United Way Helps Nonprofit Professional Step Up to Success
Talk about climbing the ladder to success.
It's been nearly a decade since LaShawn Williams began her career at New York City Health and Hospital Corporation (NYCHHC). Initially a temp, she quickly moved up to a permanent position, joining the communications team. More recently, she began managing a community health grants program as part of the hospital's corporate planning group.
As her passion for community health and education grew with her role, LaShawn also got involved with the Brownsville Youth Association, a neighborhood organization where she is now chairperson of the board. And while her professional and personal work provided exposure to the nonprofit field, she had never received formal training in nonprofit management.
"I wanted to get more guidance and direction from experts in the field to add to what I already know", she says. With the encouragement of her supervisor, she applied and was accepted to the United Way of New York City Nonprofit Leadership Development Institute program called Junior Fellows.
Junior Fellows is designed to provide professionals -- specifically those from New York City-based 501(c)3 nonprofits who have two or more years of experience in the nonprofit sector -- with a strong foundation in both the theory and practice of nonprofit management. The program is comprised of 12 weekly seminars, covering topics ranging from leadership management to budgets and accounting, to performance measurement.
According to LaShawn, the exchange of successful practices, trends and real-life examples among students and professors was especially valuable.
"It just expanded my way of thinking about nonprofit," she explains. "And the professors that taught these sessions were phenomenal."
While attending the program, LaShawn was promoted to Associate Director of Training in the human resources department at NYCHHC, where she now develops and manages a variety of training programs for hospital employees. She believes that her drive, along with the skills learned through the Junior Fellows program, played a big role in the promotion.
Inspired by her Junior Fellows experience, LaShawn plans to return to Baruch College to get her MPA and hopes to develop more educational institutions at NYCHHC.
"We used to have a Nursing school, and one of the things I'm working to do is to bring it back so we can also open it up to the community. For the first time, I see it happening."
If you are a health or human care nonprofit professional interested in participating in a Nonprofit Leadership Development Institute program, please see our NLDI information for details on upcoming programs and how to apply.
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