Since 2002, Mary Elizabeth has worked for non-profits, foundations, and state agencies to strengthen Alaska’s non-profit and philanthropic capacity. She is the donor advisor for the Elizabeth Carroll Fund at the Alaska Community Foundation, a fund that focuses on social justice and the environment. She teaches social welfare policy to graduate students in the UAA School of Social Work. As the founding program officer for the Alaska Mental Health Trust—Alaska’s largest public foundation, and the second largest foundation in the state—from 1994 to 2002 she was responsible for developing and managing the bulk of the Trust’s funding programs. Her portfolio included housing, health care, criminal justice, mental health, developmental disabilities, and senior issues.

She has published feasibility studies, business plans, capital facility needs assessments, articles, monographs, and position papers on topics such as special needs housing in Alaska, health care financing for people with disabilities, increasing efficiency and decreasing costs for Medicaid, culturally competent service delivery, personal care services, early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, and home and community-based services in lieu of nursing home care.

A Masters level social worker, Mary Elizabeth has clinical and program expertise in health, mental health, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, senior services, child welfare, domestic violence and sexual assault, and traumatic brain injuries. Her community development background includes tribal/urban relationship development, individual development accounts, supportive housing for people with special needs, and community facilities development.

Mary Elizabeth Rider has been in Alaska since 1980, and is from a family that homesteaded before statehood. She has a Masters in Social Work from Portland State University with an emphasis in planning, administration, and management.