Victoria Foundation Welcomes Sanaz Hojreh as Youth Self-Determination Strategy Officer

Victoria Foundation is proud to announce that Sanaz Hojreh has joined our team as the new Strategy Officer for Promoting Youth Self-Determination. Sanaz brings more than two decades of experience helping communities, schools, foundations, and cultural organizations build systems that expand opportunity for young people.

Sanaz will be pivotal in advancing our work to support Newark's young people to shape a future for themselves, their families, and their communities through our Thriving Neighborhoods Initiative. Her approach is relational, with a keen ability to build collaborative tables to think deeply and put best practices to work, supporting efforts that are essential to young people's well-being and stepping into their leadership and participation in civic life. 

"We are thrilled to welcome Sanaz to the Victoria Foundation team," said Executive Officer Craig Drinkard. "Victoria Foundation champions bold strategies to build community power and self-determination in Newark, Sanaz's demonstrated commitment to our young people will be a great asset to our work. She will guide the strategies we use to support their dreams and priorities for their lives, and to make Newark a place that sustains their well-being and success."

"For many years, I have admired the Victoria Foundation for its deep and steadfast investment in Newark and its unwavering commitment to its young people. I am thrilled to now join this team, as it feels like a natural extension of my life's work," shared Sanaz on the new role. "Having spent much of my career working alongside Newark's young people, educators, artists, and community leaders, I look forward to partnering across the city to advance youth self-determination and expand opportunities that help young people thrive."

Prior to the Victoria Foundation, Sanaz led a robust consulting portfolio partnering with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic institutions to design collaborative strategies, strengthen organizational capacity, develop evaluation frameworks, and advance initiatives that center youth voice, healing, and community leadership.

Previously, Sanaz served as Director of the Newark Arts Education Roundtable. Her experience also includes strategic consulting in arts education with the School District of Philadelphia, where she helped implement its Arts and Creativity Framework and strengthened shared delivery with community partners. She has partnered on the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation's Arts Integration Project and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's statewide arts education landscape survey, and has supported Arts Education Newark, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and the Foundation for Educational Administration's Healing-Centered Schools Program.

Please read Sanaz's bio here and join us in extending a warm welcome.