Amy R. Gillman

Amy Gillman, who joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2017, works to promote healthy, more equitable communities. She seeks to elevate community development as a key strategy to advance RWJF’s efforts to build a national Culture of Health. To this end, she draws on her extensive expertise in developing comprehensive approaches to neighborhood investment and revitalization that improve health and well-being in low-income urban and rural communities. She describes her work at RWJF as “employing the tools and resources of community development to create the neighborhood conditions that help people along the path to good health and well-being and a better future.”

Previously, Amy was the national program director for Community Health at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the country’s largest community development nonprofit, where she sought to integrate health and well-being into LISC’s neighborhood revitalization efforts. In this role, Amy directed national initiatives supporting cross-sector collaborations in local LISC sites, including a partnership with County Health Rankings & Roadmaps to impact health through food access, housing, and mental health, and the expansion of green and healthy homes strategies with affordable housing owners. She also managed LISC’s healthy food financing portfolio, which leveraged over $100 million for grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and other healthy food outlets. Amy also served as the LISC National Program Director for Early Childhood Facilities, which has supported the development of more than 200 quality centers across the country.

Prior to LISC, Amy held several positions in social welfare policy and international community development in N.Y. and Washington, D.C. She has been a speaker on community development and health in forums nationwide.

Amy earned a BA from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in management from Yale University.

From Amy, on the Blog