Mainspring Schools welcomes Briona Jenkins as Director of Development.
Briona “Bri” Jenkins, our new Director of Development
Mainspring Schools welcomes Briona Jenkins as Director of Development.
About Briona Jenkins: Briona, originally from Hamden, CT, began here career after graduating from Albertus Magnus College, in New Haven, CT with a Bachelors of Art in Sociology in May 2012. She began working as a direct client coordinator at organizations serving adults and children with developmental disabilities, families and individuals experiencing homelessness, and then at organizations providing affordable housing. In June 2016, Briona moved to Austin where she worked at Foundation Communities as an On-Site Case Manager. She then went on to work in development roles at United Way for Greater Austin, Out Youth, Austin Justice Coalition, and Wesleyan University (Middletown,CT). She also founded her own consulting business, Briona Jenkins Consulting, in 2020 where she helped small nonprofits with their fundraising and marketing goals as well as offering DEI trainings and more.
Outside of work, Briona has sat on six Austin-based boards; Keep Austin Fed, Austin Black Pride, New Leaders Council - Austin, Lone Star Victims Advocacy Project, and The Equality Alliance. She currently sits on the board of Random Acts, a global organization founded in 2010 by actor Misha Collins.
She hosts a podcast that she started in 2019. She has been a fierce public speaker, and activist for the LGBTQIA+, female, and people of color communities. She spoke at the 2020 Women’s March Rally in Austin, Future Front Texas’s Annual State of the Uterus event, Texas State University’s Business Week, on a virtual SXSWEdu panel, two GISH panels about Racial Equality & Justice, and a SXSW 2022 Wellness Panel.
On December 4, 2019, she won the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce's Rising Star Award and in May 2021, she was awarded the Premier Achievement Award from her Alma Mater, Albertus Magnus College.
We are thrilled that Briona has joined our team. When asked what she's looking forward to most about being at Mainspring she said, "I am a big believer in the fact that people want to help they just don't know how and so if I can be that bridge of knowledge I am honored to do so. I come from a large, religious, civically active family and I was taught to always pay it forward, which is why I picked this line of work. I know that nonprofits pick up the slack and help those who are overlooked and forgotten. Mainspring is no different. Providing high-equality early education to these children and also doing everything we can to help their whole family thrive."
You can learn more about Briona on her website brionajenkins.com.
