Miller Fellowship

Launched in 2009 and honoring Trustee Emeritus Eugene Miller for his years of distinguished leadership, this program honors outstanding, experienced leaders of McGregor-funded nonprofit organizations in metropolitan Detroit.

The Fund selects, on a competitive basis, up to three agency directors annually to take time away from their day-to-day responsibilities and undertake a self-designed set of activities to rejuvenate themselves and do something of benefit for their work. Eligibility is determined by the Fund, and eligible applicants are contacted by the Fund about the application process.

In 2023, the Eugene A. Miller Fellowship Program resumed after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, naming an unprecedented nine fellows known for their long-term dedication to their communities and to equity and justice. We invite you to return to this page in the coming months, as we share observations and insights from these exceptional leaders.

2024 Fellows

Alia Harvey-Quinn
Founder & Executive Director
FORCE Detroit

“My journey to becoming a foremost female voice on community violence intervention in a male-dominated field has required significant effort. While I am deeply proud of our impressive achievements that are delivering impact to families, activists, and communities, I recognize the emotional toll this work has taken on me. A sabbatical at this time will allow me to spend time with family and prepare for FORCE’s growth through deep thinking, reflection, and learning.”

Camille Proctor 
Founder & Executive Director
The Color of Autism Foundation

“It’s crucial to recognize that no one is impervious to the toll that constant strength and perseverance can take. Stepping back and taking a sabbatical is not an admission of weakness but a recognition of the need for self-care and rejuvenation. It is an acknowledgment that, just like everyone else, I am human and susceptible to the toll of constant pressure to be strong.”

Dwan Dandridge
Founder & CEO
Black Leaders Detroit

“Though I remain deeply committed to the mission of Black Leaders Detroit and to the cause of addressing racial disparities in our community, I have come to recognize the need for balance and self-care to continue this important work effectively. Taking a sabbatical is an opportunity to step back, reflect, and recharge, and would not only benefit me but will also contribute to the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of our organization.”

Jeanine Hatcher 
Executive Director
GenesisHOPE

“I’m tired. I’m tired of helping others strive for good health. I’m tired of watching people die prematurely for a lack of access and knowledge of the secrets to good health and long life. But, mostly I’m tired from my own struggles to lay hold of good health. The McGregor Miller Fellowship can help me rest and find good health…for me and those whom GenesisHOPE serves.”

Kiesha Jackson
Founder & CEO
Caleb’s Kids

“While I have such pride and honor in serving my community, I have often done so at the expense of my own well-being and goals. I pour so much into others and recognize that I do little for myself. Personal restoration and focus will allow me to gain a renewed and refreshed visioning in leading Caleb’s Kids, and will kickstart a renewed and much needed focus on balance and wellness.”

Maha Freij
President & CEO
ACCESS

“This sabbatical will give me the ability to step away from daily responsibilities to deepen my own thinking about our work and my role as a leader.  As CEO, I rarely have time to pause in the midst of all the work before me to read, learn and reflect on how ACCESS shows up as a leader in the community. This reflection and thinking takes uninterrupted time.” 

Rose Khalifa
President & CEO
Metro Solutions

“Service has become the familiar and welcomed rhythm of my life…and yet, I know that my mind, body, and soul – if they are to serve me in my service to others for years to come – must rest.  I have never taken intentional, self-focused, dedicated time for rest. I have never even considered it until now. My time away from our daily operations will also afford Metro the opportunity to build trust and capacity with aspiring leadership.”

Shamyle Dobbs
CEO
Michigan Community Resources

“The Miller Fellowship is a tangible investment in self, rest, joy and imagination. This sabbatical will be a long play in refining how I resist grind culture.  I will find and reprioritize myself. This fellowship is freedom.” 

2023 Fellows

Allandra Bulger
Executive Director
Co.act Detroit

“I have always believed that people are the most important assets of our organizations, and how we care for ourselves and each other has a direct connection to our ability to effect meaningful change…How a leader prioritizes their well-being sets the tone for the entire organization. Being a nonprofit leader during the double pandemic of COVID-19 and heightened racial injustice meant leading without a roadmap and often beyond the point of exhaustion. I love the work that I do, and I believe this sabbatical offers the opportunity for deeply needed reflection and renewal.”

Angela Reyes
Executive Director
Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation

“Having an extended length of time for myself is something I have never had in my lifetime…this will allow me to explore what self-care actually feels like and help me begin a path towards healing. My extended absence will allow our strong team of young, rising leaders to further grow into their positions and identify where we need additional learning and support.”

