This is a pretty amazing story put together by Fox 17 about 17 year old Timothy Crawford. Click here to view the video report on this very special kid who was recently honored as the Boys and Girls Club’s “Youth of the Year.” CNM joins the community in congratulating Tim!

O’REAR, WALSH NAMED CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTERS OF TENNESSEE

 Chris O’Rear and Chrissa Jennings Walsh have been named co-executive directors of the Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee (PCCT). O’Rear and Walsh have served as interim co-executive directors for the past 20 months. The PCCT board of directors voted to remove the interim designation and make the posts permanent at their February meeting. In their roles, O’Rear will continue to oversee the clinical side of the organization, while Walsh will supervise the development and financial part of the nonprofit’s operation.

Continue reading ‘Announcement from Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee’

Yesterday, “The Culture of Poverty” was the discussion on the NPR program, Talk of the Nation. Geoffrey Canada’s program at the Harlem Children’s Zone was discussed as a successful community-wide model designed to end the cycle of poverty.

As many of you know, Canada is CNM’s keynote speaker at the “Bridge to Excellence” Conference on May 12th. There is no nonprofit leader who better understands the struggle to lead a successful organization during a recession. Canada’s incredible organization received a significant level of funding from the Wall Street companies that are at the heart of the economic crisis. Here is a link to the 30-minute radio program. HCZ and Canada are discussed at the 20 minute mark.

In addition, Geoffrey Canada and Harlem Children’s Zone were featured on Good Morning America on Saturday. Click here to watch that report.

Those of you that caught President Obama’s press conference last night noticed the question from Mike Allen of Politico on the administration’s tax policy.  During the President’s exchange he discussed his reasoning behind the proposed changes to the charitable tax deduction. This issue was referenced by Congressman Jim Cooper at the CNM event at the Nashville Public Library a couple weeks ago and he said this is planned to go into effect in 2011 and will impact 1% of donors. Here is video of the exchange which begins at the 3:40 minute mark:

Post politics A.C. Kleinheider is not impressed.

CNN’s Bill Schneider: “Obama’s Charity Position Could Cause Fight”

WKRN reports on the Disability Law and Advocacy Center of Tennessee’s investigation of a Columbia nursing home:

An unfortunate casualty of the economic crisis; here is their official announcement:

The past year has been the most challenging for ReConstruct. It’s been especially tough these past couple of months as we “weather the economic storm.” ReConstruct has been affected in so many ways. Some we never saw coming. On March 10, 2009 after much discussion, the Board of Directors and staff agreed and voted to cancel all Summer, 2009 projects and begin the process of dissolving the organization. In looking at all the possibilities to survive, in reality there was no way.

Click here for more information.

Local coverage:
WSMV
Tennessean
Nashville City Paper

Here is the press release from the Mayor’s office:

MAYOR, METRO AGENCIES ANNOUNCE EMERGENCY VOLUNTEER DRIVE
Hands On Nashville To Coordinate Effort

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mayor Karl Dean, the Metropolitan Public Health Department and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management joined Hands On Nashville today as it announced its largest emergency recruitment drive ever, for more than 4,000 volunteers.

The plan, announced at a joint news conference, calls for Points of Dispensing, or PODs, to be set up across the city if there is an emergency, allowing the Health Department to quickly administer vaccinations or medications to large numbers of citizens. While the Health Department is responsible for opening these PODs in a public health emergency, it has contracted Hands On Nashville to recruit volunteers to help staff these clinics.

Continue reading ‘Mayor’s Office Collaborates with Hands On Nashville for Emergency Volunteer Needs’

 This post is part of a continuing weekly series beginning today previewing the topics that will be discussed at CNM’s May 12th Nonprofit Conference: Bridge to Excellence. Click here to register for this exciting day long learning event featuring keynote speaker Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone.

Dan Haile is a leadership advisor and professional coach, and principal in the firm Convergent Leadership. He is conducting the conference breakout session “The Leadership Acid Test: Are You Really a Leader?” at CNM’s Conference.

Road to the Conference: Featured Presenter, Dan Haile

On the popular 70’s and 80’s television series Happy Days, one of the main characters was Arthur Fonzarelli, AKA “the Fonz”. The Fonz was the epitome of cool, a smooth, motorcycle jacket-wearing, supposed tough-guy holding court in the midst of rampant teenage angst. While maintaining an otherwise impenetrable façade, the Fonz’s Achilles heel would occasionally be exposed when, confronted with his own undeniable foibles, he would be forced to proclaim, “I was WR – uh, I was WRRRRONNN…” The word “wrong” would become inexorably wedged in the Fonz’s throat like a sideways fishbone; Fonzie was vulnerable!

I grew up with a father who, like many in his generation AND like the Fonz, didn’t know how to admit a mistake. During my two-decade corporate career, I became aware of a similar, recurring flaw in management; aversion to showing vulnerability as a leader. Doing so apparently could compromise one’s effectiveness, and ultimately, risk one’s job and career. Today, many 21^st century organizational and corporate cultures mirror the similarly invulnerable, “know all the answers” personas of their leaders.

Continue reading ‘Road to the Conference: Featured Presenter, Dan Haile’

This weekend, NewsChannel 5 ran a story on a remarkable percentage of Habitat homeowners continuing to pay their mortgage in spite of tough times:

Despite tough times, Habitat homeowners are paying their mortgages. Mortgage delinquency rates at Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity homes have hit a 24-year low.

Mortgage delinquency rates at Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity homes have at a 24-year low of just more than one and a half percent.

Habitat homeowners are paying their mortgages and Habitat leaders have credited the agency’s Delinquency Committee and HomeWorks program.

HomeWorks is a series of classes preparing families for homeownership. The class covers financial management, the legal aspects of homeownership, budgeting, and other things including home maintenance.

 It’s been officially one year since CNM launched our blog, Nonprofit Connect. In the past year, we have logged 275 posts! We have evolved, focusing primarily on local news items about our community of nonprofits, opportunities for you to take advantage of, CNM news and events, and original blog posts from our consultants and trainers.

To honor Nonprofit Connect’s first birthday, I thought we would revisit our first welcome post, which asked for your input. Please use this open thread to tell us what you like about the blog, what you don’t like, and what you suggest we change or add. Post a comment, and let us know what you think!