Director
Kids in Common

U.S.: California Hub | NORTH AMERICA

Dana Bunnett has been director of Kids in Common since January 2001. Kids in Common works to create a community where every child is safe, healthy, successful in learning, and successful in life. Kids in Common does this by bringing together governmental agencies, community based organizations, funders, and elected officials to work across sectors to improve policies, practice and systems, and achieve better results for children and youth. This work also focuses on ending the disproportionate poor outcomes for Black, Latinx and low-income children and families.

One example of Dana’s work is providing “backbone” support to the Juvenile Court Aligned Action Network (JCAAN.) This collaborative network focuses on achieving education outcomes for youth in the justice system that are at parity with the general population. (Currently only 43% of youth who have been in juvenile hall graduate on time, compared to 85% of the general population.) JCAAN is co-chaired by cross-systems leaders including the juvenile court presiding judge, a probation and an education leader, a justice-oriented community-based organization, and a young adult with experience in the justice system.

In her spare time, Dana walks to the ocean near her home in Santa Cruz, California where she lives with a dog, two cats and a tortoise. She also loves gardening and contributes about three pages a week to her “great American novel.” Last, she enjoys frequent visits from her son, a recent college graduate, who has taken up surfing since shelter-in-place.