Founded in 1994 as the Central Valley Foundation, Susan and the late James B. McClatchy envisioned an organization that would address two issue areas important to California: the needs of English Learners and the protections of the First Amendment in free speech, freedom of expression, and a free press.
Since then, the Foundation has made grants across its footprint in the Central Valley, and strives to make bold investments for long lasting impact.
Our members:
Priscilla Enriquez, CVJC Board Chair
CEO James B. McClatchy Foundation
Priscilla is the Chief Executive Officer of The James B. McClatchy Foundation and Founding Executive Director of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative
She provides leadership in strategic philanthropic investments while supporting the bedrock tenets of democracy and advancing equity in education to lift community voice and improve access to learning.
Priscilla ensures that all people, especially children, have pathways to living a fulfilling life in California’s Central Valley. As a dedicated servant leader, she works to enhance and uphold The James B. McClatchy Foundation’s promise to support Multilingual Learners and First Amendment rights—especially the freedoms of speech, expression, and a free press.
With over 20 years of experience in grantmaking and philanthropy, Priscilla has curated community investments in human services, civic engagement, community development, the arts, consumer protection, the digital divide, education, health care, and youth.
Prior to joining The James B. McClatchy Foundation, Priscilla served in various leadership positions with Sacramento Region Community Foundation, where she was responsible for grantmaking, community engagement, and program initiatives in educational attainment for marginalized youth, the creative sector, food economy, and philanthropy, spearheading the development of region’s largest 24-hour giving day, the Big Day of Giving.
Throughout her career, she has addressed digital divide issues across California, created greater access to health care in underserved communities through technology, helped roll-out inaugural efforts for Geographic Managed Care for Medi-Cal and medically underserved populations, and provided regional maternal and child health grantmaking and community development.
Priscilla is a thoughtful leader who cares about impact, working to infuse rigor, diversity, equity, inclusion and respect as tools to fuel community change. While her experience is philanthropically deep, she also has served as a community nonprofit board member helping nonprofits grow, expand, or turnaround.
She is a member of the Fairytale Town board as it expands its park to include a Story Center which will foster early literacy in young children; is a commissioner, appointed by the Mayor, for the City of Sacramento’s Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Commission where she is helping to activate the arts city-wide; is a director for the national membership organization, Asian Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP); was recently appointed as Co-Chair to the Strategic Lifespan Peer Network of the National Center for Family Philanthropy; and is a founding board member of the newly formed Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.
Priscilla holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Public Health and an M.A. in Public Health– both from UC Berkeley. She is a Senior Fellow in the American Leadership Forum and was a recipient of the Pew Charitable Trust Educational Stipend.
Marian Kaanon, CVJC Treasurer
President and CEO, Stanislaus Community Foundation
Marian Kaanon is the President & CEO of Stanislaus Community Foundation. A first-generation Assyrian American, Marian was born in Iraq. She immigrated with her family to Canada at age 7, and then the U.S. as a high school student.
After graduating from UC Davis, Marian began a career that spanned broadcast journalism, public affairs and nonprofit management, Marian joined Stanislaus Community Foundation as their CEO in late 2012.
Stanislaus Community Foundation is a place-based funder that provides grants and scholarships to community organizations in Stanislaus County, located in the Central Valley of California. To date, the organization has invested over $25 million in local nonprofits and over $4 million in scholarships to students.
During Marian’s tenure, Stanislaus Community Foundation has tripled its assets under management. Stanislaus Community Foundation leads initiatives and supports programs in education, economic opportunity and civic engagement. Stanislaus Community Foundation co-founded and leads the Cradle to Career Partnership, a multi-sector movement aimed at boosting outcomes for more than 110,000 children and young adults in the region.
In 2015 Marian was named an Outstanding Woman for Stanislaus County. In 2017 Marian was named the Distinguished Alumna of the Year for Modesto Junior College, the youngest person to be so honored. In 2018, Marian was the recipient of the Modesto Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service award. Marian serves as an advisor to the Charles Mott Foundation Chair at the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana State University.
Susan McClatchy, CVJC Vice Chair
Vice Chair, James B. McClatchy Foundation
Susan is the Founding Board Chair for the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. She has been closely associated with her late husband James McClatchy’s projects and visions which she has continued to pursue since his death in May 2006.
In 1981, she and James began attending meetings of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), which is dedicated to defense and promotion of press freedom in this hemisphere. Susan has been an active member since 2006 and serves as special advisor to the Chapultepec Committee.
In 2015, IAPA honored Susan with its Presidential Award for her “vital support” for freedom of expression. She and James co-founded the Central Valley Foundation (CVF) in 1994 (now The James B. McClatchy Foundation) and she serves as Board Vice-Chair.
She was a founding member of the Northern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NCCNMWA); served as Board secretary and newsletter editor, from 1991 to 1995. In that capacity, she helped showcase women artists through educational outreach programs and headed the 1995 exhibition: New World [Dis]Order, along with an accompanying exhibition catalog.
The exhibit opened in San Francisco, CA., traveled to Washington D.C., and ended in Fresno, CA. In 2008, Susan also initiated and produced the Anna Richards Brewster Art exhibition, American Impressionist which toured the U.S. at the Hudson Museum in Yonkers NY, the Butler Museum in Youngstown, OH and closed at the Fresno Metropolitan Museum. Susan has initiated and published two family history books: one about five generations of the McClatchy family and a second about five generations of her own family.
She continues to be active in the arts, theater, and music world in the Sacramento area, and the national environmental world.
Eric Prock, CVJC Secretary
Eric oversees a new initiative for Microsoft focused on helping to strengthen local news ecosystems, restore trust and confidence in news and provide cyber and legal security for journalists.
A free, well-funded press is more critical than ever to our communities, democracy and civil society. However, journalism and the news business continue to face a growing list of threats and an accelerating crisis.
Maintaining people’s trust, sustaining traditional business models and protecting journalists remains challenging. Microsoft is committed to working together with journalists, publishers, academics and researchers, industry organizations and the next generation of reporters and news readers to explore new hybrid models, restore trust, protect journalists and transform the business of news.
Since joining Microsoft in 2007, Eric has held a range of roles in marketing, engineering, business development, strategy and analytics across Microsoft News, Bing Search and Edge. Prior to Microsoft Eric worked at RealNetworks, a pioneer in Internet streaming media software and services, and global ad agency McCann.
In addition to his work for Microsoft, Eric serves on the board of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, a new nonprofit superstructure dedicated to keeping public service journalism thriving in California’s Central Valley.