headshot

Meet Our Team

Quanita Toffie

Executive Director

she/her

Quanita is the Executive Director of Groundswell Action Fund. She plays a leading role in Groundswell’s Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) program, which equips reproductive justice groups with cutting-edge voter engagement skills and technology.

Quanita began organizing for social and racial justice alongside her parents in her native South Africa during the transition from apartheid to democracy. She joined her parents as they voted,  for the first time in their lives, for Nelson Mandela in 1994. It was this moment that sparked a lifelong passion for electoral organizing.

Quanita and her family came to the U.S. in 1997. Prior to joining Groundswell Fund first as an IVE coach (2014-2015) and then as Program Organizer in 2016. She is a founding staff member of the New Florida Majority (NFM), where from 2009-2014 she led the creation of statewide, data-driven C3 and C4 electoral campaigns that harnessed the power of civic engagement organizing, technology, and analytics to advance social change.

Before joining NFM, Quanita was a scholar-activist in the fight for housing justice with the Miami Workers Center from 2005-2008. Quanita holds a B.A. in Political Theory, Economic Development, and African Studies from Hampshire College. Her thesis was on the anti-gentrification movement in Miami and the global fight against neoliberal privatization of basic human rights like housing in South Africa. Quanita supports women of color leaders in civic engagement to build skills in data and technology in order to create a more inclusive environment for all.