Empower Success Corps Announces 2024 Cohort of Catalyst Fellows

ESC Catalyst provides mid-career professionals of color training and mentoring to become nonprofit consultants

Eighteen individuals from across New England have been selected for the second cohort of the ESC Catalyst program. This professional development fellowship will contribute to the success of New England’s nonprofits meeting community needs, while also enhancing careers by addressing opportunity gaps.

The goals of Catalyst are to:

• Uplift the sector – Nonprofits have expanded access to consultants of color who have both the technical and cultural expertise needed to help organizations improve their services.
• Build careers – Catalyst Fellows develop skills and a professional network to bring to their work whether in consulting, full-time jobs, or with nonprofit boards.
• Build ESC’s capacity to serve – Catalyst Fellows serve on ESC consulting projects as pro bono consultants, bringing their skills, cultural expertise, and lived experience to the wide variety of organizations ESC serves per year.

“After a successful launch of the program in 2022, we were pleased and eager to welcome the new cohort of Catalyst Fellows into the ESC family,” said Andrew Spooner, Director of ESC Catalyst. “The network that ESC Catalyst is building is a tremendous asset to the nonprofit sector.”

The Catalyst Fellows chosen for the program have a wide variety of backgrounds including health, youth development, marketing, education, nonprofit management, human resources, fundraising, and economic development. This year’s cohort includes Alexander Bezek, Doris Blanchard, Christy Egun, Eric Esteves, Damond Ford, Alisa Hunter, Marcia Kimm-Jackson, Alisha Rae Robinson, Dr. Michael L. Robinson, Delia Rodriguez-Masjoan, Carlos Rincon, Biram Saidybah, Klare E. Shaw, Keisha Sheedy, Shirley Tomlinson, Bianca Sigh Ward, Emie Michaud Weinstock and Amartya Zarate. Fellows hail from across New England including Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. (For more information on our Catalyst Fellows, visit the 2024 bio page.)

“ESC Catalyst provides me the opportunity to grow as a consultant and also understand the unique lens I bring as a woman of color,” said Alisha Robinson, an ESC Catalyst Fellow from Lebanon, NH. “Participating in the fellowship allows me to build relationships with other mid-career professionals of color, exposing me to a multitude of different career areas, while learning how consulting can benefit nonprofits serving different areas of our community.”

Catalyst Fellows participate in the training courses required of all ESC volunteer consultants, as well as practice workshops designed to strengthen Catalyst Fellows’ acumen with the business aspects of a consulting practice. The training, delivered by experienced ESC consultants and staff, includes consulting skills, nonprofit finance, nonprofit governance, strategic planning, and DEIB. These core courses give Catalyst Fellows grounding in the types of projects most often sought by clients. The program, which runs from January through June of 2024, will culminate in each Catalyst Fellow joining a team of experienced ESC volunteer consultants to work on an ESC engagement with a seasoned Lead Consultant.

“Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging has never been more important,” said Julie Crockford, President of ESC. “The nonprofit sector needs different viewpoints, perspectives, and lived experiences to make it stronger. We are fully committed to helping better serve people and communities that have historically been marginalized by integrating practices that support DEIB principles into our work at ESC. We feel ESC Catalyst helps us achieve this goal.”

ESC Catalyst is funded by The Brooks and Joan Fortune Family Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, ESC, and The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.