2016 | ELI J. SEGAL CITIZEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM REPORT
THE SEGAL NETWORK IN ACTION
WELCOME
It’s hard to imagine that we are one year away from celebrating our 10th anniversary and welcoming our 100th Eli J. Segal Fellow. I continue to appreciate the opportunity to lead the program and support our now 90 Fellows spanning 17 states and three continents. However, I could not do all I am able to achieve for this program without the constant support of our Fellows, Founders and Friends. I couldn’t imagine starting this yearly publication without taking a moment to say thank you. This year has been full of accomplishments and growth. As you will read, we are excited to announce a new “stream” (our term for how emerging Citizen Leaders become Segal Fellows). Shirley Sagawa, Segal Founder and matriarch of national service, created a yearlong fellowship for a lucky AmeriCorps Alum similar to the Corporation of National and Community Service experience. This growth through partnerships has also led to the revival and creation of business awards in Eli’s name through the Alliance for Business Leaders in Boston. Additionally, we have established our premier citizen leadership curriculum,
which we will extend to a Washington, D.C.-based AmeriCorps Fellows cohort through the end of 2016 to develop the work we do in the D.C. area. Lastly, we mark this year as a celebration of our Founding Advisory Board Chair, Phyllis N. Segal, as her daughter, Mora Segal, takes on this leadership role in preparation of our 10th year. In short, we are going places and making waves (as Eli so fondly said many times). I hope you will enjoy reading more about some of these accomplishments and the experience of a current junior at Brandeis as he reflects on his summer as a new Segal Fellow. I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event and hope you mark your calendars for all we have in store next year! Warmest Regards,
Tam Emerson, Director
Nine years ago, a number of us decided to launch the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program at Brandeis University. We wanted to honor Eli’s remarkable life of giving to his family, his friends and his country. We decided to select, encourage and inspire a diverse group of young people who embraced his commitment to finding ways to improve our world. And we are all so proud of what is developing. Some truly fantastic young people are committing a significant portion of their lives to promoting economic and social justice through activities such as improving health care and medicine for all people, developing and delivering quality education for our children, rebuilding our cities, working for and launching socially responsible businesses in this country and around the world, promoting greater civic engagement, and improving the effectiveness and responsiveness of our governments to the needs of our people. This report will help you to more fully appreciate and share our pride. ARNIE MILLER, Segal Founder and Advisory Board Member, longtime friend of Eli and Phyllis Segal
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SEGAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR TAM EMERSON
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT
»» William Jones, 2016 Brandeis Segal Fellow, and Aja Antoine, 2015 Brandeis Segal Fellow and Management Fellow »» Heller building »» Bria Price, 2016 AmeriCorps Alums Segal Fellow »» Cali Cornacchia, 2015 Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Fellow, Rafey Munir, 2016 CNCS Fellow, and Justin Roias, 2016 City Year Segal Fellow »» Alex Montgomery, 2016 Heller Segal Fellow
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE STORY A SUMMER OF GROWTH FOR A NEW ELI J. SEGAL FELLOW AND BRANDEIS UNDERGRADUATE By William Jones, 2016 Brandeis Segal Fellow In our last meeting as a cohort in May, Segal Program Director Tam Emerson had us write a letter to ourselves. It was to include our goals for our Segal summer experience — what we hoped to gain and how we hoped to grow. Being from New York City, I felt ambivalent about the prospect of spending the summer in Boston; I was excited for the internship but knew that this summer would be a lot different from my previous experiences at home. I wanted to make sure that, regardless of where I was located this summer, I was going to find a greater sense of self. If this piece serves as any indication, all of that happened and more. Some of my goals for the summer included: »» Find a professional balance for my activism »» Discover a way to benefit low-economic communities of color from a public administrative standpoint »» Develop relationships, networks and projects that I can maintain after the Segal summer experience »» Live alone, outside of school, be an adult, and find a way to enjoy it »» Read, remain critical, and get engaged in communities in Boston As I moved through my summer at City Hall, working in Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Racial Equity (MORRE) under Boston’s first chief resilience officer, Atyia Martin, PhD, all of my goals came to fruition. On my first day, I thought it was a radical move to show up with braided hair and my pierced ears — which I’d always been told wasn’t office appropriate. I recall being astounded. Not by the warm greeting that I received but by the fact that there were so many people of color, and that they looked like me. Their hairstyles varied as much as their accents. I learned very quickly that I did not have to erase parts of my identity in order to fit into the workplace.
