Diane Sierpina has been promoted from Senior Program Officer to Program Director of Justice Programs at The Tow Foundation. Sierpina joined the foundation in 1998 and is responsible for its juvenile justice and criminal justice reform strategy and investments, which average more than $2 million a year.
Sierpina has been an advocate of evidence-based, youth-centered justice system reform in Connecticut, New York and nationally through her leadership roles with the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, the New York Juvenile Justice Initiative, and the Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG), a national coalition of foundations focused on improving life outcomes for youth ages 14 to 24. She is a member of YTFG’s Steering Committee and Co-Chair of YTFG’s Juvenile Justice Work Group, as well as a member of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy’s Public Policy Committee. Prior to her work in philanthropy, Sierpina was a newspaper and magazine journalist covering government, politics and social issues. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism summa cum laude from Boston University.