Mrs. Arelis Diaz is a program officer for the Office of the President, reporting to La June Montgomery Tabron, at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan.
In this role, she is responsible for identifying and nurturing opportunities for affecting positive systemic change within communities, and executing programming efforts that are aligned with the organizational direction. She leads WKKF’s corporate responsibility efforts and special initiatives of the president and CEO, on behalf of the organization.
Arelis joined the foundation in December 2010 as a program officer working with the Education & Learning and Family Economic Security teams. She managed and monitored a portfolio of PK-12 educational grants, providing technical assistance to grantees on model development, partnership negotiations, leadership capacity building and coaching. In this role, she also led the PK-12 education strategy in WKKF priority places of New Mexico, Mississippi, as well as Grand Rapids and Battle Creek in Michigan. Some of her notable accomplishments include forming a coalition of grantees to focus on the accreditation system that will impact teacher preparation around the strategic areas: cultural and linguistic needs, family engagement, equity and early childhood. Furthermore, she formed strong collaborative networks within the education work, and developed cross-system networks among various strategies and approaches to increase the educational success and stability of families.