Katie Rast

Director, Community Impact

As Director of Community Impact, Katie oversees a portfolio of programs focused on inclusive growth for San Diegans, including the Early Childhood Initiative, Healthy Children and Families Initiative, Science & Technology Program and Age-Friendly Communities.

Additionally, in 2020 Katie directed SDF’s efforts to provide $25 million in federal funding to local childcare providers through the San Diego County Childcare Provider Grant Program. In 2022, she produced the Workforce, Childcare & Change report, illustrating the connection between childcare and regional workforce participation.

Prior to joining SDF in 2016, Katie served as Executive Director for Fab Lab, focused on education and career readiness in San Diego, established in partnership with the Center for Bits and Atoms at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007. Katie has also served as Senior Strategy Advisor for UC San Diego Design Lab and managed the General Electric Brilliant Career Lab initiative on behalf of Fab Foundation, GE Foundation and Boston Public Schools.

Katie has received awards and recognition by MIT, USAID and WorldBank, as well as San Diego Downtown Partnership and Civic San Diego, and her work has been profiled in The San Diego Union-Tribune, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Digital Media & Society from Goddard College, is a California Leadership Academy for the Public’s Heath alumna and holds a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard Kennedy School.


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