Alum Finds Hope in Local Communities.
Alum Finds Hope in Local Communities
Ahead of his alumni address at the 2026 SPH Convocation, Ali Noorani (SPH’99) discusses his priorities as the new president of the Barr Foundation, as well democracy, the immigration debate, and navigating uncertain times.
Nearly 30 years ago, Ali Noorani (SPH’99) decided to pursue a Master of Public Health, in part, to learn how to ask the right questions.
“I knew that I wanted to be in a position to ask policymakers questions that would challenge their assumptions and lead them to a better set of decisions for impacted communities,” says Noorani, who received his MPH in environmental health and epidemiology & biostatistics from the School of Public Health in 1999.
In the years since, Noorani’s desire to ask meaningful questions, facilitate constructive dialogue, and prioritize active listening has been foundational to his career as a nonprofit and philanthropic leader who possesses a treasured skill in today’s polarizing times: the ability to find common ground across political and cultural divides.
It’s a trait that has also led him to connect with students, teachers, and community leaders, among others, in Greater Boston and beyond as the new president of the Barr Foundation, one of the region’s largest philanthropic organizations that awarded more than $130 million in grants and direct charitable support to New England organizations, institutions, and initiatives in 2025. Noorani took the helm of the organization in December 2025, capping three years as the program director for US Democracy at the California-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where he collaborated with leaders at all levels of government and communities to strengthen local and state elections infrastructure and restore trust in national governing institutions.
Prior to the Hewlett Foundation, Noorani advocated for common-sense immigration policies as the president and chief executive officer of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, DC from 2008-2022 and the executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition in Boston from 2003 to 2008, and director of public health for both the Codman Square Health Center and DotHouse Health (formerly Dorchester House) after earning his MPH degree. His new role marks a return to Boston after almost two decades, during which he says the area has transformed into an innovation hub, with an “incredibly important biotech sector.”
“Of the many things that drew me to the Barr Foundation, one appealing aspect was how the organization understands we can only achieve our ambitions through partnership, through steadfast and long-term investment in local leaders, and through a determination to always listen first and lead with curiosity,” Noorani says.
With a focus on the arts, education, and climate, the Barr Foundation contributes to a range of efforts that resonate with issues members of the SPH community care about, including a Community Heat Resilience Project that seeks to reduce extreme heat exposure in urban heat deserts; the Boston Waterfront Initiative, which aims to make the city’s 47-mile waterfront more accessible to surrounding communities and improve climate resilience among these communities; the Racial Wealth Equity Initiative which collaborates with businesses in communities of color to increase access to employment opportunities, homeownership, and other capital investments; EPIX (Engage Public Imagination eXchange), which supports public art and expands access to creative spaces across the Commonwealth; and the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership, which facilitates and advocates for education equity from preschool through college in Massachusetts.
Universities can—and already are—supporting many of these types of initiatives, Noorani says.
“One of the reasons why I went to the School of Public Health was its firm commitment to community—and I think that commitment has grown over the years, where the research that is coming out of the school is directly applicable to real people’s real lives. Whether it’s the research questions that students are asking or just where students are spending their time outside of the classroom, this time spent in partnership with the community makes for a much better public health practitioner down the road.”
That’s exactly what Noorani did for his book There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration, which was the featured selection for the 2020 SPH Reads program and the subject of a September 2020 Public Health Conversation. The book recounts how the National Immigration Forum, under Noorani’s leadership, worked throughout the Southeast, Mountain West and Midwest to explore how moderate and conservative local leaders navigate the complicated issue of immigration. Gleaning perspectives from business executives, law enforcement officials, farmers, and faith leaders, Noorani told the stories of how community leaders worked to find a consensus on sensible immigration reform by prioritizing their values over political rhetoric.
“The way we learn about our fellow Americans is through their stories,” he says. “So, in my writing, I try to weave together storytelling with facts to paint a picture of a more just, hopeful society.”
Ahead of Convocation, Noorani spoke about his priorities for the Barr Foundation, as well as how the country can preserve democracy, achieve sensible immigration reform, and navigate uncertain times.
Q&A
with Ali Noorani (SPH’99)
SPH: You began your new role at a time where we’re continuing to see federal funding cuts to the arts, climate, and education, which are core pillars of the Barr Foundation. How have those changes over the past year have influenced your priorities for the foundation, and can you identify what some of those priorities are?
The recent changes in the federal government’s approach to arts and creativity, education, and climate, it adds a level of urgency to the work that the Barr Foundation does, both in terms of supporting organizations or school districts that were the recipients of unique federal dollars, but also just the policy environment that the administration has created really challenges so much of the progress in climate, education, or the arts. As an institution, we are taking a sharp look at the grants, the strategies that we’re advancing, and the work that we’re trying to do, with a clear eye that we’ve got to really focus on working with our local partners to effect the change that we desire.
SPH: You’ve previously said that immigration reform is more about “culture and values than just politics and policy.” Given the context of the moment that we’re in today, do you believe that’s still the case? Why do you think people on both sides of the aisle have not been able to find common ground to develop major immigration reform?
There are so many issues in the world where too many of us start with politics or policy. And frankly, I would even say it is one of the reasons why public health practitioners, much less the idea of public health, is really challenged by a lack of trust from society writ large. It’s because we’re approaching this as a question of policy or expertise alone. I’m not sure we are doing the work to understand how culture is shifting, and how that challenges people’s beliefs. If we were to shift the formula of our thinking and work to understand how our culture and values are changing, and how that is challenging the status quo that people are comfortable with, we would develop interventions that people trusted. With that trust, we can start to have a much more informed conversation about the policy shifts that we seek.
SPH: Do you think fear also is driving part of the anti-immigration debate?
I think fear of change is driving so many of our debates, whether it’s immigration or science. As human beings, there are very few of us who love change. Most of us would like to understand what’s ahead of us. Once we kind of lose that sense of stability, then we start to not just get afraid, but really start to have a lack of trust for the person down the street, one town over, or one state over. That fear, that lack of trust, that we too often ignore, drives so many of our public policy debates.
SPH: Is there one piece of advice that you could provide to students who are entering an uncertain workforce?
In the face of an administration that wants to dismantle public health systems, the expertise and commitment of public health practitioners is more necessary than ever. The challenge and the opportunity for today’s students entering the workforce is to apply the skills we learned at BUSPH to the work necessary to rebuild these systems. That starts with listening to communities, questioning our assumptions and asking the questions that lead to the greatest impact. I sincerely believe that an MPH offers the best training for the chaotic world we live in. We can adapt, we are trained to think about problems at scale, and we have the skills to focus on the levers of change. These are scary and exciting times to be a public health practitioner.
SPH: What gives you hope in this moment, and how do you maintain a sense of optimism?
If you don’t spend all your time on social media, pretty quickly you realize there are a lot of people doing incredible work in communities across the nation. I have been so lucky over my career to be a part of that work, tell stories about that work and, now, support that work. So I find incredible hope in the clever ways people work together across differences to solve problems. Unfortunately, those stories are not on the news. And too many of our elected leaders would rather sow division than find consensus. But these stories of generosity at the local level are the ones that give me hope.