Fall 2011
Volume 14, Number 3
New Emerging Leaders Program A Success Emerging Leaders program has not only provided “meThe with useful tools for understanding how I can become a better leader in my current position, but has inspired me to continue to improve my network, my self-awareness, and my skills so that I can build a lifelong career in the nonprofit sector.
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Elizabeth Lindsey *07, DC Emerging Leader Managing Director of The DC Project
More about Emerging Leaders on Page 3! In This Issue Fish ‘55 Named New 1-2 Board Chair—See Full Interview Inside! 3
AlumniCorps Welcomes Rachel Benevento Who? What? Where?
4-5 PP55 Fellowship Program
News & Updates 6
AlumniCorps Launches Ambitious Campaign for 2011-12
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Calling All Volunteers, Job Seekers, & Partner Organizations
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Meet Our Newest TAN Affiliate: The Princeton Social Enterprise Network
Visit Shared Effort online to read these articles and more! Blog.AlumniCorps.org
Program Leader Hilary Joel ’85 with the inaugural class of Emerging Leaders. From L to R: Lopez ’10, Segal, Lewis LaMonica ’08, Lyon ’09, Host, Carlis, Lindsey *07, Fesler ’01, Joel ’85, Parker ’06, Simmons ’03, Fridirici ’06.
Interview with AlumniCorps’ New Board Chair John Fish ’55 Q: Why do you think the goals and programs of Princeton AlumniCorps still resonate with people some 22 years on?
developed a large community of alumni and organizations interested in the public interest. Community Volunteers, one of our new programs, leverages our dynamic network to connect alumni from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s with innovative volunteer opportunities in the nonprofit sector. Emerging Leaders, our program for aspiring nonprofit leaders, continues to develop our alumni and their impact. Our programs connect alumni with the many rewarding career and volunteer opportunities that exist in the nonprofit sector.
The first year out of college is so important for young people. It‘s an opportunity for recent graduates to explore different possibilities and interests. Once you get involved with a permanent job, you don‘t often get the opportunity to do that again. Giving young people early exposure to public service careers through Princeton AlumniCorps will always be really valuable. I continue to be interested when a young person finds a goal or Q: You have often talked about how the PP55 Fellowship Program puts project that they find exciting. young Princetonians into challengThe opportunities the Project 55 Fel- ing situations outside of the classlowship Program provides are really room. Can you tell us a little bit exciting. Over 22 years conducting this about that? program, Princeton AlumniCorps has ...continued on page 2.
Interview with Chair John Fish ’55, Cont’d. John Fish ’55 is a founder of Princeton AlumniCorps and served as the Program Leader of the Project 55 Fellowship Program for 20 years. He developed the PP55 program in Chicago, and after a few years encouraged Northwestern University and the University of Chicago to create similar programs. The three programs work closely together, offering joint programming and a wide likeminded community for fellows. For nearly 50 years John has been involved in numerous community organizations and associations in Chicago. From 1969 to 1997 he was on the faculty of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Studies Program, an offcampus experiential semester for students from 13 Midwest colleges. John was appointed as the Chair of the Board of Princeton AlumniCorps on October 1. ...continued from page 1. The first year I was involved with Princeton AlumniCorps, a fellow called Sarah was working for an organization called Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, headed up by Quentin Young. It was a great organization, but at that stage only just starting up. There was only one other staff member – the Executive Director, and Sarah. During the first year, Sarah came up to me and said John, ―the Executive Director has left and I‘m the only staff person, I need help.‖ To Sarah‘s credit, she ended up keeping the organization alive, and raising money until they found a new Executive Director. It was such an experience for someone straight out of college and to this day, Quentin still speaks of her highly.
cepted straight away and became immediately involved in the community. Q: What role do you think the organization plays in the broader Princeton community and in communities around the country? I think the greatest role we play is as brokers between nonprofit organizations and alumni. We help nonprofit organizations to find talented people, as well as helping alumni to get into something really challenging. It has a great impact on the community, because we can help these talented, smart, Princeton graduates to use their skills in important areas.
