A fourth-generation leader of faith and social justice, Jennifer Jones Austin fights for equity. She brings to her work a profound understanding of the link between race, poverty, law and social and economic policy in America, and the role religion plays.

As CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), an anti-poverty policy and advocacy organization representing 170 member agencies and faith partners, Jones Austin has led and secured monumental reforms to strengthen and empower the marginalized and disenfranchised. Before joining FPWA, she served as Senior Vice President of United Way of New York City; New York City’s first Family Services Coordinator under Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Administration for Children’s Services; Civil Rights Deputy Bureau Chief under Attorney General Eliot Spitzer; and Vice President of LearnNow/Edison Schools, Inc.

Jones Austin is co-founder and co-chair of the National True Cost of Living Coalition, which commissioned the first national, true cost of living measure based in economic security to inform policymaking and improve financial stability and well-being for all Americans. The Coalition advocates adoption of this measure at every level of government.

Appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2026, Jones Austin serves as Chair of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, the largest independent police oversight entity in the United States.

As NYS Governor Kathy Hochul’s appointee, Ms. Jones Austin serves as a Commissioner and Treasurer for the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies.

Jones Austin chaired the NYC Racial Justice Commission, the first of its kind in the nation, where she led the development and passage by the New York City electorate in 2022 of three unprecedented City Charter revisions to dismantle structural racism and embed racial justice and equity in all government functions. Jennifer’s leadership ushered in the City’s first ever, mandated true cost of living centered in economic security.

Jones Austin also chaired several other influential boards and commissions, including the NYC Board of Correction, where she presided over rulemaking to end solitary confinement; the Mayoral Transition for Bill de Blasio; the NYC Procurement Policy Board; the NYS Supermarket Commission; and the Community Engagement for Brooklyn District Attorney Gonzalez’s Justice 2020 Initiative. She was lead advisor for the NYPD Reform and Reinvention Collaborative in 2020-2021, lead advisor for the City’s Full Day UPK Expansion in 2014-2015, and lead designer of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy in 2007.

Jennifer Jones Austin is the Vice Chair of the Board of National Action Network, a Board member of Auburn Seminary, a member of the Feerick Center for Social Justice Advisory Board, and a member of the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior Advisory Board at Harvard University. She also serves as a commissioner for the Close Rikers Commission and a commissioner of the New York State 400 Years of African-American History Commission. She was the Visiting Scholar for the New York University Silver School of Social Work (2023), and the Scholar in Residence at Alliance University’s Center for Racial Reconciliation (2020- 2023).

Jones Austin co-hosts WBLS’ “Open Line,” guest hosts weekly the nationally syndicated radio program, “Keep’n It Real with Rev. Al Sharpton,” and appears frequently on the cable show, “Brooklyn Savvy.” She is a returning guest and contributor on the “Karen Hunter Show”.
Jennifer is the author of Consider It Pure Joy. Described as “a story that if not lived would make for a great novel,” it is the harrowing account of her year-long battle with a sudden, life-threatening illness, and the power of faith and community to transform desperation into joy. She is the editor of God in The Ghetto: A Prophetic Word Revisited, the re-release of her father, William Augustus Jones Jr.’s seminal work deconstructing the “System” of racism, capitalism and militarism all working in concert to continually oppress people of color. Jones Austin is the co-author of “Race and Reform: A Seat at the Table” in Leadership Reflections: How to Create and Sustain Reforms in Children and Family Services.

Ms. Jones Austin is a graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and Rutgers University. A recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including three honorary doctorates, she considers especially meaningful the ten honors bestowed upon her by her three alma maters and the recognition from civil rights and community and faith-based institutions.