Paloma Dallas serves as the senior program officer for Democracy around the Globe at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. In this role, she spearheads the foundation’s international work, at a time of democratic backsliding and rising authoritarianism. Dallas leads the Democracy around the Globe team as they shape the foundation’s global initiatives, focusing on illuminating emerging trends and democratic threats while amplifying responses to these challenges.

In her earlier capacity at the foundation, Dallas distinguished herself as an editor and writer, and later as a program officer. She played a pioneering role in exploring how arts and culture can enhance democratic civic life in communities. In addition, Dallas led the foundation’s efforts in the crucial nexus of journalism and democracy, leveraging her background as a former journalist o convene innovative journalists from diverse corners of the world. In 2023, she coedited a book of essays for the foundation, titled Reinventing Journalism to Strengthen Democracy, which stemmed from work in this field.

Prior to her tenure at the foundation, Dallas held the position of founding director at Del Pueblo, a community-based nonprofit dedicated to fostering connections between Spanish- and English-speaking residents in southwestern Ohio. Dallas also worked as a freelance journalist, a reporter with Reuters in Bogotá, Colombia, and a researcher with the Americas program area at the New York City-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Dallas holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Macalester College, and a Master of international affairs from Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs. She also has a graduate certificate in Creative Nonfiction from Spalding University.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Dallas has collaborated with her husband, a visual artist, on multiple exhibitions and interdisciplinary projects, including the raising of their daughter.