C06 Workshop: Comprehensive CB Initiatives

Comprehensive Capacity Building Initiatives – To Strengthen Networks, Communities, or Industries

$135 Members; $180 Non-Members

Price:  Wednesday, August 2, 9:00am - 3:30pm

Presenters

Sandy Jacobsen and Anne Mavity, Fieldstone Alliance; Martin Cohen, Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative; Catherine Lucas, NonProfit Alliance; Maria Gutierrez, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Description

Comprehensive capacity building initiatives that strengthen networks, communities and industries can be more effective and build scale more quickly than fragmented efforts with individual organizations.  These large initiatives link the resources within a community to build capacity across a broad spectrum of organizations, enabling them to have far greater impact.  This in-depth workshop will explore three high-impact network or community capacity building initiatives, including the operating framework, the successful strategies used, pitfalls encountered, and the outcomes.

Fieldstone Alliance has developed numerous multi-year network and community capacity-building initiatives, which combine consulting, training, peer learning, coaching, and the use of assessment and evaluation tools.  These initiatives strengthen the leadership, knowledge-sharing, resource development, and capacity of networks, communities, and nonprofits in a common industry or geography.  Linking resources of organizations within a city or across geographic communities rapidly builds scale. 

Comprehensive capacity-building initiatives that strengthen networks, communities and industries can be more effective and build scale more quickly than fragmented efforts with individual organizations.  These large initiatives link the resources within a community to build capacity across a broad spectrum of organizations, enabling organizations to have far greater impact.  This session will explore three high-impact network or community capacity building initiatives, including the operating framework, the successful strategies used, pitfalls encountered, and the outcomes. 

Target audience includes grantmakers, management support organizations, community-based capacity builders and others.

About the Presenters

Sandy Jacobsen, Fieldstone Alliance

Sandy Jacobsen, Managing Consultant, has over 25 years experience in leadership development, capacity building and organizational transitions in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. She is able to apply her extensive practical experience to almost any challenge leaders and their organizations face. Sandy was a senior manager in the financial services industry, working with corporate, nonprofit, and government clients throughout the United States. Sandy served as president of two banks, launched the community development department for a $70 billion financial institution serving eleven states, was the interim executive director of a nonprofit, and has served on several nonprofit boards. She specializes in network capacity building initiatives, organizational assessments, knowledge-sharing and leadership development, and trains on "Coping with Cutbacks and Collaboration." She has degrees in economics and psychology.

Martin Cohen, Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative

Martin Cohen has been active in arts management for nearly twenty-five years.  Since 2001 he has served as director of the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, a capacity-building program for arts, culture and heritage organizations in and around Philadelphia that is a program of the Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by Drexel University.  PCMI is one of the seven Pew initiatives located at the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage (www.pcah.us).  Prior to his position with PCMI, he has served as executive director of Dance/USA – the national service organization for dance, the Kansas City Ballet, the Washington Ballet and the AMAN Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles.  Mr. Cohen has served on panels for the Pew Charitable Trusts, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Mid-America Arts Alliance, California Arts Council, Missouri Arts Council and other regional and local funding programs.  He has been active as a board member having served on the American Arts Alliance Board of Directors 1995-2000; serving as a founding board member of the Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles; and chair and board member of the Kansas City Arts Alliance.  Currently Mr. Cohen serves as Vice-Chair of Nashirah – The Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia.  He holds a B.S. degree in arts administration from Ohio University and certificates in mediation from CDR Associates of Boulder, CO and in executive coaching from the Wharton School Executive Education Program.

Maria Gutierrez, Organizational Development Initiative, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Maria Gutierrez, Vice President - Organizational Development Initiative (ODI) at Local Initiatives Support Corporation, has over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry including property management, maintenance management, development and construction.  Since joining the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in 1995 to assist in creating its Asset Management division, Maria has been responsible for the creation of numerous tools and resources for the community development industry.  Prior to joining LISC, Maria was Director of Building Systems’ Replacement for NYC’s Dept of Housing Preservation and Development, Office of Property Management.  While at HPD, Maria also held several other maintenance management and construction related positions where she was instrumental in the development of maintenance policy & procedures for over 30,000 units of city owned & managed housing stock.  Maria’s training and teaching credits include Cornell University, numerous LISC program sites across the country and Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s Training Institute.  Maria is a Global Learning Fellow in adult education and holds dual degrees from Cornell University in Theatre Arts & Business Administration.

Catherine Lucas, NonProfit Alliance

Ms. Lucas is the Executive Director of the Nonprofit Alliance, a nonprofit management support organization serving Calhoun County, Michigan.  During the last three years, the Nonprofit Alliance has undertaken a comprehensive nonprofit capacity building initiative supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek Community Foundation, Miller Foundation, and the United Way of Greater Battle Creek.  Ms. Lucas has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1980 including former positions as Adjunct Professor of Social Work in the MSW program at Western Michigan University, Executive Director of a domestic violence and sexual assault intervention agency, and Assistant Executive Director/co-founder of a Detroit child welfare agency.  She received a Master of Social Work degree in Administration from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Albion College. 

Ms. Lucas' professional activities have included: United Way of Greater Battle Creek Campaign Co-Chair; appointment to the Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board of Michigan Board; Michigan Women's Foundation Grant Review Committee; Governor's Task Force on Violence; Children's Defense Fund and ARNOVA conference presenter; Western Michigan University School of Social Work-Adjunct Professor; United Way Directors' Association of Battle Creek President.

Anne Mavity, Fieldstone Alliance

For over two decades, Anne has worked to strengthen communities and civil society locally, nationally, and internationally. Anne brings expertise in shaping and facilitating collaborative community processes, skills in training and technical assistance to strengthen the nonprofit sector, and an ability to help organizations and collaboratives envision and implement systems change initiatives. She has experience as a neighborhood-based nonprofit leader, as a policymaker with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and as an intermediary, serving as a bridge between funders, governmental partners and nonprofit organizations. Anne has degrees in government, slavic languages and literature, and public policy.