Q: Your recent appointment as Board Chair is your third time serving on the Board. Why did you initially get involved with the organization? what has kept you engaged for A lot of other interesting stories all these years? came from fellows working in North After the Washington meeting, my Lawndale in Chicago, where many of classmate Steve Boyd ‘55 came out the organizations had a large African and told me about the original idea for American membership. For fellows from very different backgrounds it Princeton Project 55. I immediately was such a valuable learning experi- got excited about it. I hadn‘t known ence, and so exciting to work with Princeton University to do anything such an effective community group. I like this before, and it sounded great. remember one woman who did a fel- My enthusiasm carried me through the lowship at an African American faith- first meetings, and into helping to put based community organization in Chi- together the founding document. In cago. She was Jewish and she asked that first year, we had three fellows in me, ―John, do you think I‘ll fit in?‖ Chicago and three in Washington. The first week she was there, they had My reasons for remaining engaged a big retreat. It was so different to her with Princeton AlumniCorps are the existing experience, but she was ac- same as the reasons for starting my connection. I love working with young Page 2
people, and love staying in touch with so many interesting organizations. It helps to keep me involved in the city (Chicago) and is very inspiring. Q: What do you see as some of the challenges and opportunities you will encounter in your upcoming term as Board Chair? And what is your hope for the future of Princeton AlumniCorps? One of the things that I‘d like to focus on is to find new ways to energize Princeton alumni across the year groups. With only four or five staff members, we are limited in capacity, and I‘d like to see our programming flourish – managed and led by alumni. Our board, and our wide network of volunteers, is multigenerational. Our two newest programs, Community Volunteers and Emerging Leaders, embody Princeton AlumniCorps‘ recent growth, and the involvement of alumni of all ages with the organization. Our aim is to encourage and develop alumni who have the capacity and passionate leadership to deliver and manage their own innovative programs. I think the fundamental goal of AlumniCorps should be to continue thriving as an organization run by alumni for alumni, across the generations.
Shared Effort
AlumniCorps Hires Rachel Benevento, New Program Manager for Community Volunteers & Emerging Leaders
Rachel Benevento with Kef Kasdin ’85, Community Volunteers Program Leader
Rachel Benevento is the newest member of the Princeton AlumniCorps team. Most recently, she worked at VolunteerConnect in Princeton, creating a skills-based volunteer pilot program. Rachel also served as a VolunteerConnect board member, helping to create a new service model for the organization. Previously, she engaged corporate employees in
New Program A Success With participants scheduled to attend their fifth session this month, Princeton AlumniCorps‘ new Emerging Leaders program is well underway and already providing tangible benefits to aspiring nonprofit leaders in Washington, DC. Feedback from participants to date has been overwhelmingly positive. Susan Lyon ‘09, Special Assistant for Energy and Environmental Policy at the Center for American Progress, shares: “Let me put it this way—when I told my DC colleagues about Emerging Leaders, they all wanted to join. The program has really added value to my Princeton education after Princeton. Alumni programming is one of the reasons why I chose to Fall 2011
cancer education and fundraising initiatives for the American Cancer Society. Rachel has also worked at Columbia University where she founded the Alumni Partnership Program, connecting current and former students on a personal level through various forums. As a board member for Community Impact at Columbia, she advised staff and student coordinators on programmatic challenges and evaluated new program proposals. She earned an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and has worked as a freelance writer and editor. Rachel holds a B.A. in history from Columbia. Regarding Community Volunteers, Rachel writes: “I am excited to help Community Volunteers reach its potential in engaging mid-career alumni in meaningful public service opportunities. Matching the professional expertise of program participants to the needs of local nonprofit organizations will provide critical outlets for alumni to channel their passions and make a difference in their community.” Contact Rachel to learn about Community Volunteers in your city at RBenevento@alumnicorps.org
Program sessions to date have featured presentations from well-known leaders in the nonprofit sector, including: Judith Sandalow, Executive Director of The Children‘s Law Center; Eric Schweikert, CFO of Share Our Strength; and Khari Brown, Executive Director of Capital Partners for EducaThe program curriculum interweaves tion. the development of leadership, management, and hard nonprofit skills with Over the course of the next six mentoring, peer support, and network- months, participants will continue to ing within the sector. Simultaneously, develop the knowledge, skills, and Emerging Leaders are putting their confidence they need to advance their learning into action as they design and professional contributions and accelerexecute projects that generate real re- ate their careers in the nonprofit sector. sults for their organizations. The pilot Emerging Leaders program runs for 10 months, culminating in a celebration To learn more about and presentation by the participants in Emerging Leaders, please visit March 2011. attend Princeton, and this makes me glad I did. Specifically, the expert combination of management theory, speaker series, and hands-on brainstorming makes Emerging Leaders an incredibly useful series of workshops and trainings.”
