Lafayette A. Barnes is Director of the Office of Partnerships and Grant Services in the Executive Office of the Mayor. Mr. Barnes directs the District’s competitive grants development services, assisting local government and nonprofit efforts to find and apply for federal and foundation grant funding. Mr. Barnes also oversees the District’s approval and reporting of local government directors’ requests to solicit and use private donations, facilitates philanthropic relationships between government and non-governmental donors and recipients, and heads the office’s capacity building services to strengthen the executive leadership and organizational operations of local faith-based and nonprofit organizations.
In addition, Mr. Barnes served as a senior policy advisor to Mayor Anthony A. Williams and led a successful public relations campaign in which over 5,000 local residents, government and business executives were engaged in the Mayor’s neighborhood and citywide strategic planning and budgetary formulation process called Citizen Summits. The summits resulted in the adoption of the administration’s citywide strategic plans, the alignment of the plan with the government’s annual budget spending priorities, and improvement in the government’s operations and services. Prior to joining the District Government, Mr. Barnes served as Director of Foundation Giving for the Freddie Mac Foundation. His areas of expertise include managing corporate philanthropic initiatives, directing public sector grants development programs, developing and executing strategic action plans, and organizing diverse external relations projects.
Mr. Barnes is a native Washingtonian and resident of Ward 8 who has developed deep and diverse community ties throughout the District of Columbia. He has over a decade of experience advising and working with community, corporate, faith-based, nonprofit, and government leaders on a variety of capacity building, resource development, and public policy initiatives.
Mr. Barnes earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from LaSalle University and a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and is a graduate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Programs for Senior Executives of State and Local Government. He is a member of Leadership Washington and the Washington, DC Chapter of Concerned Black Men, Inc.
He is married to Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer, and has two sons who attended District of Columbia Public Schools.
