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“We believe in the power of youth and communities to transform themselves. Our job is to give them the tools, training and technical assistance they need to succeed.” — Wendy Wheeler, President, Innovation Center |
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Core Staff andOperational Partners |
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The Innovation Center is composed of core staff in Maryland, Florida, and California as well as consultants, part time staff, and operational partners across the U.S. and in countries around the world. The diversity and strength of these partners as individuals and as a group define the Innovation Center Core StaffPresident & Chief Executive Officer, Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development
wwheeler@theinnovationcenter.org
Vice-President of the Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development Hartley provides operational leadership and management to all the Innovation Center’s initiatives, focusing especially on the areas of evaluation, research, and strategic planning. Hartley also leads the day to day business operations of the Innovation Center. Hartley brings 15 years of experience working in the fields of non-formal education, international development, and youth and community development. Prior to her work with the Innovation Center, she was with Florida State University as a Research Associate working to improve the lives of marginalized youth and communities in the areas of juvenile justice, youth development and education. hwensing@theinnovationcenter.org
Director, Administrative Services Trenny oversees and coordinates all of the Innovation Center’s administrative functions, including human resources, contract management, accounting, and general office procedures. Trenny is invaluable not simply for her organizational and office management skills but also for the knowledge and experience she brings from 10 years of experience with the Innovation Center, since its inception as a division at the National 4-H Council through its evolution as a project of the Tides Center to the organization’s complete independence on April 1, 2004. tjefferson@theinnovationcenter.org
Project Coordinator Lisa builds partnerships and assists in fundraising as part of the external relations team. She also provides leadership on product distribution, conferences and constituent management efforts. Lisa is a graduate of Frostburg State University with a degree in Sociology. She is deeply committed to a career in child advocacy and before arriving at the Innovation Center, completed an internship at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). lmaholchic@theinnovationcenter.org
Operational PartnersJohnel Barcus Sage Quest Associates Lead evaluator, Charting Community Connections Sage Quest Associates, based in Browning, MT on the Blackfeet Reservation, offers Social Science Research, Evaluation, Grant Writing and Strategic Planning. Since the establishment of the company in 1998, the owner, Dr. Johnel H. Barcus, has worked on various contracts in Indian country, as well as with the Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development. Dr. Barcus is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and received her Doctorial of Education Degree in 1997 at Montana State University-Bozeman. For further information or inquiries, Dr. Barcus can be reached at P.O. Box 2228, Browning, MT 59417. johnelh@3rivers.net Dr. Linda Camino University of Wisconsin, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and Camino & Associates Lead evaluator, Service-Learning for Community Change lcamino@facstaff.wisc.edu Dr. Hanh Cao Yu Social Policy Research Associates Lead evalutor, civic activism hanh_cao_yu@spra.com Lucinda Garthwaite Goddard College Writer Lucinda (Cindy) Garthwaite is a writer and directs the Individualized BA and Bachelor of Fine Arts Programs at Goddard College. Lucinda participated in the Innovation Center’s Youth Leadership for Development Initiative through her involvement in Outright, a youth-adult collaborative organization in Portland, Maine, and has written several reports and articles about the Innovation Center’s work in community and youth development. She holds a MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and a M.Ed in Counseling from the University of New Hampshire. 207-283-0388 Melanie Goodman New England Network for Child, Youth, & Family Services Evaluation lead, Information management mgoodman@nenetwork.org Dr. Richard Lerner Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University Director Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute. A developmental psychologist, Lerner received a Ph.D. in 1971 from the City University of New York. He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Society. Prior to joining Tufts University, he was on the faculty and held administrative posts at Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Boston College, where he was the Anita L. Brennan Professor of Education and the Director of the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships. During the 1994-95 academic year, Lerner held the Tyner Eminent Scholar Chair in the Human Sciences at Florida State University. Lerner is the author or editor of 56 books and more than 385 scholarly articles and chapters. He edited Volume 1, on “Theoretical models of human development,” for the fifth edition of the Handbook of Child Psychology, is the editor (with Laurence Steinberg) of the second edition of the Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, and is the editor (with Francine Jacobs and Donald Wertlieb) of the four-volume Handbook of Applied Developmental Science. