Zimar Batista joined the Public Welfare Foundation in September of 2023 as a Program Analyst and is now the Special Assistant to the Office of the President. His interest in providing policy solutions and creating system change strategies to solve the most pressing social problems began when he joined AmeriCorps. This experience gave him a first look at the obstacles many students, parents, and teachers face in the District of Columbia.
After Americorps, Zimar worked on different projects related to government leadership, education policy work, and international development. In 2022, Zimar worked as a Unidos U.S. fellow by developing an op-ed on increasing teacher diversity by funding minority service institutions nationwide.
Prior to this role, Zimar was at the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG), where he oversaw a regionally focused portfolio and developed issue-based programmatic work in the areas of Housing Justice, Education, Health Equity, Civic Engagement, and Criminal Justice to mobilize and leverage these topics with other sectors who share a similar mission alignment focus. He is part of the Funders Harm Reduction Table to drive philanthropic organizations to support criminal justice grantmaking work within the region.
Zimar received his B.A. in Economics with a double concentration in International Studies & Spanish from the American University School of International Service (SIS). Zimar is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University.
