Bishara Addison (ALI 2018)
Director, Workforce Innovation, Fund for Our Economic Future
Bishara Addison is the Director of Workforce Innovation at the Fund for Our Economic Future, leading talent development initiatives in support of the Fund’s agenda to achieve equitable economic growth.
Bishara’s work focuses on convening and aligning regional and national partners to support innovative solutions related to labor market participation and job quality. Her initiative portfolio spans numerous sectors and workforce entry points, including a hospitality recovery effort in Cuyahoga County, shaping a regional blueprint for increasing opportunities for Black and Brown workers in tech jobs, and testing interventions to strengthen workplaces. As a part of her role, she also serves as the Northeast Ohio site director for the National Fund for Workforce Solutions.
Collectively, these efforts aim to dismantle systemic racial exclusion from family-sustaining work, produce actionable data to drive decision-making and ultimately contribute to a body of evidence in the field of workforce for systems change.
Before joining the Fund in 2021, Bishara managed the policy and advocacy agenda for Towards Employment, was an executive fellow and project manager for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and was engaged in a statewide advocacy effort to shape policies around collateral sanctions before that.
In 2022, Bishara was appointed to complete the term as State Representative for Ohio House District 9 when it became vacant, and through this role, she worked to raise awareness and engage stakeholders on maternal health, education, workforce development, and economic development issues outside of her time at the Fund. She is currently appointed to the Adult Drug and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, serves as a member of the Cleveland Foundation’s African American Philanthropy Committee, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency Community Advisory Council and the Cuyahoga County Executive Transition Team.
Bishara earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from The George Washington University in 2010 and a master’s in policy management from Georgetown University in 2020 through the National Urban Fellowship.