I entered with the expectation that Martin would have a specific assignment for me to work on throughout the summer. Instead, she asked what interests and skills I had. That conversation led to the creation of a public-serving website and a report on the current status of race relations within the city of Boston. My responsibilities ranged from taking notes for a think-tank group on community governance to leading the next meeting in the chair’s absence. The small team of interns and I even became responsible for creating an activity used to explain to city officials the damage caused by the #AllLivesMatter campaign. This allowed me to develop relationships across the spectrum, including with my Segal Buddy Stephanie Johnson (2011 Brandeis Segal Fellow), who also happened to work in City Hall this summer, as well as City Council member Tito Jackson. I again felt accepted, because my presence was not only acknowledged, it was welcomed, as evidenced by proposals for future meetings. This extended to my meetings with my Segal mentor, Adam Foss, as each meeting was incredibly helpful. In person, he was nothing less than gregarious, and his dedication to mentoring young men of color was as apparent as it was inspiring. Whether our meeting took place at a downtown bar or a private dinner with professional men of color, Adam’s indirect coaching put me in the places I needed to be but challenged me to make connections on my own. As I get back to class, my days are a lot different, though I am extremely privileged to say that my Segal experience is not over. In the last week of my internship, my boss offered me the opportunity to continue working for her. As a double major in politics and African and Afro-American studies, I receive credit for continuing my internship. In the beginning of this piece, I provided parts of my letter as context for what I’d hoped to gain from this summer. Ultimately, I believe what I was trying to request of myself was growth. I appreciate the legacy Eli has left me, especially as a fellow Brandeis alum, which allowed me this opportunity and granted me the ability to accomplish my goals.
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SEGAL FELLOWS REPRESENT A VARIETY OF ORGANIZATIONS, BUT THEY SHARE A COMMON THREAD OF CITIZEN LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOP A SENSE OF COMMUNITY UNIQUE TO THE SEGAL NETWORK
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TANIKA LYNCH, 2016 AMERICORPS ALUMS SEGAL FELLOW, AND JARVIS NASH, 2015 CITY YEAR SEGAL FELLOW
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PHYLLIS
SEGAL THANK YOU TO OUR ORIGINATOR, CHIEF ARCHITECT, VISIONARY, FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR AND DEVOTED LEADER OF THIS PROGRAM. WE HONOR PHYLLIS’ DEDICATION TO HELPING US REACH NINE STRONG YEARS AS A CITIZEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM AS SHE PASSES THE BATON TO HER DAUGHTER, MORA SEGAL, TO BE OUR NEW ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR. WE SIMPLY COULD NOT HAVE MADE IT TO THIS POINT WITHOUT PHYLLIS. SUSAN P. CURNAN Director of the Center for Youth and Communities and Faculty Senate President at Brandeis University
AJA ANTOINE 2015 Brandeis Segal Fellow and Management Fellow Phyllis Segal has left a lasting impression on the evolution of my ideas of female leadership, service and community. As a Fellow and staff member, I am very proud to know her legacy is carried in the success of the Segal Program and the accomplishments of its Fellows. CATHY BURACK Segal Program Leadership Team Member Phyllis gets so much credit as a “founder” for starting this program. Don’t get me wrong — it’s well deserved, but it’s only part of the story. She has also been instrumental in ongoing ways for ensuring the quality of the program. She’s been courageous in her dedication to the program’s continuous improvement, especially because some of the improvements have required a leap of faith. We are so lucky to have reaped the benefits of her ongoing commitment and advocacy. JON SEGAL Son of Phyllis and Eli Segal, Segal Program Founder and Advisory Board Member If my father were here to witness her leadership, he’d simply beam with pride. My mother initiated the Segal Program to honor and build on his legacy, and in the process she has added to her own. She has masterfully harnessed the passion and commitment of our wonderful community of friends, in concert with the deeply dedicated Brandeis team, to build something lasting and impactful. Just speak with our network of emerging leaders, listen to their dedication to making a difference in their own worlds, learn how the Segal Program is providing support throughout their journeys ... and you can’t help but come away uplifted and inspired. As we prepare for our 10th anniversary, it’s truly a moment to reflect on all we’ve accomplished under her skillful direction.
