Melissa Blaustein has accomplished a lot in her less-than-40 years on the planet. A Mill Valley native and lifelong Marin County resident, she recently served as the youngest-ever mayor of the City of Sausalito. She was just elected to her second four-year term on the City Council and is a senior advisor at Ground Floor Public Affairs in San Francisco. Melissa has also worked on policy and sustainability issues at the local, national, and global levels.
One of the things that most energizes Melissa these days is her growing leadership role in the Jewish community. This dates back to at least 2014, when she received our interest-free student loan to earn her master of public affairs degree at Sciences Po in Paris. Studying and working in Paris gave Melissa tremendous excitement and optimism about the future and served as a catalyst for the meaningful, wide-ranging career she’s built since then.
“Hebrew Free Loan was instrumental in my being able to attend graduate school in France. The process was exceedingly smooth, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment in paying the loan back. I feel that I owe the organization — and my Jewish community — so much.”
Ever since the October 7 attacks on Israel, Melissa has been an outspoken voice against antisemitism and hate speech of all kinds. Unwilling to remain silent in the face of hate and extremism, she led the City of Sausalito to join the Strong Cities Network to combat antisemitism and polarization around the world. She’s also an active member of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Bay Area Network of Jewish Officials (BANJO) and serves on JCRC’s development committee.
Most recently, Melissa joined the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. Her appointment is especially significant given that the Federation reduced the size of its board from 25 to 15 members. This is a well-deserved acknowledgment of what a powerful leader Melissa is.
Melissa sees the Federation board as a place where she can make a difference in many aspects of Jewish life, including advocating for Hebrew Free Loan and its role as an essential community safety net. She’s also proud to support Hebrew Free Loan as a member of our Full Circle Club.
After a recent trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina (sponsored by the Federation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), Melissa’s awareness is stronger than ever of the interconnectedness of the Jewish world and our responsibility to take care of one another. Upon returning from the trip, she and her boyfriend David Saxe, also a Hebrew Free Loan supporter, hosted an event in the North Bay to engage the next generation with the Federation’s new focus on impact investment. Both Melissa and David (a former Federation board member himself) want younger Jews to see that using donor-advised funds to support organizations working on issues like climate, housing, and reproductive rights can be an important part of their philanthropic engagement in Jewish life.
That sense of responsibility to take care of our world and each other is equally clear in Melissa’s City Council activities. She led the charge to educate Sausalito city employees in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and she advocated for inclusive policies and programs for entrepreneurs in the city. She also joined Climate Mayors and other networks committed to addressing climate change at the local level, and she spearheaded the passage of a single-use plastics ban in Sausalito.
Melissa has chosen to focus on local government because she sees it as critical during a time when the federal government is so divided. But she never forgets the larger arena in which everything plays out. Her achievements include stints in the offices of Mayor Gavin Newsom and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, along with digital media work in the Obama White House. Melissa founded and served as CEO of Allied for Startups, a worldwide network of advocacy organizations focused on improving the global policy environment for startups and entrepreneurs. She’s also worked for UN Women, the G20 Research Group, and the Fuel Freedom Foundation.
Melissa is a doer, whether the stage is public or personal. When she’s not immersed in City Council affairs, she may be found swimming along the Sausalito waterfront, where she lives with David and their dog Bowie. A dedicated marathon swimmer, Melissa has done the swim to Alcatraz many times, and in 2018, she swam the English Channel.
Melissa’s story represents everything we love about our interest-free Student Loan Program. We make loans to help people take the next step on their journey, not knowing exactly where life will lead them. As we witness the impact Melissa is making in local politics and beyond, we take pride in her and all she’s accomplishing. Melissa is a great example of how our student loans have a ripple effect that makes a lasting difference in the world.
