United Way of Northwest Louisiana has announced the inaugural class of the United Way of Northwest Louisiana’s Executive Academy. The Academy, beginning this month, will offer nonprofit leaders the chance to participate in a five month leadership development series to improve the agency’s capacity and the local community. As United Way of Northwest Louisiana has worked with nonprofits across ten parishes, two areas have been identified where nonprofits need assistance: obtaining financial resources and learning to operate with best practices. UWNWLA’s new nonprofit academy will meet both of these needs.
Despite the high volume of applications, only 20 nonprofits executives were selected:
- Ruth Frazier, Chimp Haven
- Beverly Broadway, Women’s Resource Center
- Rhonda Watts, Providence House
- Shonda Houston- Dotie, Volunteers for Youth Justice
- Derrick Henderson, Family Justice Center of NWLA
- Christa Pazzaglia, Hope Connections
- Al Moore, Christian Service Program
- Ann Fumarolo, Sci-Port
- Dr. Belinda Roberson, YWCA of Northwest Louisiana
- Jessica Lewis, Joe LeBlanc Food Pantry
- Larry Brandon, Northwest Louisiana Community Development Corporation
- Monica Wright, Caddo Council on Aging
- Jeffrey Thomas, Strategic Action Council
- Teressia Garner, Safe Haven Developmental Services Inc.
- Meg Goorley, Catholic Charities of North Louisiana
- Noel Haacker, Renesting Project
- Jayne Wright-Velez, Food Bank of Central Louisiana
- Cassie Hubble, T.E.A.M.S.
- Jessica Walker, Frontline Incident Response Solutions and Training
- Jodi Burns, Heart of Hope – A Sanctuary for Women
Organizations will learn about training their board of directors, implementing effective financial protocols, gaining official nonprofit status, or addressing any number of operational issues. Although UWNWLA already focuses some efforts in this area, the academy allows UWNWLA to make this program more systematic. By providing nonprofits with essential skills, the capacity of Northwest Louisiana nonprofits to serve their communities will increase.
The program will begin on March 7, 2017 and conclude with a closing ceremony on June 6, 2017. The series will be led by Baton Rouge based management and strategic consulting firm, Emergent Method. United Way of Northwest Louisiana and the Beaird Family Foundation are sponsoring the program.