is a New Yorker with a deep dedication to the communities that shaped him. He currently serves as a director in the organizing department of the United Auto Workers (UAW), having previously been the union’s national co-director of education.

The Blue Room

City Hall

Lower Manhattan

April 16, 2026