Behind the scenes while making a BIG impact to make Racine better. These are Liz Powell's ideal working conditions.

By Brendan O'Brien | Alumni, Student Life

Tuesday afternoon. A crowded school theatre. Antsy children. 

Primary School kids giggle and swing their dangling legs. Middle School kids do what Middle School kids do. This is June, just a handful of school days left, the countdown to summer officially on. However, as Jamie Breiwick, Prairie’s Instrumental Music Teacher and the conductor of Beginning Jazz Band, strides to the front, he understands two things – there is an important job to be done, and his calm guidance is paramount to its success.

I have always found conductor to be the most fascinating of leaders. Once the music begins, you might very well lose sight of them completely as the musicians, with their shiny trumpets and flaring, oblong trombones, occupy your attention and really begin to cook. 

And yet, without a competent conductor, nothing happens. Or rather, without the conductor’s zeal for craft and nuance, without their steady, quiet leadership, direction is lost. 

Great leadership begins with a willingness to provide balance and organization and structure without ever demanding the spotlight.

In this way, Liz Powell ’78, President & CEO of the Racine Community Foundation, contently serves as conductor not just for her team, but for her community.

Liz pictured with Chief Sean Marschke (left) from the Village of Sturtevant Police Department and Chief Alex Ramirez from the Racine Police Department at a fundraiser for Fight to End Exploitation. Photo courtesy of Racine Community Foundation.

Or maybe great leadership begins with a willingness to empower. 

The conductor trusting percussion to provide the rhythm. The head coach trusting the assistants to gameplan and prepare. The Director of the Racine Community Foundation (RCF) trusting the city’s non-profits to use grant funds where they are needed most. 

“Nonprofits can’t do their mission work if they can’t keep the lights on,” Powell told the Racine County Eye last August. 

In 2025 the RCF celebrated 50 years of meaningful community impact. Over the last several decades, the organization has increased it’s endowment to over $90 million while annually awarding $3.5 million in grants to Racine’s nonprofits. A core tenet to Powell’s philosophy is treating local nonprofits not just as benefactors, but as trusted partners instrumental in making Racine a better, more vibrant place.

“Too often, organizations are boxed in by restricted funding that limits their ability to grow or adapt. By giving the flexibility to cover operations, we’re not just funding programs – we’re fueling the strength and sustainability of the whole organization.” 

While the list of projects and organizations near and dear to her heart is long, Powell is quick to point out Racine’s Community Oriented Policing (COP) as particularly meaningful for the trust and collaboration it has fostered between the Racine Police Department and the citizens.

“RCF has had a commitment to public safety over the years,” she says. “There are now six COP houses and one COP office in our community. Each location takes on the characteristics of the officer assigned to the house and that officer develops relationships with the neighborhood.”

Liz with members of the Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps. Photo courtesy of Racine Community Foundation.

Or maybe great leadership begins with a willingness to step up.

Pitching in, doing your part, being proud of your effort and excited about the power of possibility that is inherent in giving back – these are things Powell first learned at Prairie.

“The school not only prepared me for college, but instilled a commitment to volunteerism,” she says. “As my graduating class was extremely small, we had to be willing to take on tasks that we might not otherwise be comfortable with. That experience prepared me for my many volunteer opportunities later in life.”

One of those opportunities was with RCF. Over 20 years ago she joined the organization as a board member. Through that volunteerism she fell in love with RCF’s mission, and when the opportunity to lead (quietly, confidently, steadfastly) came up 12 years ago, the decision was a no-brainer. 

Powell’s team is small in number but enormous in heart. And commitment. And willingness. Powell, Tracy Middlebrook, Program Officer, and Jim Wheeler, Controller, constitute the operation. Would the work be easier with a team of five or 15 or 50? Maybe. But that would be money going to salaries instead of where it belongs – the community. 

“Some of the most powerful moments are when a small organization, one that is struggling just to make ends meet, realizes they can keep going because of our support,” Middlebrook told the Racine County Eye. “Or when a student sees a new future open up because they got a scholarship. Those stories stay with me.”

The best time to visit Smolenski Park in Mount Pleasant is on a warm summer evening for a leisurely hike as the horizon, blushing pink from the sun’s steady advance, peeks through a lush, dangling limb as you exit the trail. 

Or maybe it’s in the spring, the stranglehold of winter finally beginning to loosen, to hit your child grounders on the park’s ball diamond. 

Or maybe it’s in the fall for a concert or wedding or family reunion, the park’s woods, an embarrassment of autumnal beauty, offering the perfect backdrop for the most important of days.

In addition to helping Racine’s non-profit organizations operate, another important – and fulfilling – component of the Foundation’s work is bringing a donor’s wishes to fruition. People like Walter Smolenski, Jr.

In her letter for the 2022 Racine Community Foundation’s Annual Report, Powell shares the origin story of The Walter S. Smolenski, Jr. and Sr. Polish History and Culture Fund. 

A nationally acclaimed classical violinist, he later operated the real estate business founded by his father. Deeply proud of his family’s Polish roots, Mr. Smolenski established The Walter S. Smolenski, Jr. and Sr. Polish History and Culture Fund in the RCF to celebrate that heritage. Thanks to this fund, each year Racinians attending the Racine Symphony, can experience a concert of Polish music. In Mount Pleasant, his gift created Smolenski Park, a 70 acre refuge featuring a restored prairie, restrooms, shelter, rental space for private parties, and picnic tables for residents to enjoy. This donor wanted to share the culture he was so proud of with his community. Like him, many others have strong ideas about how they want to work with us to benefit Racine.

And in the background of it all, orchestrating the operation that continues to enhance Racine by making something like Smolenski Park possible – not to mention the Racine Art Museum, Racine Theatre Guild, Racine’s Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization and HOPES Center – this barely scratching of RCF’s impact, is Liz Powell, conductor extraordinaire.