Thirty Years of Leading for Results

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion is cel­e­brat­ing the 30^th anniver­sary of its Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship^®, a sig­na­ture Results Count^® pro­gram for help­ing lead­ers real­ize last­ing dif­fer­ences on behalf of chil­dren, youth, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. To com­mem­o­rate the mile­stone, the Foun­da­tion recent­ly pub­lished a book called Devel­op­ing Lead­ers that spot­lights the words and expe­ri­ences of more than 100 Fellows.

Since 1993, Casey has host­ed 12 Fel­low­ship class­es involv­ing 155 Fel­lows. The expe­ri­ence allows par­tic­i­pants to be ​“clear-eyed, delib­er­ate and even bold­er for the kids, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties who need their lead­er­ship the most,” says Bar­bara Squires, the direc­tor of lead­er­ship devel­op­ment at the Foundation.

Explore the book

Lessons From Work­ing on Behalf of Kids and Families

“Lead­er­ship is a key ingre­di­ent in the hard work of sys­tem trans­for­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ty change on behalf of chil­dren, youth and fam­i­lies,” writes Lisa Hamil­ton, the Foundation’s pres­i­dent and CEO, in the book’s intro­duc­tion. ​“The accom­plish­ments of the 155 par­tic­i­pants in the Fel­low­ship help us see how an invest­ment in lead­er­ship devel­op­ment is pay­ing off for young peo­ple and families.”

In short first-per­son essays, the Fel­lows share lessons focused on results, racial and eth­nic equi­ty, self-aware­ness, lead­er­ship devel­op­ment, col­lab­o­ra­tion and weath­er­ing change. They also dis­cuss career advance­ment and a com­mit­ment to real­iz­ing equi­table results by con­cen­trat­ing on spe­cif­ic and tar­get­ed strate­gies for those most in need. The fol­low­ing entries — edit­ed for length — of three such Fel­lows speak to the program’s impact:

• “I still prac­tice the skills that I learned dur­ing the Fel­low­ship and con­stant­ly reach for the tools in the tool­box that the Fel­low­ship helped me to build. The Fel­low­ship helped me to dream big, to say out loud how I want­ed to use my life to bring about results for the peo­ple I am called to serve.” — Anne Williams-Isom, deputy may­or for Health and Human Ser­vices, City of New York (Class 7) 
• “The Fel­low­ship has equipped me with the tech­ni­cal tools to be a results-based leader, and the adap­tive skills nec­es­sary to trans­form Pol­i­cyLink into one of the most results-based think tanks in Amer­i­ca.” — Michael McAfee, pres­i­dent and CEO, Pol­i­cyLink (Class 8)
• “The Fel­low­ship enables col­lec­tive action even as we walk sep­a­rate lead­er­ship paths by giv­ing us the gift of each oth­er as coun­selors, men­tors, con­fi­dantes, and fel­low ​‘good and nec­es­sary trou­ble­mak­ers.’ ” — Janet Carter, chief exec­u­tive offi­cer, Pos­i­tive Coach­ing Alliance (Class 6)

A Nation­al Net­work of Fellows

The Foun­da­tion main­tains a nation­al net­work of alum­ni Fel­lows. This group rep­re­sents a range of pro­fes­sion­al fields, includ­ing edu­ca­tion, juve­nile jus­tice, phil­an­thropy, child wel­fare, eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, hous­ing, men­tal health and research and eval­u­a­tion. They meet annu­al­ly to offer peer sup­port and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment while pro­mot­ing con­nec­tion and collaboration.

This com­mu­ni­ty of lead­ers is ​“col­lec­tive­ly com­mit­ted to change on behalf of chil­dren, youth and fam­i­lies — and com­mit­ted to each oth­er,” says Net­work co-chair Joe Miller, a Class 9 Fel­low and cur­rent chief of staff for orga­ni­za­tion­al health and effec­tive­ness at the School Dis­trict of Uni­ver­si­ty City in Mis­souri.

Oth­er notable Fel­low­ship alum­ni include:

• Doug Ammar, exec­u­tive direc­tor, Geor­gia Jus­tice Project;
• Fred Black­well, CEO, The San Fran­cis­co Foun­da­tion;
• Ryan Chao, pres­i­dent, Rails-to-Trails Con­ser­van­cy;
• Soraya M. Coley, pres­i­dent, Cal Poly Pomona;
• Glo­ria O’Neill, pres­i­dent and CEO, Cook Inlet Trib­al Coun­cil;
• Esther Shin, pres­i­dent, Urban Strate­gies, Inc.;
• Susan Thomas, pres­i­dent, Melville Char­i­ta­ble Trust; and
• Tony Thur­mond, super­in­ten­dent of pub­lic instruc­tion, State of Cal­i­for­nia.

“As a Foun­da­tion, we often speak of ​‘more than mon­ey’ when describ­ing how we invest in part­ners,” says Leslie Boissiere, the Foundation’s vice pres­i­dent for Exter­nal Affairs. ​“Our invest­ment in Casey Fel­lows is far more than mon­ey; It’s a life­long rela­tion­ship between the Foun­da­tion and the Fel­lows — as well as among the Fellows.”

Read Devel­op­ing Leaders

Down­load the Mak­ing Results Count report

Learn more about Casey’s Lead­ing for Results report