www.AlumniCorps.org
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Princeton AlumniCorps Regional Updates Boston
AlumniCorps Board members Tom Allison ’66 and Paula Morency ’77 are working with Kef Kasdin ’85 to gather information and ideas for a potential Community Boston is excited to welcome two new Project 55 fel- Volunteers initiative reaching alumni from the ‘60s, ‘70s, lows for the 2011-12 year: Dinah Chen’11 and Ben Stone and ‘80s in the Windy City. ’11. They were formally brought into the fold with a meet and greet of current AlumniCorps area committee members, mentors, and past alumni at Scholars Bistro, a new restaurant in downtown Boston on September 13th. We‘re also pleased to announce matching our fellows with not one, but two mentors for the fellowship year to provide our new Bostonians with a rich and diverse set of knowledge Harry Berkowitz ’55 recently and experience. welcomed the three Project 55 fellows for the 2011-12 felThe first seminar was held September 27th at The Food lowship year during a lunch with the directors of their orProject, where fellows learned about the mission of this ganizations – two agencies which have been long-time innovative nonprofit and also literally got their hands dirty partners of the Project 55 Fellowship Program. Julia Kearhelping out on the farm. We‘re also looking forward to a ney ’11 and Michael Belmont ’11 are working at the Norcontinuing partnership with Harvard's CPIC program, al- walk Community Health Center (NCHC), and Tiffany Lee ternating with seminar planning throughout the year. ’11 is at Housing Development Fund (HDF) in Stamford. Our steering committee is pleased to welcome Amy Both programs have been expanded this year. Tiffany Burghardt Muehlbauer '05 to Boston, a former NYC will be more directly involved with the families seeking Fellow at Education Through Music and welcome back loans and will help them qualify at HDF. NCHC has exJen Carpenter '96. Lizzie Harvey '06 will be taking panded the amount of involvement with patients, the hospiover as chair of the area committee after great leadership tal residents and programs that will expose the fellows to from Rebecca Nemec '05. the nature of community health care. As always, the Connecticut fellows have also been graciously invited to participate in New York area programming.
Connecticut
Chicago
The eight Chicago Project 55 fellows are off to an excellent start this fellowship year. They all report being extremely busy at their placements and have also begun their weekly seminar series with the fellows from University of Chicago, Northwestern and this year Harvard as well. For the first seminar, John Fish ’55 spoke about the history of Chicago politics, and after becoming better acquainted with their city, the fellows introduced themselves to each other and fellows from the other programs. Project 55 Fellowship Program Manager Sara McCord also visited Chicago in September to meet with PP55 fellows, partner organizations and alums and brainstorm how we can get more applicants interested in the Windy City. Additionally, Aiala Levy ’07 will be succeeded as Chicago Area Coordinator for the fellowship program by Vince Anderson ’65, who has been the point of contact for organizations and fellow support in recent years. Founder of the Chicago Project 55 program and local resident John Fish ’55 was elected as AlumniCorps‘ new Board Chair on October 1st. Page 4
Fellows, alumni, and affiliates at a Camden Riversharks game in Philly: Carol Rosenfeld '05, Tony Rosenthal P'07 (and Camden Riversharks owner), Joe Sengoba '10, Walt Schanbacher '73 P'04 (President of the Princeton Club of Philadelphia), Katie Thaeder '09, and PICS Intern Ugochukwu Udogwu ’13.
