From Crain’s Detroit Business
February 16, 2023
Nine prominent Detroit-area nonprofit CEOs and directors have been awarded a sabbatical through a fellowship aimed at allowing them to “recharge, immerse in enriching experiences, build skills and knowledge and broaden their vision.”
The McGregor Fund’s Eugene A. Miller Fellowship returns this year after a pandemic hiatus with three time as many fellows.
These past few years made brutal demands on our sector – particularly the Fund’s grant partners who pivoted, innovated and sacrificed to maintain essential services,” Kate Levin Markel, president of the McGregor Fund, said in a statement. “The demands were especially hard on leaders who managed through profound disruption, often at the expense of their own and their families’ wellbeing.”
McGregor Fund awards $50,000 to each of the organizations the fellows lead. Those funds can be used for direct sabbatical expenses, organizational expenses for professional development, bonuses for staff who take on added responsibility or whatever the organization determines is appropriate, said Levin Markel.
In exchange, the organization agrees to maintain the leader’s full compensation while they are on sabbatical
The nonprofit leaders who were chosen “embody service, love of community and a pathway to a more just world,” Markel said. They include:
• Allandra Bulger, executive director of Co.act Detroit, which builds collaborative action and increases impact across Michigan nonprofit and community organizations by generating ideas, sharing learning resources, and developing solutions. Since launching Co.act, Bulger has made a transformative and equity-focused impact on Michigan nonprofits, while simultaneously building strategic partnerships with philanthropic, governmental and private sector organizations.
• Angela Reyes, executive director of Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, which offers high quality, culturally appropriate services, including adult education classes, afterschool and summer programs for youth, adults and families in Southwest Detroit. Reyes has grown DHDC from her first work to reduce neighborhood youth gang violence to a community-based organization that now serves more than 5000 Detroiters each year.
• Ashley Atkinson, co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, which works towards food sovereignty and sustainability in Detroit via education, entrepreneurship and resource support for a network of nearly 30,000 Detroiters cultivating 2000 urban gardens and counting. Under Atkinson’s co-leadership, KGD has operated its own urban farm and teaching facility, improved food security, increased access to fresh produce, and provided marketing education for Detroit gardeners selling their crops at community markets.
• Christine Bell, executive director of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, which partners with communities to offer youth development and educational opportunities, while also focusing on land use and economic development, all to build safe and thriving neighborhoods. While at UNI, Bell has worked to provide opportunities for community members most impacted by significant obstacles to design their own creative solutions to the complex social conditions they are experiencing.
• Courtney Smith, president and CEO of the Detroit Phoenix Center, which serves youth in Detroit via wraparound services for young people at risk of or currently experiencing housing insecurity, including a drop-in center that provides food, showers, computer access, day beds, after-school enrichment, summer employment, emergency housing interventions, and other resources. In the last couple of years, Smith has led creative pandemic response efforts and the expansion of DPC’s Youth Advisory Board, which centers young people experiencing homelessness in agency decision-making and prepares them to organize and lead systemic change.
• Derek Aguirre, president and CEO of Racquet Up Detroit, an education and youth development nonprofit which supports youth from neighborhood schools, teaching them how to play squash while supporting their educational journey toward post-secondary and career success. During Aguirre’s tenure, Racquet Up has grown, completing a large capital project and opening a new education and youth development facility for its out-of-school program.
• Kimberly Johnson, president and CEO of Developing K.I.D.S, which offers a youth development program providing afterschool and summer activities including leadership development, entrepreneurship and community service, as well as support for families and the greater community. Over 17-plus years, Johnson has transformed Developing K.I.D.S. from a small neighborhood family support group into a growing organization with a waiting list, newly acquired permanent home, and a workforce development program.
• Suma Karaman Rosen, executive director of InsideOut Literary Arts, which gives youth the creative writing tools and opportunities to discover and share their authentic voice, with guidance from professional writers-in-residence in local schools and in after-school and community programs. Under Rosen’s leadership, InsideOut has grown its Youth Advisory Board, deepened its emphasis on social-emotional learning, and continued to expand its talented, culturally aligned, and racially and ethnically diverse team.
• Yodit Mesfin Johnson, president and CEO of Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW), which connects leaders, nonprofit organizations and businesses with the tools, resources and space they need to undertake mission-driven work. While CEO, Mesfin Johnson has grown NEW’s programming, staff and budget and expanded its support work to include organizations working to “dismantle systems of oppression and build resilience.”
Bulger and Mesfin Johnson were both judges in Crain’s 2022 Best-managed Nonprofits program.
The Eugene A. Miller Fellowship Program was introduced in 2009. It is named for Eugene “Gene” Miller, who served on the McGregor Fund Board of Trustees for 24 years and as chairperson from 2001–2008.
