Mary Anne Gamba

Co-Founder and Director

Mary Anne Gamba is a 2006 Co-Founder of the Gamba Family Foundation. Her commitment to improve the disparity in educational outcomes for marginalized children was ignited during work as Nurse-Social Worker at a Head Start program. With this program, she recognized the devastating impact of institutional discrimination. She responded by working on local voter registration, managing School Board campaigns for candidates aligned with her concerns, and volunteering in public schools.

Her experience motivated her to seek academic insight regarding the complexities of race relations and socio-economics in American society. She returned to the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated with a Master’s Degree with a focus on the struggles of the urban poor during the volatile 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, and beyond. Thereafter she taught Sociology at a Community College where she gained additional insight about the difficulties faced by minority adults as they sought to improve their lives, and those of their children, through education.