Melissa Ramos, Program Assistant
 elissa Ramos’ interest in health care issues extends well beyond her
position as TCWF program assistant. In the past year, she participated in AIDS
Walks in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, where she volunteered with
organizers before and after the event.
“My goal at TCWF is to be a reliable and available contact person for TCWF
Grantees,” Ramos said. “Their passion and energy are great motivators.”
As a program assistant, she works closely with TCWF program directors and
staff from other departments to facilitate TCWF’s grantmaking. Her
responsibilities include reviewing grant proposals and final grant reports,
providing technical assistance to grantseekers, and ensuring that applicant and
Grantee data are accurately kept in the Foundation’s database. She also
conducts program-specific research on emerging issues and other projects that
help TCWF learn from other foundations as well as share its own lessons
learned.
“I’ve learned so much from the Grantees about how they address health needs
or the environmental hazards right in their communities,” Ramos said. “The
hardest part is knowing that the needs are so great and how much of a struggle
it is for so many programs. But it’s easy to see how our funding gives Grantees
the opportunity to meet their needs.”
  Although Ramos lives in San Francisco and works at TCWF’s office there, she
grew up in Southern California and attended high school in West Hills, close to
where the Foundation is based. As a high school student, she volunteered at the
food bank operated by AIDS Project Los Angeles. This experience, along with a
job during college with an HIV-prevention organization, stimulated her interest
in health care issues and social change at the community level.
Ramos attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, and majored in
community studies. She interned with a health advocacy organization that
focused on the health issues of Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs), and she
wrote her senior thesis on API women and breast cancer. She moved to San
Francisco after graduation and joined TCWF in June 2001.
Ramos is a member of the Asian Americans/ Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
and Women and Philanthropy affinity groups for professionals working in the
field of philanthropy.
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