Ashley Atkinson
Co-Director
Keep Growing Detroit

“This fellowship is an incredibly important and timely opportunity to help KGD move toward our vision of becoming a multi-racial, majority BIPOC-led organization where all of our employees feel like they are valued and have creative control over the programs that they’re responsible for. Toward these ends, the primary goal of this fellowship is to build the capacity of our BIPOC staff members and to give my co-directors the opportunity to lead all aspects of KGD’s operations in my absence.”

Christine Bell
Executive Director
Urban Neighborhood Initiatives

“The last two and a half years have been emotionally and physically exhausting professionally and personally. As an executive director, wife, mother of three small children, and daughter of aging parents, I have found it difficult to center my own health and wellness, find balance, maintain friendships and engage in activities that I am passionate about outside of work. My sabbatical will provide me the opportunity to grow as a leader while providing opportunities for staff to grow their leadership skills, making our organization stronger and more resilient.”

Courtney Smith
President & CEO
Detroit Phoenix Center

“To respond to the immediate needs of Detroit youth and families who were the most vulnerable during the pandemic, my team and I pivoted into the streets, distributing essential goods and services during one of the worst public health crises to affect the black and brown community…However, underneath this aggressive heart work is also chronic exhaustion, sadness, and grief that I’ve never had the time or space to process, which has been compounded due to the pandemic. This sabbatical will allow me to center healing to lead DPC into our next growth and development phase.”

Derek Aguirre
President and CEO
Racquet Up Detroit

“I am so grateful for the opportunities for reflection and growth offered through the Eugene A. Miller Fellowship. I am confident that it will have a very positive impact on Racquet Up Detroit while also enabling me to “zoom out” for a moment and think about what is next for the organization.”

Kimberly Johnson
President and CEO
Developing K.I.D.S.

“I am elated to learn how I can become the change that I want to see in the organization…becoming more confident and effective in my communication and other skills to effectively lead in a world where each person’s life has been forever changed due to no fault of their own. I am honored, nervous, and ready to REST, pour into myself and create a space for Developing KIDS’ team members to operate and lead successfully in my absence. Evolving their roles and responsibilities at a pivotal time in our organization will demonstrate trust in their leadership to carry on, increasing a sense of security to everyone.”

Suma Karaman Rosen
Executive Director
InsideOut Literary Arts

“I love the students we serve who remind me what it means to be brave, and who exemplify the power of using one’s authentic voice. I love how the arts transform lives, and I have a deep respect for the organization I serve. I truly feel fortunate to do what I do. But I am tired…though my dedication to the field is not. I know that my commitment is still there. I believe this sabbatical is the best way to renew that feeling of possibility – for both me, and for my organization.”

Yodit Mesfin Johnson
President and CEO
Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW)

“I feel burnout creeping up everyday. I want to use the sabbatical as a way to model, mitigate and disrupt this pattern that pervades our sector and takes out some of our best leaders. I need some time to rest and commune with myself and nature. Societal norms valorize busyness, hyper-productivity, individualism and urgency. I want to resist the lure of these values by slowing down, getting recentered, processing trauma and allowing my body and nervous system to settle for a bit in the company of other Black women.”

2020 Fellows

Jennifer Rusciano
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Detroit Food Academy

“The Miller Fellowship will allow me to grow the knowledge of best practice sites, infusing the Detroit Food Academy model with even more impactful techniques, strategies, and ideas as we work to center youth as leaders in the food movement.”

Donna Murray-Brown
President and CEO
Michigan Nonprofit Association

“The prospect of having an opportunity at this time through the Eugene A. Miller Fellowship Program to learn more about women of color leadership development methodologies and ways to enhance the diversity, equity, and inclusion work of MNA is beyond anything I could have ever imagined.”

Veronika Scott
Founder and CEO
The Empowerment Plan

“The next adventure of scaling The Empowerment Plan will clearly challenge my skills and capacity for what is needed on the road ahead.  That is why this opportunity is so critical now…I need to build my leadership skills, strengthen my team, and increase my personal capacity.”

Rhonda Greene
Founder and Executive Director
Heritage Works

“We believe that our programming is both deeply relevant artistically and has important outcomes for racial healing and Detroit’s revitalization.  This fellowship will help Heritage Works and me further investigate the connections between culture, placemaking, and building a stronger, more unified Detroit.”

2019 Fellows

Renee Fluker
Founder and President
Midnight Golf Program

“This sabbatical will give me space and time to study best practices in youth development for underserved young people; serve at-risk youth in another country; work on my leadership development through classroom training and executive coaching; and spend time on personal growth.”

