Jay Coburn has had a wide-ranging career as an advocate, community activist, and chef/small business owner. Since 2012, Jay has served as CEO of the Community Development Partnership (CDP) – the nonprofit community development corporation serving the eight towns of lower Cape Cod. He oversees CDP’s programs and services designed to nurture a vibrant, year-round community by developing and providing affordable homes and supporting entrepreneurs through training, technical assistance, and access to capital. Prior to joining CDP, Jay worked with State Senator Dan Wolf as Co-Chair of his Campaign’s Finance Committee, Director of Community Relations for his State House Office, and Political Director for the Senator’s 2012 re-election. Jay was a member of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s inaugural Cape & Islands Core Certificate Program in 2016.

Jay grew up on a small family farm in New Jersey and has B.S. in Human Ecology from Cornell University. He spent 10 years in Washington, D.C. as an activist, lobbyist and policy analyst for several national HIV/AIDS and adolescent health nonprofits. After moving to the Outer Cape in 1997, his career took a ten year detour while he cofounded and ran one of Cape Cod’s most highly acclaimed restaurants, CHESTER, where he worked closely with local farms and fishermen.

Jay serves on the Board of Corporators of the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, is a Board Member of the Mass Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) Policy Committee and Chairs the MACDC Policy Committee. In 2015, Jay was appointed by Governor Baker to serve on the Massachusetts Rural Policy Commission and he currently serves as Vice Chair of the Commission. He served as a member of the Truro Select Board from 2012 to 2018 and was Chair of the Select Board from 2013 to 2015.

Jay lives in Provincetown and on winter weekends he can be found on the ski slopes of northern Vermont.