Kim Anderson has been part of redefinED atlanta since before there even was a redefinED atlanta.

Back in 2015, the group that would become known as redefinED was simply an idea referred to as New Org. The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta was working with the Kendeda Fund to launch a nonprofit to champion public education, and Kendeda leader Dena Kimball, who served as the inaugural Board chair for redefinED, asked Anderson to join the Board as a founding member.

At the time, Anderson was serving as the CEO of Families First, a large child and family services agency in Georgia.

 “I was raised in a very, very fortunate family, and my parents made it very clear to us that to whom much is given, much is required,” Anderson said. In deciding to serve on redefinED’s Board, she added, “I believe education is the true equalizer, the true liberator, if we allow it to be.”

 Back in the 1980s, Anderson moved to Atlanta and started working as an attorney in a large law firm. She recalls a sense of dynamism in the city at the time, during Mayor Maynard Jackson’s second term, marked by growth and openness to new ideas.

 Struck at how easy it was to become involved in the community, Anderson soon began joining the boards of organizations that sought to “change the way we see the world and how we do things.”

 After 20 years in private practice, Anderson began working for nonprofits. The experience she gained at Families First and beyond informed her experience with redefinED, when she advocated for more parents and guardians – people with lived experience but not formal positions of power – to serve alongside her on the Board. Anderson believes greater representation will lead to more equitable policies for public schools.

“The biggest thing I’m proud of around redefinED is the direct engagement and listening to the communities that we serve,” she said. “All too often, organizations do to people and not with people. We forget that people know the solutions, they just don’t have the time and resources to enact the solutions. redefinED is trying to do the slow, hard, necessary work.”

 Today, Anderson continues to find ways to support redefinED, both as a Board member and as a financial donor.

“I can’t write big checks, but I can contribute with my time and with some of my money to organizations that are empowering communities to do things differently,” she said.

 Looking ahead, Anderson, who leads Chrysalis Lab, a social impact consulting firm, encourages fellow Atlantans to find ways to get involved in addressing systemic issues that perpetuate inequity and inequality – factors like education access and economic stability – which she refers to as “the social determinants of life.”

 “The interconnectedness of them is real,” Anderson said, seizing on education. “And it’s up to us to support groups that say it doesn’t have to be the way it is.”