MICHAEL CAMUÑEZ Segal Founder As both a Founder and two-time Summer Internship Supervisor, I can attest firsthand to the incredibly valuable experience that the Segal Fellowship, under Phyllis’ astute leadership, provides both the Segal Fellows and the Supervisors. Each of us involved in this program shares Eli and Phyllis’ deep commitment to mentorship, based on the powerful example they both have set for us. The program has generated a meaningful community, a strong sense of connectivity, and a leadership pipeline that Eli would be extremely proud of. I am immensely grateful to Phyllis for her unwavering commitment and leadership and for the powerful example she continues to set for us all. NATE ROSENBLUM 2009 Brandeis Segal Fellow Phyllis has consistently been a force for citizen leadership and belief in the power of young people, and she has a desire to create positive change in our society. I have been so grateful to look up to Phyllis as a role model as I’ve grown. Phyllis’ vision to create the program has truly changed my life trajectory, and I will be forever grateful for her vision in creating this dynamic opportunity. WENDY SPENCER CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service and Segal Founder Phyllis understands national service is more than a program; it is a movement of individuals who make a lifelong commitment to being part of the solution to our country’s greatest challenges. Thanks to her leadership in creating an outstanding fellows program, AmeriCorps alumni of different ages and backgrounds can continue applying the skills they acquire through service to advance initiatives that transform lives and improve communities.
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LAURYN DUVALLE, 2016 SERVICE YEAR ALLIANCE SEGAL FELLOW
GROWTH THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS SERVICE YEAR ALLIANCE: WELCOMING THE NEWEST ELI J. SEGAL FELLOW By Shirley Sagawa, Segal Founder & CEO, Service Year Alliance; and Rachael Weiker, 2013 Segal Master in Public Policy Fellow and Associate Director of Knowledge, Resources and Communities, Service Year Alliance SHIRLEY: In the Segal Network, we are fortunate to have service as a unifying bond across generations, backgrounds, sectors and interests. Each member of this Fellowship — Founders, Friends and Fellows alike — can draw a link to service when mapping their personal and professional journeys. It is remarkable that programs like AmeriCorps, now 22 years old and about to induct its one millionth corps member, have sparked these connections, not only within our community but for an entire generation of countless communities across the country. When the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program was launched, I was honored to be part of the Founders network, having worked alongside Eli to create AmeriCorps. People will be surprised to know that I hadn’t worked full-time in the service field since leaving the Corporation in 1997 until January of this year, when I was asked to become CEO of the Service Year Alliance, a new organization that is committed to making a year of service a common opportunity and expectation. We have an ambitious goal to increase the number of service years in the country from its current number of 65,000 to 100,000 by 2019. Our organization, which was formed out of the unprecedented merger of three organizations (ServiceNation, a campaign of Be the Change; the Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute; and Service Year Exchange, which I founded and incubated at the National Conference on Citizenship), is harnessing the energy, influence and vision to grow national service to its full potential. In this new position, one of the first people I recruited was Rachael Weiker, a 2013 Segal Fellow and now the associate director of knowledge, resources and communities for Service Year
