Kim Pattillo Brownson

Kim Pattillo Brownson joined the Los Angeles office of the Ballmer Group as the organization’s first Director of Strategy and Policy. Pattillo Brownson guides Ballmer Group’s county and state policy and advocacy strategy. In this new role, Pattillo Brownson will launch the organization’s early childhood grantmaking in California, and help design and lead LA’s county-wide regional collective impact effort. Pattillo Brownson is an appointee of Governor Gavin Newsom to California’s Early Childhood Policy Council, as well as the State Board of Education.

Prior to joining Ballmer Group, Kim led First 5 LA’s Policy & Strategy Division as the organization’s Vice President for Policy and Strategy, leading four departments and over 30 team members. Pattillo Brownson was responsible for strengthening First 5 LA’s profile, influence and impact on local and statewide early childhood education public policy, legislative and advocacy. In addition to overseeing grantmaking and First 5 LA’s relationships with local, county, state and federal policy makers and advocacy non profit partners, Pattillo Brownson also led First 5 LA’s external strategic partnerships, public policy and government affairs, and communications and marketing efforts to maximize opportunity for L.A.’s young children and families.

Pattillo Brownson previously served Advancement Project for almost a decade, and pioneered the organization’s children’s advocacy campaigns as the Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy. Advancement Project is a civil rights organization engaged in policy and systems change to foster upward mobility in communities most impacted by economic and racial injustice. In this capacity, she led the Advancement Project’s policy and advocacy staff across Sacramento, Los Angeles and the Bay Area and provided strategic direction to their work on early education, school funding, and school facilities, public budgeting transparency, governmental relations, and state and local campaign advocacy.

Previously, Kim was an education attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, where she focused on educational equity in California schools. Previously, she worked in private sector litigation at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Kim began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolores Sloviter on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Honorable Louis H. Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before law school, Kim worked at Boston Consulting Group, where she provided financial and strategic planning to Fortune 500 clients.

Pattillo Brownson earned a Doctor of Law degree from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies.