Governor Jay Inslee appointed Spokane community leader and organizer Kiantha Duncan to serve on the Community Colleges of Spokane’s Board of Trustees for a five-year term. Duncan will take part in her first board meeting in December.
“I am honored to be chosen by the Governor to join the Board of Trustees and look forward to learning more and helping the community colleges continue to be successful in their education and community development mission,” Duncan said. “One role I often serve is to hear the voices of people, even when they speak softly, and to be a trusted person who brings their words into rooms where they may not have been heard before.”
Duncan is the vice president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP and has a 20-year history of philanthropy and management of non-profit organizations’ programs and, supporting historically marginalized communities. She was recently a program officer for the Family Resiliency portfolio at the Empire Health Foundation, leaving that position to focus on writing a book on leadership and working as a consultant in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“We are grateful Kiantha Duncan will share her time and talent on our board and look forward to her leadership,” said CCS Chancellor Christine Johnson. “We face huge economic and societal challenges and believe she will add important insights and experiences as we plan for the future.”
Duncan is an accomplished community builder and community organizer who has experience bringing people together to have challenging conversations and develop solutions for problems facing our region and our society. Among other roles, she currently serves on the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Terrain Arts Organization, Carl Maxey Advisory Board, and the Spokane Public Schools Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.
Prior to moving to Spokane in 2016, Duncan worked managing programs serving people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence and leading the Black Pride organization in Seattle. She studied transformative leadership studies at Antioch University in Seattle and international business studies at Alverno Women’s College in Milwaukee.
Duncan is filling the CCS trustee position formerly held by Bridget Piper, who served for a decade in this role. CCS provides education and services in a six-county region of Eastern Washington, operates Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Community College as well as being the largest provider of Head Start and Early Childhood Education in the region. Each year, nearly 30,000 people, from infants to senior citizens, are provided educational services by CCS.