Shared Effort
New York The year is off to an excellent start for the New York City area, where all 22 Project 55fellows gathered on September 10th for a local orientation. There the fellows had a productive discussion of what professionalism means in the fellowship context and how to face city life on a tight budget, and several stellar public-transitrelated prizes were raffled off. Several fellows also headed together to the Idealist.org Graduate School Fair on September 15th. Sam Suratt ’55 and Judy Hole Suratt hosted the Welcoming Dinner on September 27th, and the first seminar will be a perennial favorite debate on the criminal justice system between a powerhouse prosecutor and a titan of the criminal justice bar, to take place October 18th. New York alumni Janice Nittoli *85 and Alejandro Perez ’10 joined the Board of Princeton AlumniCorps on October 1st.
San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco is home to six Project 55 fellows this year including a new placement at the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, with Executive Director Peter Fortenbaugh ’89. In June, the fellows met at Palomino's near the Bay Bridge for a small happy hour and will meet their regional TAN fellows of the Stanford SPIN and Harvard CPIC programs in October. The local programming continues to be led by committee, including alums Emily ChiswickPatterson ’05, Camille Logan-Weekes ’95, Jessie Garton Szymanski ’05, Helen Amick ’87, Erin Ebbel ’06 and welcomes new members Elisha Smith *09 and Julie Rubinger ’09. Elisha and Julie have fit right in: Elisha planned the closing dinner for the 2010-11 fellows and Julie, who spent the last two years at Education Through Music in New York, is planning the PP55 seminars and coordinating with SPIN and CPIC. Bay Area alumna Leesy Taggart ’78 also recently joined the AlumniCorps Board of Directors in October.
Washington, DC
10-11 San Francisco fellows at their closing dinner: Claudia Flores *05, Brandee Tate ’09, Vince Kim ’95, Jeff Campbell ’10 , Lori Bishop *06 , Elisha Smith *09, Meredith Bock ’10, Cameron White ’09, Loe Chyi *06, Camille Logan-Weekes ’95, Emily Chiswick-Paterson ’05
Philadelphia The Philadelphia area got the 2011 - 2012 fellowship year off to a great start with a trip to a minor league baseball game featuring the Camden Riversharks. The outing was organized by the Princeton Club of Philadelphia, and Camden Riversharks owners Tony Rosenthal and Ruth Ganister P'07. There, the fellows got a chance to meet alumni in the area and socialize with the PICS summer interns. Later in the summer, fellows welcomed the Class of 2015 at the annual picnic for incoming freshman from the Philadelphia area (many of whom we hope will be future Project 55 fellows!). In September, the local AlumniCorps community got together for a potluck to welcome the Project 55 fellows. The dinner also featured a showing of Waiting for Superman and a discussion about the movie and ways to take action. Fall 2011
The AlumniCorps DC Area Committee officially greeted our fourteen 2011-12 fellows on July 21st, with a welcome dinner at Zorba‘s Café in Dupont Circle. Several weeks later, a group of current and former fellows spent the morning of Saturday August 20th volunteering together at Stuart -Hobson Middle School through the DC Public Schools Beautification Day initiative. In preparation for the first day of school on Monday, our group helped distribute textbooks to classrooms, cleaned the blacktop playground, and swept the sidewalks in front of the building. It was a great way not only for us to become acquainted with one another, but to spend time in the community and meet StuartHobson students and parents working alongside us. Lisa Lazarus '02 and Elizabeth Pillion '05, Mentoring Chair and Vice-Chair, led a successful training session for all new and returning mentors in August. With the help of our mentors, DC AlumniCorps will look to expand the mentors-at-large program this year as well. The DC Area Committee will be chaired this year by Ari Altman ’97, after a successful year under the leadership of Kate Lewis-LaMonica ’08. Local alumni and a significant number of 2010-11 fellows will be assisting in the leadership effort. Our pilot year of the AlumniCorps Emerging Leaders Program for professional development continues to be a success; read about the program on pg.3 to learn more! Page 5
Calling All Nonprofit Organizations! Are you connected to any organizations doing innovative public interest work in Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, or Washington, DC? If you think they may be a good fit for a fellow for the 2012-13 fellowship year, please contact Sara McCord Princeton Project 55 Fellowship Program Manager at project55@alumnicorps.org to learn more and be connected with a local program. Remember the partner organization deadline is Friday, December 2, 2011. For over 20 years, PP55 fellowships have given recent Princeton graduates opportunities to work in the public interest and be connected with a supportive like-minded community. The program continues to grow under the direction of Program Leader Maria Orozco '03.
