Our strategic planning, and more Youth Catalytics news

A message from Melanie Goodman, Executive Director

Melanie Goodman

Over the last many years, I’ve helped lots of nonprofits with strategic planning, and so have an enormous appreciation for what’s involved in creating a plan that’s not merely done for planning’s sake - but one that is tracked, adjusted, and evaluated in real time.

So in this moment of extraordinary turbulence and change, to coincide with our 40th birthday, we launched into renewing our own strategic plan.

In December we surveyed people across the youth services sector: practitioners, partners, funders, young people, and more, all of whom had a wide range of experience with Youth Catalytics. We received a gratifying 70+% response rate. We compiled, synthesized, reflected, and ultimately presented all this to a team of 18 selected survey respondents.

In a pair of two-hour Zoom sessions, the team thoughtfully considered our presentations. We discussed where Youth Catalytics is strong, and where we need to get stronger and smarter as all of us in the field reckon with unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, coming at us today from all directions: extreme political polarization, the consequences of the pandemic, and radically changing social and cultural norms, all fueled by increasing technological complexity.

Out of this collaboration came our strategic plan, focused and concise - just two pages! Immediately out of that came The Foresight Initiative, an urgent, short-term exploration of the youth services sector in the US. Through this project, we will be reaching out to major practitioners, researchers, and young people to identify and synthesize trends, aspirations, and creative leading edges, to produce a better understanding of where we are and where we need to go.

If you would like to received a copy of our strategic plan or discuss how to get involved in The Foresight Initiative, just email me: mgoodman@youthcatalytics.org.

Welcome new Youth Cats!

We are excited to welcome these new members of the Youth Catalytics team. Together they embody an invigorated commitment to our priorities, strengthen our core capacities, and will allow us to expand our reach.

Kim Frierson, Training and Evaluation Specialist

Kim Frierson, DSW, CYC-P, earned her Doctor of Social Work from Tulane University and is a certified child and youth care practitioner with over 15 years’ experience in youth services. Through family mediation, case management, training, education, and staff support, she has worked with youth and families in multiple settings, including classrooms, shelters, and community organizations. Her passion lies in “helping helpers”, a role she filled at National Safe Place Network for eight years. Kim has traveled across the country as a trainer for policy makers and practitioners in a range of topics, including advocacy, ethics, cultural practice considerations, and trauma-informed care. Her primary areas of interest include diversity, equity and inclusion, anti-oppressive practice, reproductive health, training and implementation, and self-care and community care.

Barbara Floersch, Grant Writer

Barbara Floersch has more than 40 years’ experience in nonprofit management, grant proposal writing, grants administration, and nonprofit consulting. A frequent contributor to The Nonprofit Times, she has secured tens of millions of dollars in federal, state, and foundation grants; taught hundreds of classes; testified before the United States Congress on the reauthorization of the National Endowment for the Arts; and served as an expert reviewer in many federal grant competitions. Her newest book is You Have a Hammer: Building Grant Proposals for Social Change. She is also the author of Grantsmanship: Program Planning & Proposal Writing, the updated version of Norton Kiritz’s seminal work in the field. Barbara was chief of training and curriculum for The Grantsmanship Center in Los Angeles from 2011 to 2020, and has been a senior trainer for the Center since 2000.

Leah Massy, Grant Writer

Leah Massy has worked for over 35 years with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, school districts, business clients, and public relations and marketing firms throughout the United States. She has extensive experience in fundraising, marketing and publicity campaigns, grant and proposal writing, strategic planning, resource development and maximization, media relations, total quality management, collaborative development and facilitation, and community outreach and development. Leah has written requests for more than $86 million in grants, proposals and vendor applications, and has secured over $76 million in funding. She is a member of the LA n Sync Development Corps, an innovative partnership between The Grantsmanship Center and the Annenberg Foundation, managed by the California Community Foundation, that pursues funding opportunities for the greater Los Angeles area.

Doug Wilhelm, Communications Coordinator

Doug Wilhelm has been a writer and editor in Vermont for over 30 years, providing publication and communication services to a wide variety of nonprofits. A former Boston Globe reporter and trustee of the Vermont Children’s Forum, Doug is the author of 16 books for middle schoolers and young adults. His realistic novel on bullying, The Revealers, has been the focus of reading-and-discussion projects in over 1,000 schools, and Doug has talked with thousands of young people on school visits. His most recent novel, Street of Storytellers, won three 2020 national honors and was named a Notable Social Studies Book for middle schoolers. His newest book, Catalysts for Change: How Nonprofits and a Foundation Are Helping Shape Vermont’s Future, will be published this fall.

And finally, we hope you like our new website - another outcome of our planning process. Our goal was to simplify and re-organize the site, so that you can easily find what you’re looking for.