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Joel Ratner serves as president of the Foundation

Joel has a long history of work dedicated to improving the lives of people

When he was named president of The Raymond John Wean Foundation in 2007, Joel Ratner realized what had been a lifelong personal and career ambition: helping to foster social justice, social equity and community transformation.

Joel came to The Raymond John Wean Foundation after about 20 years of working with such issues as housing fairness, community development, refugee resettlement and homelessness.

 Joel, who earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University and law degree at the  Case Western Reserve University School of Law, spent years working in the community development field before joining the Warren-based foundation.  

 He started his career with social issues while he was still an undergraduate at Yale.    He was elected as an alderman to the New Haven Board and also served as a member of the City Planning Commission, the New Haven Affirmative Action Commission and the Mayor's Task Force on AIDS. During that time, Joel worked at the Connecticut Food Bank. 

After leaving New Haven, Joel worked in Thailand for a year, interviewing refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for resettlement in the U.S.  This work took place under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee and the U.S. State Department. 

He also spent one year as a volunteer in Israel and then received a Rotary Exchange Scholarship to study in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he spent a year. After graduating from law school, he spent a year working for Housing Advocates, a nonprofit organization where he represented tenants in disputes. 

He later worked in the Cleveland office of the Columbus law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease.  He then accepted the position of regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  While there, he led statewide efforts to fight anti-semitism and other forms of racism and bigotry.   

He was then asked to assist with the development of a small grants program at The Cleveland Foundation, the country’s oldest and third largest community foundation.  Until 2007, he led the Neighborhood Connections program, which provides small grants in the City of Cleveland to grass-roots groups working to improve their neighborhoods.  The program has been widely recognized as a leader in its field and is considered to have had a significant impact on community improvement efforts. 

Joel serves on the steering committee of Grassroots Grantmakers, an organization supporting the development of grassroots funding and engagement by funders. Joel said his position with the Wean Foundation allows him to harness many of his legal, leadership, community activism and planning skills to work for change in the local community. 

Joel is the father of three children. 

Q & A with Joel Ratner about the grant application process