Shawnie Dockery

Shawnie drives efforts to cultivate and expand relationships with institutional funders, securing philanthropic investments that advance the American Journalism Project’s mission. She develops and stewards partnerships that strengthen AJP’s funding pipeline and support its efforts to sustain and grow local news ecosystems.

She has over 15 years of experience as a strategic resource developer and organizational capacity builder. Previously, she worked at the Foundation for the Los Angeles Community Colleges, where she built and managed cross-sector partnerships with philanthropic, corporate and government agencies. She secured funding and launched innovative initiatives to address the needs of students in the nation’s largest community college district. In addition to her development work, she was an adjunct professor of nonprofit operations at California State University, Los Angeles.

Shawnie’s work is grounded in equity and building systems that help communities thrive.

She is a proud graduate of Hampton University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism. She also holds a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Antioch University.