Bree Brinson

Bree Brinson earned her B.A in Political Science and International Affairs, with a minor in Linguistics and Cultural Studies from Seattle Pacific University (SPU).  A nomad for most of her life, Bree grew up in Miami, Florida, where her worldview was shaped by a diverse, international, and multicultural community.  Disparities in access to and quality of healthcare, education, safe consumption of necessary resources in Miami, and safe working conditions for immigrant and minority communities birthed a resolve in Bree to engage with pressing social issues through a global lens.

While an undergraduate, Bree completed an internship with Parvati Swayamrojgar in India, where she evaluated the organization’s performance and then utilized the compiled data to develop a new Financial Literacy Training (FLT) program with an emphasis on effective day-to-day resource management techniques for local families.  In addition to this FLT program development, Bree completed a directed research project exploring how microfinance techniques can spur social change for women and girls in Pune.

Bree’s success at Parvati Swayamrojgar led to multiple roles at Pilgrim Africa as a grant writer and development assistant; there, she supported development initiatives for health and education programs in Uganda.  During her time with Pilgrim Africa, Bree also traveled to Israel and the West Bank with Millennial Voices for Peace to collect qualitative data on the impact of the ongoing conflict on the development of Palestinian communities.  While a student at SPU, Bree also led a student organization exploring conflict in the Middle East and several other student groups for international and minority students on campus.

After graduation, Bree went on to serve as a Program Associate with the Abe Fellowship Program at the Social Science Research Council in Brooklyn, New York, where she supported the work of cross-disciplinary researchers in Asia seeking solutions to urgent global problems.  Bree currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Pongo Poetry Project in Seattle and serves as co-chair for Pongo’s Race, Equity, & Social Justice committee.

A member of the 2023 Payne Fellow cohort, Bree will begin earning her Master’s in clinical social work (MSW) with an emphasis on international social welfare from Columbia University in Fall 2023.  She is excited to attain a knowledge base in health sciences and develop technical expertise to work with global populations concerning health outcomes.