Carol Goss

Nonprofit executive and social worker Carol Goss was born on October 21, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan, to Blanche and Booker Goings. She received her B.A. degree in sociology in 1969 and her M.S.W. degree in 1972, both from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.

After finishing her undergraduate studies, Goss became a public welfare worker for the Wayne County Department of Social Services in Detroit, Michigan. After receiving her M.S.W. degree, she became a clinical social worker for Family and Children’s Services of Oakland County in Pontiac, Michigan. She later became the director of special services for Family and Neighborhood Services in Inkster, Michigan, then assistant to the regional director of Lutheran Child and Family Services in Detroit. From 1981 to 1986, Goss worked for the Children’s Home Society of California, serving as a social worker, social work supervisor, and director of Children’s Emergency Services. In 1987, she became program director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. Goss became a program officer for the Stuart Foundation in San Francisco, California, in 1993. In 1998, Goss joined the Skillman Foundation in Detroit as a program officer. She was promoted to vice president of programs in 2002 and president and CEO in 2004. Goss retired from the Skillman Foundation in 2013.

Goss has served on the boards of the University of Michigan Alumni Association, City Connect Detroit, the Council of Michigan Foundations, the Council on Foundations, the Education Achievement Authority, Living Cities, New Detroit, Inc., the Youth Development Commission, BoardSource, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, the Detroit Children’s Fund, as chair of the Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership, and as a fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Goss’s honors and awards include the Shining Light Awards’ Eleanor Josaistis Unsung Hero Award, the Association of Black Foundation Executives’ 2007 James A. Joseph Lectureship, the 2009 Fred Rogers Leadership Award, being named one of Southeast Michigan’s Most Influential Women by Crain’s Detroit Business and one of the 2010 Michiganians of the Year by The Detroit News, an honorary doctorate from Eastern Michigan University, the Grantmakers for Children, and the 2021 National Association of Social Workers’ Michigan Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award.

Goss and her husband, Tom Goss, live in Detroit, Michigan. They have three children, Anika, Fatima, and Maloni.

Carol Goss was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on March 16, 2022.