Eva Song Margolis

Program Officer, Economic Opportunity

Inspiration: “Power creates its very constraints, for the Powerful is also necessarily defined by the Powerless.” — Trinh T. Minh-Ha

What working in this community means to me: “I believe in our innate ability to heal, engage and celebrate ourselves through community, and I am passionate about supporting spaces that nurture transformational change. I also embrace opportunities to foster interpersonal, organizational, and theoretical connections in sustainable and creative ways.”

Eva is a program officer within the holistic grantmaking team where she is responsible for championing United Way’s impact in the area of economic opportunity. She works with community partners and across sectors focusing on workforce development and wealth-building strategies that bring about equitable change.

Prior to joining United Way in May 2020, Eva served for over 9 years as economic empowerment and employment services director at Lutheran Social Service. She was responsible for the strategic planning, development, and implementation/evaluation of its programs. Eva has a passion for growing pilot projects into sustainable, scalable and adaptable programming. She also has experience working in the asset-building, housing, and youth development fields. Eva received her B.A. in anthropology from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Eva is deeply committed to social, racial, and economic justice. Since the 2000’s, she has volunteered in various efforts that support a vision for the abolition of the prison industrial complex. Eva enjoys reading, running, writing poetry, and learning kayaguem (a Korean stringed instrument.)