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MWCDC Loses Director
by Mountain Girl ~ October 31st, 2007. Filed under: MWCDC.I came across this article in the Southside Reporter about the CDC losing its Interim Executive Director, Andi Sharp. I have to wonder what this means for the future of the CDC. I assume current and potential funders look at things like staff turnover and membership counts when they are assessing grant applications. The staff has been whittled down to a few dedicated people and now board member, Mary Causey, has decided to part ways with the CDC as well.
Perhaps as the new President is quoted as saying in the article, “Elections are elections” and this can be written off to a difference of opinion. This sort of shake-up happens after elections at every level of national and local government. However, will staff and board members be replaced? and with whom?
Ms. Sharp seems to have had the requisite skill set to perform the administrative functions necessary for a CDC to operate effectively (grant writing, tracking financials, etc). Will it be that easy to find someone with comparable experience and/or education and can it be done quickly?
If you have some time, there is an interesting white paper on this topic put out by the Fannie Mae Foundation called “More Than Bricks and Sticks: Five Components of Community Development Corporation Capacity”. Granted, the article was written almost a decade ago, but I think the main points still ring true today. The first two components necessary for success are resource capacity (ability to acquire funding) and organizational capacity (size and experience of staff and management style of staff and board).
There has been a lot of emphasis lately on appealing to younger people in Mt. Washington. While I think it’s great that people on the board are representative of all age groups, we cannot continue to lose the people that do the day-to-day….whatever age they may happen to be.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:56 am
MG,
I agree. It really sucks that we are losing people that really cared about the community and are/were actually qualified to do the job. Andi Sharp and Mary Causey will be missed.
I saw this article today too and wanted to add talk about what Mr. Valenta was quoted:
This is only the perception of the new CDC president. He didn’t win “overwhelmingly”. I think only a total of less that 200 people actually voted. Out of a community of over 10,000. Can’t wait to see what they all really think. The membership is very small and we need to work on getting a bigger membership base so we can see what the real community thinks… anyway..
It cracks me up that the same people who were calling for Mr. Valenta to resign from the board only 6 months ago, are now standing behind him as if he’s the savior of Mt. Washington.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:54 am
Advocate:
I wonder what kind of membership CDCs in other neighborhoods have? Maybe it’s common to have the few speak for the many. A lot of people are busy with their lives and don’t want to commit to getting involved because they can’t make meetings, etc.
As far as staff turnover, I think that’s fairly common in the non-profit world. What isn’t and what should be cause for concern here is staff turnover without swift replacement.
MG
November 5th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
The MWCDC is in a precarious position now… Andi Sharp was truly a loss to the organization and the community. I’m certain part of the reason she left is because some of the board members would not let her do her job, and questioned everything she did, which is unfortunate, because she did a fantastic job. They just better hope Greg Panza does not leave, but if they keep abusing the staff, don’t be surprised.
Also, it’s not exactly a good idea when the new Board President is accepting donations sent directly to his house-hmmm…doesn’t really sound legitimate, does it?
November 6th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Agreed… donations sent directy to an individuals house? Who is THAT stupid???? The residents of Mt. Washington deserve better. Let’s hope that this type of forum will connect new people in our community, possibly mobilizing to make serious change in our neighborhood. I know that some say give the new president a chance but come on, doesn’t his track record speaks for it’s self. Who dismisses a State Senator from a local meeting and then in an attempt to appologize says that “we” made a mistake? “WE”???? I think not! Thank goodness office terms are only one year!