People

William A. Whitney has been named director of the Enterprise Foundation’s Cleveland office. For over 25 years, Whitney has worked to revitalize Cleveland and other Ohio communities. He was most recently associate director of the Lutheran Housing Corporation where he upgraded and expanded various housing programs. He also served for 13 years as executive director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, one of Cleveland’s oldest and most successful CDCs.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy named Sarah Di Troia as associate director. Di Troia will be responsible for defining and executing the center’s research agenda and creating new assessment tools designed to serve foundation leaders. Previously, she served as a principal of a venture fund focused on women- and minority-led companies, as vice president of ventures at Cambridge Innovations and as a director of marketing at Planned Parenthood of New York City.

David J. Cortiella is the new president of the Development Training Institute. Cortiella succeeds founding president Joseph McNeely, who served for 22 years. For the past five years, Cortiella has been the CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, a CDC and social service agency in Boston. He was director of the city of Boston’s affirmative action programs and the Boston Fair Housing Commission. Cortiella has served as the executive director of the Boston Housing Authority and as the director of the Mayor’s Policy Office.

Casey Family Programs named William Bell executive vice president of child and family services. He will oversee Casey’s direct services, outcomes and quality improvement work. Bell previously served as Commissioner of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services. He was also appointed to the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care this year.

Microsoft Corporation selected Akhtar Badshah as senior community affairs director in charge of its corporate-giving program. Badshah served as president and CEO of Bellevue-based nonprofit organization, Digital Partners, and teaches at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington.

The Community Development Partnership Network has commissioned NHI to produce a white paper on housing policy in weak market cities. In collaboration with CPDN, LISC and Enterprise, NHI’s research director, Alan Mallach will identify key housing market issues in weak market cities, the implications of these issues for housing policy, and the necessary housing strategies/policies to stabilize these housing markets. The paper will highlight best practices in housing for weak market cities from around the nation.

Terry McDermott was elected by the Homeownership Alliance as its new chairman. McDermott is the executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Realtors. McDermott has also served as executive vice president and chief executive officer of The American Institute of Architects.

Tony Proscio, co-author of Comeback Cities, will author a series of papers for the Enterprise Foundation that will promote lessons-learned from successful community development initiatives among practitioners, funders and policymakers. The papers will document and disseminate information on best practices, innovative ideas and cutting edge issues in the community development field.

The Housing Assistance Council has implemented the Rural Housing and Economic Development Gateway that will help rural communities improve their local housing and economic conditions. The Rural Gateway connects local government and nonprofit organizations to information, technical assistance, training and investment capital to develop, rebuild and preserve affordable housing in rural areas. www.ruralhome.org.

Two recipients of this year’s Paul G. Allen Foundation grants were: the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, Seattle – for the redevelopment of a historic schoolhouse into a cultural center and 37 live/work lofts for low-income artists ($350,000) and Oregon Health Access Project, Salem – to develop new healthcare access strategies for low-income children and their families ($120,000). www.fdncenter.org.

Recipients of Marguerite Casey Foundation’s three-year grants include: Arise Citizens’ Policy Project (Birmingham, AL) – $150,000 for community organizing, research and analysis to build a statewide multi-issue social justice organization to improve the lives of low-income families; National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (Los Angeles, CA) – $300,000 for Voces del Pueblo (Voices of the People) program, an initiative to mobilize 1,000,000 registered Latino voters; Southwest Youth Organizing Collaborative (Chicago, IL) – $375,000 for a network of youth, community development, organizing and family service organizations to assist young people in building positive futures; and United South Broadway Corporation (Albuquerque, NM) – $300,000 to eliminate barriers to credit, capital and homeownership for low-income families and advocate for stronger predatory lending laws, increase financial literacy through consumer education programs and raise awareness around fair housing issues. www.caseygrants.org.

The City of Chicago and its development leaders named Bethel New Life the Neighborhood Development Corporation of the Year. The award recognizes Bethel’s 25 years of innovative and sustainable development of affordable rental housing and public transit sectors in Chicago. www.bethelnewlife.org.

Fielding Graduate Institute, supported by the James Irvine Foundation, offers a 12-week graduate certificate program that teaches how to design and conduct evaluations of program effectiveness. It combines collaborative online learning with three classroom sessions (in Santa Barbara and San Francisco) and is in session from September 13 to December 11, 2004. Contact Debra Arviso at 805-898-2932 or daarviso@fielding.edu. www.fielding.edu.