Annual Campaign Raises $370,000 in 2010-11 Ambitious Goals Set for New Year Princeton AlumniCorps‘ 2010-11 annual campaign (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011), led by volunteers and staff, raised a total of $370,806. Individual donors, who together contributed a total of $203,806 are crucial to our success. A further $167,000 was raised from foundations. A big thank you to all of our supporters—we hope you will continue to invest in Princeton AlumniCorps! We are pleased to report that 447 individual donors gave last year, an increase of 35% on the previous year‘s 331 donors. Also of note, the number of donors from classes of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s more than doubled last year, with 66 alumni giving over $48,000 (compared with 23 alumni giving $34,000 the previous year). We enter our new fiscal year with high hopes of building on last year‘s successes. We have launched a peer-led campaign to encourage and recognize gifts from alumni of the Project 55 Fellowship Program, with a goal of raising $25,000 from PP55 alums. Special thanks to our volunteers—Jessica Johnson ‘98, Katie Ko ‘09, Melissa Mazin ‘91 and Alejandro Perez ‘10—who are leading the charge by supporting Princeton AlumniCorps, and seeking the support of others.
Do you need a job? Looking for ways to volunteer? All Job Seekers: Visit the AlumniCorps Job Board today by logging into our website. Simply login to view & post jobs!
All Volunteers: Check out our organization page on Idealist.org to learn about opportunities to get involved in your area!
Princeton AlumniCorps is proud to offer our online job board as a resource for all partner organizations, alumni, and affiliates. Sign in today at www.alumnicorps.org. Questions? Email info@alumnicorps.org to learn more!
Volunteer your space for an event, become a web developer, a reporter, an editor, a Board member, or even a director of The Alumni Network! To see opportunities like this and more visit www.idealist.org and search for the Princeton AlumniCorps‘ page, or visit www.AlumniCorps.org and click ‗Get Involved‘.
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Shared Effort
Meet our Newest Affiliate: The Princeton Social Enterprise Network About PSEN Princeton Social Enterprise Network is a platform and a resource for Princeton University alumni who are interested or engaged in social enterprise – the use of sustainable, marketbased solutions to social and environmental challenges. PSEN connects and activates a broad network of Tigers currently spread across the Princeton community - by aggregating, coordinating, and distributing social enterprise programming, resources, and networking opportunities. PSEN achieves this through a twopart model: a simple yet effective online communications platform and a network of regional chapters, which activates the online community with regional events. By connecting fellow Tigers to the resources, information, and support they need to establish and scale innovative social ventures, PSEN aligns the full energy, capability, and business acumen of the Princeton University community behind a shared goal of service through enterprise. How did your organization begin? What inspired this organization? PSEN originated in 2010 as a ―social enterprise track‖ within the Princeton Entrepreneur‘s Network (PEN) annual business plan competition. Princeton University, a world-class institution committed to excellence across disciplines, has yet to emerge as a leader in social enterprise. The founders of PSEN observed a distinct lack of coordinated social enterprise programming, resources, and initiatives within the PU community. Furthermore, PSEN believes that social enterprise is a compelling meeting ground for the Princeton University community and a powerful new channel through which to activate the school motto, ―In the Fall 2011
