APRIL 22 • 2021 | 13

back to philanthropy, return-
ing to Skillman after four 
years of practicing law. It was 
then that Raines combined her 
legal and philanthropic skills 
and greatly helped Skillman, 
whose focus was on children 
and families in Detroit, to 
grow. 
By 2001, a job as executive 
director at the Jewish Fund 
became available, and Raines 

jumped at it. Her motivation 
for the move was to build her 
professional skills by leading 
a foundation while working 
with some of the top lay lead-
ership in the Jewish commu-
nity. 
“It was nice to work in the 
Jewish community profes-
sionally and to work with and 
be surrounded by people that 
understood that side of me,” 
Raines said. “There was a 
comfort there.”
Raines helped refine fund-
ing strategies and strength-
ened the Jewish Fund’s reach 
beyond the Jewish community 
through personal and institu-
tional relationships, improved 
communication strategy and 
diversification of the board of 
directors.
It was during her time at the 
Jewish Fund that Raines got 
recognition by Crain’s Detroit 
Business as one of Metro 

Detroit’s Most Influential 
Women.
The Jewish Fund was an 
effective place to build more 
skills and relationships for 
Raines and, though not the 
main mission of the organi-
zation, working on relations 
between the Jewish communi-
ty and Detroit was a connec-
tion she kept within her core 
values.

ENHANCING SKILLS
After seven years with the 
fund, Raines left to focus on a 
primary passion that’s always 
followed her: Detroit itself. A 
job opportunity opened at the 
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb 
Family Foundation, which was 
brand new in 2008. 
Raines was the founda-
tion’s first full-time employee 
and helped build its mission, 
vision, values, grants process 
and overall growth. 
“It was a really incredible 
experience, and the skills I 
developed there that brought 
me to where I am today. I 
learned how to build an orga-
nization’s operations and actu-
ally be the one to administer 
that,” Raines said. “That’s why 
at New Detroit, I can help with 
the internal operations as well 
as the mission and vision.”
Raines served as vice pres-
ident of programs and execu-

tive vice president of programs 
at the Erb Foundation, helping 
to adjust the program and 
operations as the foundation’s 
endowment tripled from $100 
million to $300 million.
With part of its mission 
focusing on water quality and 
other environmental issues, 
the foundation allowed Raines 
to bring environmental justice 
to the forefront, “recognizing 
that people of color are dis-
proportionately impacted by 
environmental pollution and 
other kinds of environmental 
issues, just like everything 
else,” Raines said. 
During all this, Raines was 
a president at the Isaac Agree 
Downtown Synagogue (she is 
still on the board).
While president, Raines 
hired an executive director 
and a rabbi, which the syn-
agogue hadn’t had in many 
years. As president, she was 

able to get foundation grants, 
building the budget and build-
ing the staff. 
“It was an important place 
to spend my time because it 
brought together that Jewish 
side of me and the Detroit side 
of me,” Raines said. “It was 
one place where the two could 
come together, and I could 
take a leadership position and 
advance both of those inter-
ests.” 

JOINING NEW DETROIT
After 12 years at the Erb 
Family Foundation, an oppor-
tunity to join New Detroit 
came about, but Raines initial-
ly wasn’t sure about the leap. 
“When I saw this opportu-
nity, I said, ‘
As a white person, 
is this something I should do?’ 
I called someone on the board, 
and they said absolutely, we 
need to increase our diversity,” 

continued on page 14

“IT WAS NICE TO WORK IN 
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 
PROFESSIONALLY AND TO WORK 
WITH AND BE SURROUNDED BY 
PEOPLE THAT UNDERSTOOD 
THAT SIDE OF ME. THERE WAS 

A COMFORT THERE.”

— JODEE RAINES

 JERRY ZOLYMSKY

Jodee Raines outside 
the New Detroit Inc. 
offices in Detroit’s 
New Center area