Kathleen Traphagen

As an independent consultant, Kathleen Traphagen's work focuses on building the capacity of nonprofit organizations, schools, government agencies, and philanthropists to achieve their goals. Kathleen developed expertise in school-community partnerships, after-school programming, youth development, early childhood education, and workforce development through nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and government sectors.

Before becoming an independent consultant in 2003, Kathleen was executive director of the mayor's 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative in Boston, where she worked closely with the Boston Public Schools and community-based organizations to expand and improve after-school programming for Boston's young people. Previously, Kathleen was on staff of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's Office of Intergovernmental Relations, or IGR. In IGR, Kathleen led efforts to encourage city departments and the Boston Public Schools to collaborate strategically with each other, nonprofits, and the funding community to meet the needs of Boston's children and families. Early in her career, Kathleen was a senior planner for Action for Boston Community Development, the city's anti-poverty agency.

She holds a B.A. in professional Writing with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Northeastern University.