Connecting Leaders Fellowship
Please Read our Announcement on ABFE’s 2010-2011 Connecting Leaders Fellows Program
The ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program is a yearlong experience designed to sharpen the skills and strengthen the leadership capacity of foundation staff, donors, and trustees who are committed to assisting Black communities through philanthropy. Approximately ten fellows will have the opportunity to learn from seasoned grantmakers on a regular basis, understand how to be more effective change agents within their institutions, and participate in a network that focuses on innovative solutions to community challenges. Each fellow will be assigned a leadership coach and mentor as part of the program. In addition, each fellow will be required to develop a plan to work with an organization that is serving Black communities in his or her home environment and to engage in a specific project during the fellowship period to help this organization develop its capacity.
The ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship has been a career-altering experience for me. In addition to the coaching, networking and Leadership Summit, I think the most important factor is the sense of being taken seriously as a philanthropic professional; that others are seriously invested in my career development.
Cedric Brown, Connecting Leaders Fellow, 2007-2008, Director, Mitchell Kapor Foundation
The ABFE Fellowship gave me the skills and connections in the philanthropic field that I needed to move my career forward. I directly credit the fellowship experience as a key factor in my appointment as the Executive Director of a social justice foundation.
Trista Harris, Connecting Leaders Fellow, 2006-2007, Executive Director, Headwaters Foundation for Justice
ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellows
Class of 2007-2008
Cedric Brown, Grants Director, Mitchell Kapor Foundation
Sharon Bush, Program Officer, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
Danielle Deane, Environment Program Officer, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Joelle-Jude Fontaine, Program Officer, A.L. Mailman Family Foundation
Tracey Greene-Dorsett, Director of Learning & Evaluation, National Rural Funders Collaborative
Danista Hunte, Senior Program Officer, Baltimore Community Foundation
Wendy Lewis Jackson, Program Officer, Kresge Foundation
Sharnita C. Johnson, Program Officer, Skillman Foundation
Chad Uhlenhopp Jones, Program Director, Building Partnerships USA
Nicole R. Robinson, Senior Manager of Focused Giving, Kraft Foods Global Inc.
Class of 2006-2007
Paul Bachlietner, formerly with the Minneapolis Foundation
Dawn Callahan, formerly with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
Lillian Cruz, formerly with The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Andrea Foggy-Paxton, Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Trista Harris, Program Officer, Saint Paul Foundation
Sabena T. Leake, Principal Consultant, Tamar Consulting
Tamara Moore, Program Officer, College Access Foundation
Julius Rainey Jr., Communications & Development Fellow, Foundation for the Mid-South
Jasmine Hall Ratliff, Program Officer, Missouri Foundation for Health
Erika Seth, formerly with B.E.S.T.
Lauren Veasey, Associate Program Officer, Southern Education Foundation
Class of 2005-2006
Tonya Allen, Vice President, Program, The Skillman Foundation
Andrea A. Anderson, PhD., Director of Planning, ActKnowledge
Susan Taylor Batten, Senior Associate, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Rudy Guglielmo Jr., Program Officer, The Bush Foundation
Rahsaan Harris, Program Executive, The Atlantic Philanthropies
Toya Randall, Director of Elgin Programs, Grand Victoria Foundation
Phillip Thomas, Senior Program Officer, The Chicago Community Trust
Akilah Watkins-Butler, formerly with the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.
For more information about ABFE’s Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program please contact Marcus Walton at mwalton@abfe.org.