Alliance. Together, we thought our new organization would be a great host site for an emerging citizen leader and proposed to create a new stream for an Eli J. Segal Fellow to enter the Segal Program. We are pleased to announce the Eli J. Segal Fellowship for Policy Research. In this yearlong position, our newest Fellow, Lauryn DuValle, will work directly with me and our policy director, Emily Bouck, formerly with Marco Rubio’s Senate office in Washington, D.C. DuValle will research, draft and advocate for policies that advance our mission. Through this fellowship, we are excited to continue Eli’s legacy by creating an opportunity for a young person to take on big responsibilities and have a major impact in advancing service opportunities. This new stream will join Fellows chosen from AmeriCorps Alums, Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and City Year to participate in an exciting new D.C.-based program. This cohort of leaders will have the opportunity to enter into their Fellowship year together and to build the growing network of Fellows and Founders in the District. The new programming includes a shared orientation and six-month training curriculum, opportunities to connect to Founders in the District through brown-bag lunches, and additional social and networking events. We are excited for this group to learn more about the journeys of our Founders in the D.C. area. If you would like to support this program and host an event or brown-bag lunch for the D.C. Fellows, please contact Tam Emerson at temerson@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3933. RACHAEL: When we say that service years transform lives, it’s no joke. My year of service with Habitat for Humanity through AmeriCorps has led to opportunities that I could not have predicted — to Brandeis and the Segal fellowship; to D.C. and Service Year Alliance; and to continuing Eli’s legacy by working with Shirley Sagawa. It’s pretty humbling to reflect that my year of service not only changed my life but has given me the chance to influence the next generation of service in our country. I’m proud of this work; it’s my version of citizen leadership in action.
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THANK YOU To all those who provided their time, expertise and resources to helping the Segal Program succeed. SEGAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Lawrence Bailis, Debbie Berger Fox*, Emily Bishop (SF), Toni S. Burke* (SF), AnnMaura Connolly, Lisa Dawe, Tom Freedman, Laura Gassner Otting, Jason Gray (SF), Gloria Johnson Cusack, Arnold Kanter, Jim Lapenn, Stephen Larbi (SF), Arnie Miller, Peter Murray (SF), Susan Osnos, Julie Proulx (SF), Jon Segal, Mora Segal, Phyllis Segal *=New | (SF)=Segal Fellow ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS WHO CONCLUDED TERMS
Sandy Berger, Julie P. Livingstone (SF) DONORS
Michael Adler and Michelle Goldberg, Charlotte and Michael Baer, Lawrence Bailis, Sandy and Susan Berger, Renee Brant, Thomas and Laura Broussard, Michael Brown and Charlotte Mao, Pem Brown and Carl Sciortino, Michael Camuñez, Center for Constitutional Rights, Witney Christie, Rick Christman, Suzie Berk Cohen, AnnMaura Connolly, Cali Cornacchia, Bruce Corwin, Marisa Daniel, David Deutsch and Gail Deutsch, Mark Donowitz, David Duhalde-Wine, Jimmy Duong, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Stanton Eddy, Don and Kathy Enterline, Johnny and Kathleen Enterline, Diana Epstein, Mark and Nikki Feldman, Larry and Atsuko Fish, Michael Freed, Tom and Karin Freedman, Alvin and Virgina From, Kate Frucher and Jennifer Naylor, Nancy Gertner and John Reinstein, Lila Givens, Henry and Carol Goldberg, Stephen Goldsmith, John Gomperts and Katherine Klein, Nicky Goren and Andrew Cohen, Melissa Green, Jennifer