Toya Williford

Toya Williford serves as the founding Executive Director of The AC & JC Foundation, Inc., a private family foundation based in New York City. Ms. Williford brings more than 20 years of experience in philanthropic services, program and organizational development, fundraising, and community organizing. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Williford was the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City where she oversaw the overall management of the Mayor’s Fund and led the effort to foster public-private partnerships between City agencies, the private sector and the philanthropic community. Ms. Williford joined the de Blasio Administration as the Director of Programs and Policy and helped to launch and sustain the Center for Youth Employment, a multi-million dollar initiative created to improve the quality and scale of publicly funded youth employment programs.

Prior to joining the Mayor’s Fund, Toya served as the Program Director at the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the first and only foundation solely dedicated to Brooklyn’s charitable community. Committed to the advancement of her community, Toya takes special interest in programs and policies related to education and youth development, environmental sustainability, economic development, health and human services, and workforce development. Toya is a member of the Brooklyn Workforce Innovations Board of Directors and the New York City Youth Funders Network Steering Committee. She is a certified vinyasa yoga and prenatal yoga instructor. She received a Master’s degree in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Rural Sociology from Cornell University. She currently lives in Bedford Stuyvesant with her husband and four children.