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and of Applied Developmental Science. He is known for his theory of, and research about, relations between life-span human development and contextual or ecological change. He has done foundational studies of adolescents’ relations with their peer, family, school, and community contexts, and is a leader in the study of public policies and community-based programs aimed at the promotion of positive youth development. richard.lerner@tufts.edu Heather Lewis-Charp Social Policy Research Associates Lead evaluation trainer on civic activism Heather Lewis-Charp is a Social Scientist at Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) in Oakland, California. Ms. Lewis-Charp specializes in qualitative and ethnographic research methods, and has content-area expertise in racial and cultural identity development, intergroup relations, youth development and civic engagement. Ms. Lewis-Charp’s has managed several large evaluations of civic activism projects, such as SPR’s evaluation of the Youth Leadership for Development Initiative. Ms. Lewis-Charp also has experience providing technical assistance and training, and she directs the Planning and Evaluation Resource Center’s (PERC) community of interest on civic activism and evaluation. heather@spra.com Roger Rennekamp University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service Author, Reflect and Improve Tool Kit Roger Rennekamp is a Professor in the Department of Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky. In that role he coordinates program development and evaluation activities for the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and is recognized nationally as an expert in using logic modeling as a program development framework. He currently serves as project evaluator for a number of grant-funded projects and routinely provides technical assistance to faculty and staff on evaluation issues. His research interests include examinations of the role of young people in community change. Dr. Rennekamp earned his Ph.D. in Extension Education from The Ohio State University in 1987. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky and a Master’s Degree from Morehead State University. rrenneka@uky.edu Jan Richardson Independent Consultant Consultant, Organizational development Jan Richardson is an independent consultant living in Orlando, Florida. She provides training and technical assistance in many phases of organizational development to a variety of community-based and traditional organizations. Jan has a B.A. in sociology from Middlebury College (Vermont) and an MBA from the University of Central Florida. She spent several years working with both national and local units of Girl Scouts of the USA as a program and management consultant, and was the CEO of the Girl Scout Council in Central Florida for 12 years. Her Innovation Center projects have included training the IC’s National Cadre of Trainers; analyzing IC systems and writing/rewriting operational procedures; revising the IC’s Building Community Tool Kit and designing/delivering youth/adult partnership and community building workshops for various IC partners. Carla Roach Independent Consultant Author, Learning and Leading Tool Kit croach@stanford.edu Patrick Snead Infosys Networks Network Engineer psnead@infosysnetworks.com Dr. Wendy Stivers University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service Trainer, Cooperative Extension Service Wendy Stivers has long been interested in involving youth in creative problem solving at the community level. Growing up in a small rural Kentucky community, and organizing 4-H global education efforts, have helped her develop a strong sense of “community roots” and “global wings.” Through offering “Building Community” and “Youth-Adult Partnership” trainings to youth and educators throughout Kentucky, she hopes to develop Kentucky citizens with the same “roots and wings.” Her B.S. and M.S. are from the University of Kentucky and her Ph.D is from The Ohio State University. Wendy has 28 years of experience in the Cooperative Extension Service. wstivers@uky.edu Amy Sutnick Plotch Amy Sutnick Plotch Communications Communications Consultant Amy Sutnick Plotch Communications designs and implements strategic communications programs. They combine thorough understanding of clients’ goals with an external perspective, imaginative ideas and drive. The result is carefully honed campaigns that position clients for success. Amy Sutnick Plotch brings several years of experience as a communications director for national and local organizations including Girls Inc., Planned Parenthood of New York City, and the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice. She is on the faculty of NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where she teaches a course on strategic communications. amy@amyplotch.com Douglas Tanner New England Network for Child, Youth, & Family Services Trainer, ImProve Tool Kit Doug Tanner, M.Ed, LSW, has over ten years’ experience designing, modifying, and implementing data management plans specifically for multi-service nonprofit agencies. For the last year, he has been conducting information management consultation and other technical assistance duties for New England Network for Child, Youth & Family Services as Coordinator of Project ImProve (an information management and agency outcome measurement pilot project). Doug has extensive experience in transitional living for youth and adults, pregnant and parenting teen residential programming, street outreach, adolescent group home work, family shelters, grant administration, program development, budget development, and grant reporting (including database management). dtanner@crocker.com Roger S. Todd Todd Accounting and Business Services Accounting, Financial reporting and payroll rstodd@rcn.com Beth Tucker University of Arizona, Coconino County Cooperative Extension Lead trainer and Building Community consultant tucker@ag.arizona.edu © 2007 Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development  |
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As
a president and a founder of the Innovation Center for Community and
Youth Development, Wendy seeks out, nurtures, and brings to scale exceptional
strategies to support young people, strengthen communities, and promote
social justice. An expert in training and organizational development,
Wendy consults for organizations, universities, and philanthropic institutions.
Prior to founding the Innovation Center, she held leadership posts at
the YMCA, YWCA, Girl Scouts of the USA, and National 4-H Council. She
serves on Advisory Boards for the Center for Information and Research
on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland, the
Journal of Applied Developmental Science, the Encyclopedia of Youth
Activism, and the New England Network of Youth Services. She has written
numerous articles for both practitioners and academics, including an
article on youth development and civic engagement for the 2003 Handbook
of Applied Developmental Science. Wendy is an International Fellow and
visiting professor in Applied Developmental Science at Tufts University.