and Robert Gross, Ben Heineman and Cristine Russell, David Henkel, Leah Igdalsky, Analissa Iversen, James A. Johnson, Stephanie Johnson, James A. Joseph, Renana and Ronald Kadden, Arnold and Carol Kanter, Ellen Kaplan, William Kaplan, James Kaye and Kim Rubin, Lucille Kerr, Alicia Kersten, Sarah and Frederick Khedouri, Carol Kinsley, Richard and Susan Kiphart, Joshua and Rachelle Klainberg, Carol and Jeffrey Koplan, Sarah Kovner, Joyce and Jim Lapenn, Richard and Ann Pasnak Lapchick, Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine, Myung Lee, Richard and Clare Lesser, John and Gloria Levin, Jacob Lew, Julie Proulx Livingstone, Pat Mann, Matt McCabe, Mike McCurry, Brad and Cori Meltzer, Janis Mendelsohn, Marilyn Merker, Arnie Miller and Deb DeLee, Maryann Miller, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Joseph and Meg Locke Newhouse, New Profit, Inc., Alan Nichamoff,
David and Susan Nichamoff, Lisette Nieves and Greg Gunn, Thomas O’Neill (O’Neill and Associates, LLC), Leonard Oshinsky and Elyse Etra, Susan and Peter Osnos, Jonathan Ostrowsky, Susan O’Sullivan, Laura Gassner Otting and Jonathan Otting, Stuart Parris, Geryl Pearl, Molly Pearlman, Arnold Reisman and Paula Lyons, Michael Robbins, Victoria Roomet, Nate Rosenblum, Arthur Rosenfield, Nick Ross, John Rother, Jordan Rothman, Carol and Zick Rubin, Manoo Sabety-Javid, Andrea Saiet, Leah Sakala, Jina Sanone, Pamela and Charles Schiffer, Alan Segal and Maribeth Ortega, Jonathan Segal and Pamela Lehmberg, Mora Segal and Jeff Lemberg, Phyllis N. Segal, William Singer, Joan and Conrad Snowden, Stan Soloway, David Squire, Mary Stevenson, Marilyn Susman and Gary Auerbach, Eric Tanenblatt, Tom Tate, Alex Thomson, Paul Vancea, Vera Institute of Justice, Steven and Dinah Volk, Wayne Whalen and Paula Wolff, Anita Yip FELLOW COACHES
Diahann Billings-Burford, Adam Foss, Babe Howell, Kathy Kottaridis, Debbie Lewis, Maryann Miller (Segal Founder) SUMMER INTERNSHIP SUPERVISORS
Charlene Allen, Sarah Groh, Dillon Harvey, Dr. Atyia Martin, Shameeka Mattis, Bob Meter, Madeline Nash, Ines Palmarin, Dennisse Rorie, Juanita Tolliver, Vince Warren, Nahal Zamani SUMMER INTERNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS
City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Racial Equity, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, New Profit – America Forward, Cambridge Housing Authority, the Vera Institute for Justice – Common Justice EVENT SPEAKERS AND HOSTS
Pem Brown (Segal Fellow), Cathy Burack (Segal Leadership Team), Nurys Camargo, Cali Cornacchia (Segal Fellow), Melanie Damasker, Emmanuel Fairley (Segal Fellow), Katrina Fludd, Damond Ford (Segal Fellow), Paul Francisco, Laura Gassner Otting & Jonathan Otting (Segal Founders), Rick Jakious (Segal Founder), Lynne Katzmann, Stephen Larbi (Segal Fellow), Ethan Oberman (Segal Founder), Michael Perloff (Segal Fellow), Victoria Roomet (Segal Fellow), Charlie Rose (Segal Founder), Jordan Rothman (Segal Fellow), Jon Segal (Segal Founder), Mora Segal & Jeff Lemberg (Segal Founders), The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, Mandy Taft-Pearman, Alex Thomson (Segal Fellow), Rachael Weiker (Segal Fellow), Gabby Zilkha (Segal Fellow), Jessie Zimmerer (Segal Fellow)
CONTACT US Contact the Segal Program staff at 781-736-3933 or SegalNetwork@brandeis.edu, or visit segal.brandeis.edu. ELI J. SEGAL CITIZEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM The Center for Youth and Communities The Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University 415 South Street, MS 035 | Waltham, MA 02453
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Office of Communications © Brandeis University 2016 H001a Photos by Larry Levin, Mike Lovett and Max Pearlstein
Eli J. Segal CITIZEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM