Kahina Haynes was appointed as a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition on March 24, 2023, for a 2-year term.
Ms. Haynes, Executive Director of The Dance Institute of Washington (DIW) since 2016, is a passionate arts activist and the visionary architect behind one of Washington, DC’s leading models for advancing equity in community health, development, and achievement outcomes. Utilizing an innovative and holistic systems approach, DIW uses its platforms to educate, create, and advance practices to address longstanding disparities in the dance industry. Following the untimely passing of the Institute’s Founder, Fabian Barnes, Haynes led a strategic revitalization of the organization which saw a breadth of new radical program designs, the award of a groundbreaking federal funding appropriation of $1 million from the U.S. Congress, and a multiyear facilities renovation to outfit the flagship site to expand on its 44,000 family reach.
Prior to her Executive Director role, Haynes worked in organizational development and process evaluation and strategy for a number of philanthropies and multilaterals, including the United Nations (Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme), the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SafeKids Worldwide, the World Bank Group, and the U.S. Department of State. Haynes was recently recognized by the National Black Voices for Black Justice Fund as a 2022 awardee for work in addressing structural and systemic racism, and she’s also the recipient of the David Bradt Nonprofit Leadership Award (2021). She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University with a Minor in African American Studies and a concentration in Dance, as well as a Master of Science from Oxford University in Evidence-Based Social Intervention.