Kimberly Hurst
Founder, President and Executive Director
Avalon Healing Center

“This sabbatical will provide me the ability to travel around the country to meet and visit with other agencies doing [similar] work, to see what challenges and success they have seen – and see on the horizon, as well as strategize with other thought leaders and subject matter experts.”

Angela Aufdemberge
President and CEO
Vista Maria

“The sabbatical provides an opportunity for exponential growth of my knowledge working with human trafficking survivors. The knowledge gained will advance my expertisein program development, advocacy and funding needs. I also hope to expand my knowledge which can be used to influence local and national policy.”

2018 Fellow

David Sampson
Chief Executive Officer

Mariners Inn

“The high-level take aways from witnessing the Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC) in operation throughout the country and abroad were extremely eye-opening and reaffirming of my position that the longer a person suffering from the disease of addiction is involved in the recovery process, the better their chances are at long-term recovery.”

2017 Fellows

Rev. Faith Fowler

Rev. Faith Fowler
Executive Director

Cass Community Social Services

The Miller Fellowship was “exactly what I needed…uninterrupted time to ponder, dream and plan. I believe developing the ideas helped me relax as a leader. Clearly it allowed our staff to be confident about managing day-to-day operations and occasional emergency situations.”

Dan Carmody
President

Eastern Market Corporation

“As it turns out, while the rest of the world has retained much more vital and viable public wholesale markets than we have in the United States, they are deeply concerned about the pending consolidation of their distribution channels – the kind of consolidation that has been happening in the U.S. for sixty years.”

Rick Sperling

Rick Sperling
Founder and Artistic Director
Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

The Miller Fellowship “was an incredibly transformational experience. I am now returning to my work…with new fire and inspiration, but also a sense of unusual calm and perspective. My organization is also in a better place… [the sabbatical] revealed gaps in our organizational structure that led us to make a move that will greatly improve our long-term sustainability and prepare us for succession.”

2016 Fellow

“At ACCESS, we can be satisfied with the incredible success we have, but that will not and cannot create the change our community needs to build a better society for all. Building networks by facilitating collaboration between and across like-minded organizations, and working at the intersections of various issue areas, is required to build scaled impact…As ACCESS builds on its success, scaling up our work requires courageous conversations around moving the dialogue from building the future of the organization to building the future of our society. To be able to move that conversation, we need to start with clearly articulating our theory of change and aligning ourselves behind that thinking.”

2015 Fellows

The Miller Fellowship “has been profoundly successful, and has helped refresh and broaden my thinking as I lead The Wright Museum into its next chapter. I was able to deepen the Museum’s current and long-term programming, make important connections for future national/international collaborations…and focus on the institution’s long-term sustainability”.

Maury Okun
President
Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings

“When I was contemplating an application for a McGregor Fellowship in 2014, I saw the program as a unique opportunity to help our organization while fostering my own personal growth. On both counts, I believe I succeeded. Overall, it was an extraordinary experience. Best of all, the fellowship will remain a work in progress throughout my career and my life.”

Anne Parsons
President & CEO
Detroit Symphony Orchestra

“Working with a coach was critical…My coach provided unique personal support andmuch appreciated discipline as we tried to ensure I made the most of this incredible opportunity and stayed true to my grant proposal plan. A lunch with my fellow Miller Fellows last spring where we shared our approaches and ideas also came at a critical moment during the planning phase. And most important, the DSO staff and board extended themselves in countless ways that helped me accomplish my goals.”

2014 Fellows

Kathleen Hatke Aro
President
Accounting Aid Society

“I have learned that it is really about growth, which is driven by embracing vulnerability, focusing on strengths and being mindful of the questions we ask. These activities determine the stories we tell ourselves and one another, and hence whether we chose to grow or stand still. According to Brené Brown in Daring Greatly, “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.”

Beth Morrison
President
HAVEN

“Each experience contributed to renewal as well as served as an indicator of how much I needed to address the lack of rejuvenation in my professional and personal life. The teachings within resonant leadership brought much of this to the forefront for me and thankfully has given me a format in which to continue my growth. Sustaining what was gained is obviously key but with my learning skills such as visioning, storytelling and scaling, devotion to writing time, and resonant leadership, I feel better equipped.”

Paul Propson
Executive Director
Covenant Community Care

“Every person I met with and spoke to taught me something new about our new health care system. I am deeply indebted to these individuals and to the McGregor Fund for this experience, which has helped me better recognize my role as an advocate for system change and case management assistance for people who are lost in a complex maze of information, rules and payment denials.”