NWBCCC 2016 Gala

The Board of Directors of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition is pleased to announce two important transitions in the organization.  We have hired a new Executive Director of the NWBCCC and a new Director of Sistas and Brothas United (SBU).  Both hires are strong leaders who come from our membership and have been leaders in our work over the last decades.  Sandra Lobo, our current Board President, will be the new Executive Director of the organization.  Jean Henry, one of Sistas and Brothas United’s founding members and a long time youth organizer, will be the new Director of SBU.

This announcement of new leadership comes as the NWBCCC celebrates its 40th Anniversary of organizing for strong communities and social justice in the Northwest Bronx. As we celebrate this significant turning point for the Coalition, we are building on our tried and true member-lead organizing model, our strength in leadership development, and the solid community organizing work that has brought victories for social and economic justice to the Bronx for the last 40 years. In this time of renewed organizational stability our work is growing in scope and impact, and we are stepping into a promising future of struggle for social change that uplifts racial justice and economic democracy to transform lives and change neighborhoods. With your support and participation we will continue to build on the foundations of our model, while embracing dynamic new leadership and bringing fresh energy and approaches to our work.

We invite you to join us in celebrating four decades of victories and building towards the many decades of innovative and impactful work that lie ahead of us. Our 40th Anniversary Gala will take place on October 30, 2015 at Fordham University’s McGinley Center Ballroom.  We anticipate a wonderful gathering of our members, friends, and allies from the Bronx, New York City, and beyond. Please save the date! We look forward to celebrating with you. Detailed information will be forthcoming.

After a long and thorough search, we are excited to welcome Sandra Lobo as our Executive Director. She brings great vision, experience, and leadership to the position, as well as strong management and finance skills. Sandra has been the President of our Board for the past two years, and played a central role in leading the organization successfully through the transitions of the last several years. She has also played a key role in bringing economic democracy and racial justice into our organizational vision and our day-to-day work. In addition to her work as a grassroots member of the NWBCCC, Sandra has been the Director of the Fordham University’s Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice since 1998. Over that time she shifted its focus from charity to social justice and greatly increased its budget and impact. Sandra will step into the role of NWBCCC Executive Director on September 14, and will have a month-long overlap with current Managing Director Clay Smith.  I have stepped into the role of President of the NWBCCC Board of Directors, from my former position as Vice President.

Fernando Carlo has stepped down after 3 years as SBU Director, during which time he led our youth work with great vision and skill.  We thank him for his decades of service, and know he will always be with SBU. We are very excited to welcome Jean Henry as SBU’s new Director. He continues the SBU tradition of bringing former members into leadership roles in the organization. Jean was a founder of SBU, working closely with Fernando and other youth leaders in their early teens to start the organization in the late 1990s. He has had a wide range of youth and community organizing experience since his early days with SBU, including work at the Fifth Avenue Committee through the Center for Neighborhood Leadership, and at Directions for Our Youth in the Bronx.  He brings strong leadership skills, and a commitment to youth leadership, development, and power.

We are confident in the timing of these transitions, and in the stability provided by the strength and depth of our current staff and board.  But more importantly, we are excited to move homegrown talent into the staff leadership of theNWBCCC.  Both Sandra and Jean are grounded in our historic commitment to member leadership, direct action, and building community power. And each has a deep commitment to our newer organizing framework of working for economic democracy and racial justice through intergenerational organizing.  We are inspired and hopeful about all their leadership will bring to the NWBCCC.

Sincerely,

Chhaya Chhoum

President, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition