Development Manager
Gage Frank brings more than a decade of experience in fundraising, communications, and public-interest work across the nonprofit, government, corporate, and political sectors to Clean Water Action's Massachusetts team.
Gage is a second-generation American of African and Indian ancestry, with family roots in British Guiana (now Guyana), a then-colony mired by slave labor, ensuing stratification, and limited upward mobility. His grandmother immigrated to the United States while pregnant with his mother to Brooklyn, NY, with a sense of hope steered by tenacity and grit.
A lifelong Connecticut resident raised by his single mother in Bridgeport, Gage grew up in a city where harsh environmental conditions, including one of the last operating coal-fired power plants in New England, exacerbated public health conditions for decades, and political corruption created a stark lack of economic opportunity. Those firsthand experiences bolstered his steadfast commitment to building systems that work better for people who have historically been left out of decision-making.
He began his career in politics helping elect progressive leaders across the state as a nonprofit civic engagement manager, organizer, and political operative, including lobbying and communications work with the CT Working Families and managing the successful 2019 campaign to elect New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. Gage later managed the mayoral transition and served as the City of New Haven's Communications Director and spokesperson throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gage has supported statewide policy initiatives through external affairs work on the State Treasurer’s Connecticut Baby Bonds program and led corporate communications in the energy sector at AVANGRID, overseeing communications for its Connecticut operating companies. He later returned to community-based nonprofit work in Connecticut as the Development Director at Clifford Beers Community Care Center, an over 100-year-old mental and behavioral health clinic focused on low-income urban neighborhoods. He then joined Stamford-based nonprofit Domus Kids, which focuses on helping address the 25% of Connecticut youth who are disconnected or disengaged from school and work, as Director of Development, where he built and led a development team to manage its multi-million-dollar fundraising portfolio.
At Clean Water, Gage leads fundraising efforts that support the organization’s work to safeguard clean water, protect public health, and strengthen environmental protections across Massachusetts.
He holds a B.S. in Sociology from the University of Scranton and lives in Brooklyn with his partner. Outside of work, Gage makes meaningful connections through community allies and organizations by volunteering and supporting local events and enjoys live music, cycling, playing pickleball and guitar, cooking, and hiking with his dog, Hendrix.
