The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program Announces 2011 Class of Nonprofit Leaders

Year-Long Leadership Program Offers Professional Development and Mentorship

BALTIMORE, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program, a leadership development program for select executive directors of community-based nonprofit agencies serving disadvantaged individuals, has announced the 2011 class of fellows. The group of 19 fellows from across Maryland will embark on a year-long professional development program designed to enhance leadership skills and promote collaboration among the region's nonprofits.

Each year, applications are accepted and reviewed through a competitive selection process.  

Members of the 2011 class are:

• Randall T. Acosta, Boys and Girls Clubs of Harford County
• Elizabeth Briscoe, Action in Maturity, Inc.
• Sandra Brown, Mid Shore Pro Bono
• John Dumas, Service Coordination Inc.
• Michael Dyer, Epilepsy Association of the Eastern Shore
• Misty Fae, Conflict Resolution Center of Baltimore County
• David A. Greenberg, The League for People with Disabilities
• Gayle E. Headen, Union Baptist – Harvey Johnson Head Start
• Amy John, Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust
• Eileen Rivera Ley, Uniting for Life, Inc.
• Latavia D. Little, Treatment Resources for Youth, Inc.
• Martha J. Meehan, Jewish Recovery Houses, Inc.
• Claudia Nagle, Diakonia, Inc.
• Elissa Malter Schwartz, Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse
• Jessica Smith-Harper, Village of Hope, Inc.
• Gustavo A. Torres, CASA de Maryland, Inc.
• Christine Tyler, Prison Outreach Ministry
• Kathleen Westcoat, Baltimore HealthCare Access, Inc.
• Madeline Yates, Maryland Campus Compact

"We congratulate the participants of the 2011 class of Weinberg Fellows on their selection in a particularly competitive year and with a large number of applicants, many of whom are outside the Baltimore Metropolitan area," said Donn Weinberg, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. "This program makes a difference in Maryland by enhancing leadership skills and expanding networks which ultimately benefits the many clients served by these nonprofits."

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program is managed by the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy.  The program will include a series of three off-site retreats facilitated by UB faculty including Ann Cotten, director of the Schaefer Center and Joseph McNeely, a research associate with the Schaefer Center and nationally recognized expert in nonprofit leadership.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation created the Fellows Program in Hawaii in 1992 and the program was introduced in Baltimore in 2002. More than 160 Weinberg Fellows have completed the program in Baltimore.

For more information, please visit the Program's web site at www.weinbergfellows.org.

About The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation:

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, provides approximately $100 million in annual grants to nonprofits that provide direct services to economically disadvantaged people, primarily in the U.S. and Israel. Grants are focused on meeting basic needs and enhancing an individual's ability to meet those needs with emphasis on older adults, the Jewish community, and our hometown communities of Maryland, northeastern Pennsylvania, and Hawaii. The trustees, some of whom also serve as executive officers of the Foundation, are Alvin Awaya, Judge Ellen M. Heller, Robert T. Kelly, Jr., Barry I. Schloss, and Chairman of the Board Donn Weinberg. Rachel Monroe serves as the Weinberg Foundation's President. For more information please go to www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.

About the Schaefer Center for Public Policy:

The Schaefer Center for Public Policy was established in 1985 with a mission to bring the University of Baltimore's academic expertise to bear in addressing challenges faced by government and nonprofit organizations. The center offers strategic planning, performance measurement, program evaluation and analysis, opinion research, management consulting and management training services. It is through the Schaefer Center that the University of Baltimore and the College of Public Affairs meet a central component of the University's mission of applied research and public service to the Baltimore metropolitan area and to the state of Maryland. For more information please go to http://scpp.ubalt.edu.

SOURCE The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation