The Skillman Foundation

This article was originally published in The Detroit News.

Skillman Foundation President and CEO Angelique Power was not born in Detroit. She wasn’t born in Michigan. But in the four years the Chicago native has called Detroit home, she’s made herself known as a top advocate for the state’s children.

Since joining Detroit’s leading K-12 education-focused foundation in 2021, Power, 54, has become a leading voice for education improvement in the state, and that is why she has been named a Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News.

“I arrived with a jersey, not a cape,” Power said. “I know that people in Detroit have the answers. They’ve had a lot of things done to them, not with them. So I’m really proud of how we were able to listen to the moment.”

Power started her career in philanthropy with the Dayton Hudson Corporation and led community relations giving at the Target Corporation. In addition, she has served as president of the Chicago-based Field Foundation, director of community engagement and communications at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and as program director at the Joyce Foundation, where her regional focus included funding in Detroit.

Skillman Foundation Chairperson Ron Hall Jr. said he was skeptical of Power’s Chicago roots and background outside of education when trustees began searching for a replacement for Tonya Allen in 2021. But Hall said Power, and her ideas, commanded attention.

“One of the things she said to us during her presentation was ‘Do not hire me if you are not serious about change,'” Hall said.

Skillman recruited Power at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she spent an increasing amount of time with her then-10-year-old daughter. Power said bonding with her child, as well as watching young community organizers rise to leadership during protests over the murder of George Floyd, inspired her.

“Being so in touch with my own mortality during that period made me want to spend the rest of my days on the planet really just moving obstacles away from young people so that they could lead us all somewhere different,” Power said.

She and her family relocated to Detroit in summer 2021, when Power dedicated a year to community outreach and getting to know the city as Skillman’s leader.

“You have to stand on Detroit’s soil to understand the city,” she said.

At Skillman, Power launched an organization-wide audit of how foundation money is spent and invested.

In line with her mindset of letting Detroiters take the lead, The Skillman Foundation is ramping up grants for advocacy groups that push for systemic changes to improve Detroit K-12 public education long term, while continuing to give to organizations that provide immediate, needed services as a stopgap.

“The visionaries, they’re here. They’re in Detroit,” Power said. “And those that understand education systems the best are the ones that are inside of them. And so we absolutely believe that those that are most impacted by education need to be at the policymaking table.”

Two students also now serve on the Skillman board, Hall said, to give young people a seat at the policymaking table.

The visionaries, they’re here. They’re in Detroit. And those that understand education systems the best are the ones that are in side of them.

Other Detroit education leaders who have been supported by Power include Imani Foster, the communications director for advocacy group 482Forward and a 2023 Skillman BMe Vanguard fellow. Foster said Power coached her through a speech at a past Mackinac Policy Conference and remains a mentor to her.

“She just really gave me an opportunity to be myself (and) to see how powerful I was even as a stakeholder,” Foster said. “You don’t have to be a policymaker or the director of an organization to have a say.”

Of her accomplishments at The Skillman Foundation: “I’m most proud that I have been so accepted by the Detroit community,” Power said.

Skillman Foundation initiatives include the Good Neighborhoods Initiative, a $120 million effort to improve conditions for children in six targeted Detroit neighborhoods. The initiative increased graduation rates by 25%, youth programming by 40%, and youth victimization rates declined by 47% in those designated neighborhoods from 2009 to 2016.

Angelique Power said bonding with her child, as well as watching young community organizers rise to leadership during protests over the murder of George Floyd, inspired her.

Angelique Power

• Age: 54
• Occupation: President and CEO of The Skillman Foundation
• Education: Bachelor of Arts, University of Michigan; Master of Fine Arts and an honorary doctorate, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Family: Husband Sean and daughter Sadie Lousiane
• Why honored: For her leadership in efforts to improve K-12 education and advocate for young people in Metro Detroit and Michigan