Richard Kazis

Senior Vice President

Contact Richard Kazis

Richard Kazis leads JFF’s policy and advocacy efforts. Since joining JFF in the early 1990s, his areas of focus have included: school-to-career models and policy; strategies for improving outcomes for low-income community college students; state policies to promote college and career readiness for struggling students; policies to promote low-wage worker advancement; and the emerging role of labor-market intermediaries in workforce development.

Mr. Kazis oversees JFF’s efforts to support state level improvement in community college student success and completion, particularly for low-income students, through our collaboration with Achieving the Dream, Inc. and our involvement in two multistate initiatives: the Developmental Education Initiative and Completion By Design. Richard also coordinates JFF’s efforts to promote federal and state policies that identify, promote, and expand effective school models for struggling high school-aged students, with a particular focus on approaches that blend secondary and postsecondary learning.

Mr. Kazis has taught at an alternative high school for returning dropouts. He has also supervised a Neighborhood Youth Corps program, helped organize fast-food workers, managed a cooperative urban food production wholesaler, supported labor-environmental jobs coalitions, and studied informal, experiential learning in Israel. He serves on the boards of the Institute for College Access and Success and the Workforce Strategy Center.

Mr. Kazis is a graduate of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.