Drexel Launches New Professional Development ?Program for Nonprofits

Leading-Edge Nonprofit Network Kicks-Off with Oct. 22 Workshop on Starting a Nonprofit

PHILADELPHIA, October 6, 2009 — Drexel University’s Goodwin College of Professional Studies today announces the launch of its new Leading-Edge Nonprofit Networkcontinuing education programs designed to help professionals advance or change their careers and proactively plan for career success in the nonprofit sector.

Goodwin’s Leading-Edge Nonprofit Network is offered through on-campus and online courses, workshop events, webinars and blended formats, affording business sector and nonprofit professionals alike to enhance their existing skill set or update their knowledge in preparation for a successful transition from the private or public sectors to the world of not-for profit enterprises. Programs are structured to accommodate the educational needs of managers, program directors, grant-writers, volunteers, CEOs, board members, and other philanthropy professionals.

A kick-off workshop for the Leading-Edge Nonprofit Networkwill be held on Thursday, Oct. 22 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. “How I Started My Own Nonprofit: Social Entrepreneurship and Business Models for ‘Doing Good,’” will take place at the Goodwin College Seminar Room, 3001 Market Street, Suite 100, Philadelphia, PA.

“The beauty of Leading-Edge Networks is that we offer the opportunity to expand an individual’s knowledge base and experience in a continuing education environment,” says Dr. Rosalie Guzofsky, associate director of Customized Learning Solutions at Goodwin. “The Oct. 22 workshop offers an interesting look at the nonprofit universe and demonstrates how the Leading-Edge Nonprofit Network can assist those transitioning to, as well as helping those already in the nonprofit field approach their work in new and creative ways.”

Panelists for the Oct. 22 workshop include:

• Sister Mary Scullion and Joan McConnon, co-founders of Project H.O.M.E a 447-housing unit and three-business organization founded in 1989  to provide supportive housing, employment, education and health care to chronically homeless and low-income individuals.?
• Alice Bast, the founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization created in 2003 to raise awareness of celiac disease among the general public and the healthcare community.?
• Eli Massar, co-founder and acting director of Philly Car Share, a nonprofit car sharing organization in Philadelphia?
• Barbara Chandler Allen, founder and executive director of Fresh Artists, an innovative concept of student-centric philanthropy where Philadelphia children create art, donate images, and meet their financial benefactors in highly visible “corporate spaces of success.”?
• Jason Lutz, president and CEO of VILLA, a 23-store retail chain that sells youthful urban fashion and accessories that recently launched a campaign aimed at keeping teenagers on the path to college and a career.

• MORE ON
• EXECUTIVE ISSUES/PERSONNEL/EDUCATION