Danielle Moss Lee

Danielle Moss Less is president and CEO of Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF). Dr. Moss Lee joined HEAF in 2002 after many years of working in the field of education and youth development. She previously served as Assistant Principal of the Grace Lutheran School, Assistant Executive Director of the Morningside Area Alliance, Director for Community and Parent Partnerships at The After-School Corporation, and most recently as Director of the CTY Goldman Sachs Scholars Program of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. She has significant experience in curriculum development and program design and a commitment to expanding educational enrichment opportunities for underserved students. As President of HEAF, Dr. Moss Lee has expanded HEAF’s higher education and community partners to include Bronx Community College, Hunter College, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York University, Youth About Business, Summer Institute for the Gifted, Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, the YMCA of Greater New York and The Search Institute. Under her leadership, HEAF has increased its enrollment, retention, and participation, expanded its outreach in the community, and increased an already impressive record of college attendance among its graduates. She has led her staff in expanding the curriculum to include non-traditional elective courses, broadened students’ service in the local and international communities, and increased student participation in pre-college summer programs resulting in student travel opportunities to Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Moss Lee served on the board of the Grace Lutheran School, was co-founder and lead applicant for Sisulu-Walker Children’s Academy – Harlem Charter School (the first authorized charter school in the state of New York), and has previously served on the boards of the Dodge YMCA, Teachers College Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation Advisory Board, and the National Advisory Board of The Next Generation Venture Fund, a partnership between Johns Hopkins and Duke Universities. More recently, she served a term on the New York City Department of Education’s Community Education Council for District 3 and the Partnership for After-School Education’s Advisory Council and she is a current member of the Swarthmore College Alumni Council and the Board of Directors of Black Agency Executives. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor of Urban Youth Policy at the CCNY Charles Rangel Center for Public Policy. She received her B.A. in English Literature and History with a concentration in Black Studies from Swarthmore College and holds M.A. and Ed.M. degrees from Teachers College Columbia University, where she completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership.

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