Introducing Your 2011 YNPN.GR Leadership Awards Winners

Congratulations to the 2011 Leadership Award nominees.

YNPN's Good to Great award

Becky Reed Missad

Organization (s): Camp O'Malley

Title (s): Director

I am passionate about Camp O’Malley because I see firsthand how important it is for all youth to have access to adventurous, educational, and memorable childhood experiences like attending a summer Camp. With the increase in poverty, technology, childhood obesity, and less access to nature, all youth deserve an experience that allows them to engage in play, try something new, challenge themselves, meet new people, and be mentored by a caring set of staff.  Read More

YNPN's Advocate award

Victoria Sluga

Organization (s): Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services contracted to Genesis Nonprofit Housing Corporation

Title (s): Residents Support Coordinator/ Adjunct Therapist

I am an advocate and social worker. I am passionate about those with complex needs (whether a mental health condition, substance use addiction, low income, poor health, trauma survivor, etc.) impacted by lack of stable housing. It is their life stories that compel me to share their strength, pain, sense of community and the deep injustice they experience and use it to create system change on a micro to macro- level. I have the skills to act in both worlds as well as teach/model how to do it. Grand Rapids is fortunate to have many leaders who are “fighting the good fight” in housing and mental health supports but we have a long way to go in offering permanent housing. An instrumental position in my life was Project Manager with the Coalition to End Homelessness drafting the Vision to End Homelessness, KentCounty’s plan to end homelessness in 10 years. I coordinated more the 700 people in the process through meetings at Hardtimes Café, community focus groups, surveys, meeting with community leaders and action teams that serve as the basis for the 10-year plan. Read More

YNPN’s Edison Award

Tiffany Falcon-Ewigleben

Organization (s): Center For Inquiry-Michigan-Service Committee Member/ Department of Experiential Learning (DEL) at GRCC

Title (s): Publicity Assistant-CFI-MI / CSWS Program Coordinator/Staff Assistant-DEL

I am passionate about Center For Inquiry (CFI) because of the support and community it provides not only for me, but for anyone who chooses to participate in their events. I am passionate about the services CFI provides in Michigan, because they so strongly align with my personal ideology. Through lectures, outreach, and community engagement, I’ve been able to develop as a professional in the non-profit sector and change others perspective of those who are not part of a religious community. CFI’s focus is on science, reason and secular values. Science and reason are clear-cut, but sometimes people don’t realize that secular values are in essence human values. Things like hope, caring, love and goodness are inherent within everyone. Read More

YNPN's DoGooder Award

Michael Tuffelmire

Organization (s): Until Love is Equal, Friends of Transit, East Hills Council of Neighbors, West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Title (s): volunteer and board member

Until Love is Equal. This organization has become one of the most rapidly mobilized and effective grassroots movements in West Michigan history. I take my role as a heterosexual ally seriously in this community. The June 15th vote in Holland was more than just a refusal of the city to place the LGBT community under protection from discrimination. It was a wakeup call. We are too advanced in our civilization for local government officials not to protect their citizens. This decision can also have major economic consequences for our region. The issue of LGBT rights is a hotbed of debate in our country right now. What some citizens in West Michigan might not know is that there is major battle happening in Holland right now. I have attended many of these council meetings. The grotesque things I hear human beings say about other human beings is enough to make anyone nauseous. Hate cannot be tolerated for any reason. Read More

YNPN's Exemplary Executive

Sara Binkley-Tow

Organization (s): MomsBloom, Inc.

Title (s): Executive Director

On April 5, 2001, my life was transformed in ways I could never predict with the birth of my daughter. When she was born, I was expecting the euphoria that everyone talked about, instead I felt scared, insecure, and overwhelmed. I would have moments of intense love for my child, but that feeling would soon be overtaken by anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and intrusive thoughts. I feared being judged, so I refrained from telling anyone about what I was experiencing, even my husband. It was not until much later that I learned that I was suffering from postpartum depression, an illness that can strike anyone regardless of family history. I soon realized that others were suffering like me…in silence. This was a reality I could not accept. Read More

YNPN's Grantmaking Guru (Pair)

Cris Kooyer

Organization (s): Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Title (s): Youth and Education Program Officer

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation is truly about growing community—and this includes the community’s young people. I work with the Youth Grant Committee, our education grant-making programs, and the new Challenge Scholars program. Each of these programs create opportunities for young people to thrive. Read More

Ruth Bishop

Organization (s): Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Title (s): Education Program Officer

I hold the Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s mission “to build and manage our community’s permanent endowment and lead the community to strengthen the lives of its people” in high regard and support it one hundred percent. I also feel honored to work with a staff that represents a wide knowledge of the community, as well as commitment to supporting a variety of interest areas through thoughtful, compassionate, and inclusive grantmaking. I am proud to be a part of the program staff team. Read More

The Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year

Matthew Downey

Organization (s): Johnson Center for Philanthropy at GrandValleyStateUniversity

Title (s): Nonprofit Services Program Director

Working for a nonprofit organization is one of the most challenging professions. I know this first-hand because I have worked in the sector for twenty years. I took my first nonprofit administrative position at the age of eighteen and I never looked back. I consider myself a “nonprofit sector lifer.” In my current position as Nonprofit Services Program Director at GVSU’s JohnsonCenter for Philanthropy I frequently have the opportunity to speak to groups of business professionals about the nonprofit sector. I tell them that running a nonprofit organization is far more difficult than running a for-profit business. My reasoning is that many (if not most) of the sector’s organizations work on tremendously complicated issues in difficult environments and with few resources. Passion and tenacity are the fuels that run thousands of organizations every day. At some point all organizations need assistance to help them address the challenges they face. Over the past year, I have led an effort at the Johnson Center to develop an array of services that help nonprofit leaders navigate some of the more complicated aspects of their jobs. Read More

YNPN's Resource award 

The Heart of West Michigan United Way

Over the course of the past year, the United Way has been an exceptional partner with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Grand Rapids. We recognize them for their significant support by honoring them with the Resource Award.