People

The National Neighborhood Coalition has appointed Anne Pasmanick executive director. Pasmanick has more than 20 years of experience in community development and public policy advocacy. For the past three years she was a consultant to foundations and nonprofit organizations and coordinated a national research project on the challenges of nonprofit leadership for the Union Institute’s Center for Public Policy in Washington, DC. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Community Training and Resource Center in New York City.

The National Neighborhood Coalition also elected four new at-large board members in December: Conrad Egan, executive director, National Housing Conference; Lisa Hasegawa, executive director, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development; John Holdsclaw, director of policy development, National Cooperative Bank Development Corporation; and Marvin Owens, director of housing, National Urban League.

Rachel Gragg has been appointed senior policy analyst for job and income security at the Center for Community Change. Gragg was a senior policy advisor on job and income security issues for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone for the past four years.

The 2002 Leadership for a Changing World awards recognized 20 individuals and leadership teams who are tackling tough social problems and getting results. Among the winners were many from our own ranks of community development and organizing professionals: Michelle de La Uz, Brad Lander and Linda Techell, the Fifth Avenue Committee in Brooklyn, NY; Mary Houghton and Brenda Marion Torpy, the Burlington Community Land Trust, VT; Joan Dawson McConnon and Sister Mary Scullion, Project H.O.M.E., Philadelphia, PA; John Parvensky, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless; Gerry F. Roll, Hazard Perry County Community Ministries, Hazard, KY; Susana Almanza and Sylvia Herrera, People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources, Austin, TX; and Victoria L. Kovari, the Michigan Metro Equity Project of the Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength, Detroit, MI.

The Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Network of Lawrence, KS, is accepting applications for the 2003 DART Organizers Institute, its successful summer training program for young people interested in careers in community organizing. The Institute provides a stipend and travel costs to learn organizing skills, such as how to enter a community, establish relationships, identify leaders, surface issues of injustice, raise funds locally and empower local leaders to run campaigns for social change. Training begins on June 15, 2003, with a seven-day orientation, after which participants are placed in the field with a host organization for four months to gain hands-on experience. Ben MacConnell, project coordinator, 785-841-2680 or institute@thedartcenter.org. www.thedartcenter.org.

The Enterprise Foundation is offering the Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellowship to foster partnerships between new architects and community-based organizations (CBOs). The partner organization must be a CBO with 501(c)(3) status, or a tribally designated housing entity, and a member of the Enterprise Foundation Network. Fellows make a commitment of three years, during which time they will become part of the CBO staff, and receive an annual stipend of $40,000. Deadline: March 31, 2003. www.enterprisefoundation.org/RoseFellowship/.

The Minnesota Housing Partnership has received a two-year $1.15 million grant from the McKnight Foundation to strengthen the capacity of nonprofits and communities working to preserve and create affordable housing in Minnesota. McKnight’s board also approved $800,000 over two years to St. Paul’s CommonBond Communities for affordable housing and support services for residents. Dakota Woodlands, Eagan, received $50,000 over two years for transitional housing and support services for homeless women and their children in Dakota County; and St. Paul’s Theresa Living Center received $80,000 for transitional housing programs. Also in St. Paul, Amherst H. Wilder Foundation received $40,000 to develop and evaluate ways to lower costs of housing production. www.mcknight.org.

Families Count: The National Honors Program created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation has provided unrestricted awards of $500,000 each to eight nonprofit organizations that help families thrive in low-income communities. The 2003 honorees are: The Center for Women and Families (Louisville, KY), Child and Family Network Centers (Alexandria, VA), Community Food Resource Center (New York, NY), DC Developing Families Center (Washington, DC), Educare (Kansas City, MO), Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (Indianapolis, IN), The Institute for Social and Economic Development (Coralville, IA) and Proyecto Azteca (San Juan, TX). www.aecf.org.

The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management is now the Leader to Leader Institute, effective January 1, 2003. The Leader to Leader Institute will build on the work of the Drucker Foundation by pursuing its mission in three areas: developing leaders of character and competence, forging cross-sector partnerships and providing leadership resources that engage and inform social sector leaders. Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors of the Drucker Foundation, who served as its founding president and CEO from 1990-2000, is chairman of the Leader to Leader Institute. Information: Leader to Leader Institute, 320 Park Ave, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10022, 212-224-1174, or www.drucker.org.