April 8, 2021

Janaki Blum

Janaki Blum portraitJanaki Blum is an independent community economic development specialist, with a varied background touching on all aspects of non-profit organizational activity, including management and development. Currently collaborating with the non-profit Fuerza Laboral to implement their Cooperative Business Incubator, she conducted feasibility/business studies for the program and helped secure major funding to assist low-income workers of color in Rhode Island. Janaki was previously Administrative Director at the Affordable Housing Institute in Boston, where, in addition to her managerial duties, she participated in research and fundraising, including successful proposals submitted to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before that, she was director/manager of SARID, a US non-profit specializing in sustainable development programs, such as low-cost housing, in South Asia. Janaki also has research and development experience in academic institutions and for-profits in the US and Europe and was a scientific project leader in Switzerland. She holds a MA Degree in Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning from Tufts University, graduate degrees in science from the UK and Switzerland, and did her post-doctoral training at MIT.