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Parker Cohen
Parker Cohen is Share Our Strength's Managing Director of Family Economic Mobility. He is an accomplished executive with 15+ years of experience in nonprofit organizational leadership, team and financial management, program strategy and implementation, and partnerships and capacity-building. Parker brings a deep commitment to building overall well-being in communities, addressing economic inequality, and tackling the root causes of financial and food insecurity. In his current role, he leads an initiative focused on ending hunger and poverty for single mothers and their children through advocacy, narrative change, and program innovation and scale.
Previously, Parker served as Vice President of Programs for Prosperity Now. He served on the Leadership Team and oversaw two programmatic teams and managed over $7 million in program budgets. He worked collaboratively across teams, including with colleagues on communications, research, policy, network building, human resources, and operations teams. Before his promotion to Vice President, Parker served Prosperity Now as Director, Associate Director, Senior Program Manager, and Program Manager. Early in his career, he served as Community Development Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers and as a consultant with DB Consulting Group. Parker's media experience includes radio, print, and many blogs and articles.
Parker lives in Ohio. He earned his BA degree in Economics from Macalester College (St. Paul, MN) and his Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree, concentrating in Economic, Community, and Workforce Development, from Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Parker enjoys going to the movies with his wife, Rachel, and two children, Rovene and Caleb, and attending sporting events (Go Bengals!). Among his favorite things is going to the amusement park with his son Caleb.
What’s your “why?” I am driven by my Cincinnati, Ohio community, where my neighbors work hard, raise children and take care of each other. Too often, they struggle to meet their food and financial needs due to forces beyond their control. My career is focused on changing the systems that shape our opportunities to create a society where every family has what they need to thrive, regardless of their zip code or background.
My idea of fun is: Playing with my kids, walking around my neighborhood, rooting for Cincinnati sports teams, winning bar trivia and going to concerts.