Nation‘s service and the service of all neur‘s Network (PEN) to an independnations.‖ ent organization with founding sponsors, a committed administrative team, What kind of opportunities in the revolving volunteers, four regional nonprofit sector do you offer? chapters, and a broad network of parPSEN creates and publicizes oppor- ticipants and newsletter subscribers. tunities for engagement in the social The consistent attendance and energy enterprise sector. Social enterprise at Chapter launches and regional describes the use of market-based events has demonstrated a significant models and strategies to advance a demand for social enterprise programsocial or environmental mission. So- ming and resources in the PU commucial enterprises may be nonprofit, for– nity. Between 20-30 Tigers attended profit, or a hybrid structure (such as a Chapter launches in each city to netLow-Profit limited liability company, work, learn about PSEN, and listen to or L3C). PSEN convenes regional panel speakers. This summer the events that focus on special topics or PSEN New York held a successful informal networking and info-sharing. clean tech event with four experienced PSEN‘s seasonal newsletter aggre- panelists active in the clean-tech secgates all career opportunities, events, tor. announcements, and other resources What has been your biggest chalsubmitted by members at http:// lenge or area of concern this year? princetonsocialenterprise.org and distributes the content to our national PSEN is an entirely volunteer-run, subscribers. PSEN will also convene member-driven organization. Coordian annual Social Innovation Business nating and growing PSEN is a second Plan Competition, in which Tigers can job for the administrative team. It has compete for funding and exposure for been a challenge to recruit and retain their social enterprise business plans. committed volunteers while also overseeing all aspects of PSEN‘s growth, Who is eligible to participate? programming, communications, and PSEN is an open community for all funding. The team believes that comPU alumni interested or participating pensated full or part-time positions are in social enterprise. In the coming ultimately needed to scale the organiyear, PSEN plans to launch a social zation effectively. PSEN is actively enterprise mentorship program that seeking funding resources that will will specifically target recent gradu- enable us to increase our administraates and budding social entrepreneurs, tive capacity and generate greater and match them with accomplished value for our members and the PU mentors who can offer advice, sup- community. port, and guidance. Though PSEN exists first and foremost to serve PU Visit Venture Catalyst online at alumni, PSEN also intends for its Blog.AlumniCorps.org Chapters to be regional resources. to read the full story, Can you provide an example of a or visit success story within your program? PrincetonSocialEnterprise.org In little more than 12 months, PSEN to learn more. has grown from a ―social enterprise track‖ within the Princeton EntreprePage 7
Princeton AlumniCorps Board of Directors John Fish ‘55, Chairman William R. Leahy, Jr., M.D. ‘66, President Jessica D. Johnson ‘98, Secretary Charles F. Mapes, Jr. ‘55, Treasurer Thomas D. Allison ‘66 Illa Brown ‘76 Margaret Crotty ‘94 Andrew Goldstein ‘06 James A. Gregoire ‘69 Stanley N. Katz h‘21 James D. Lynn ‘55 Kathleen McCleery ‘75 W. Arthur McKee ‘90 Dominic F. Michel ‘70 Kathryn A. Miller ‘77 Paula Morency ‘77 Ralph Nader ‘55 Janice Nittoli *85 Alejandro Perez ‘10 Anthony Quainton ‘55
Michael D. Robbins ‘55 Margarita Rosa, Esq. ‘74 Marsha Rosenthal ‘76 Warner V. Slack ‘55 Leesy Taggart ‘78 Scott Taylor ‘75 Richard E. Thompson ‘55 Richard O. Walker ‘73 Lindsay Wall ‘02 R. Kenly Webster ‘55
Princeton AlumniCorps Staff Kathleen E. Reilly, Executive Director Rachel Benevento, Program Manager, Community Volunteers & Emerging Leaders Carrie Diaz-Littauer, Office Administrator Sara McCord, Project 55 Fellowship Program Manager Arti Sheth ‘08, Development Officer
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