Sonia Quiñónez is Senior Director of Operations Planning and Initiatives on the State Fiscal Policy (SFP) team. In this role, she works closely with the Vice President for State Partnerships and the Senior Vice President of State Fiscal Policy. She supports team leaders for the six SFP subteams in developing and updating workplans, forecasting and updating each team’s budget, and problem-solving around resource needs. She oversees the SPI (Special Projects and Initiatives) subteam to coordinate regrant projects supporting the State Priorities Partnership (SPP) network; SFP’s events team to plan and implement a variety of convenings, retreats, and annual conference for the network; and the administrative work of SFP’s Operations Manager and Project Coordinator. In close collaboration with SFP leaders, she manages the allocation of grant funds to individual regranting projects in accordance with SFP’s strategic objectives and obligations to funders. She also coordinates longer term planning to calibrate SFP cross-team engagement/input and team information-sharing, serving as a critical thought partner and advisor to the team’s vice presidents and subteam leaders in shaping the strategic direction of the SFP division and SPP network.   

Prior to joining the Center, Quiñónez worked in a variety of community-based nonprofit organizations that seek social justice, empower families, build resiliency in youth, and cultivate partnerships across sectors to advocate for systems change. After working in partnership and solidarity with families living in poverty, families that include immigrants, families of children with disabilities, and families who have experienced trauma, she spent three years at the Meyer Foundation as the Virginia Director for Partnerships and Strategy. In addition to managing the foundation’s Virginia and Regional Metropolitan D.C. portfolios, she was part of the change team that redesigned the foundation’s grantmaking with a racial equity lens, and selected, migrated, and set up new software to manage grantmaking interactions.

Quiñónez holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Latin American Studies from the University of Richmond and a Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in Planning and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.