The blogpost, originally published on November 18, 2022 was the second of two articles about the future of leadership for Eastside Pathways and described the plans for the new leadership of the Eastside Pathways Backbone and Board. The blog has been updated to reflect recent organizational changes.
Eastside Pathways was founded in 2011 to bring community stakeholders together in a structured, collaborative way to support all children by strengthening the environment and resources. What began as an idea quickly gained traction; Eastside Pathways was established as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) by the end of that year to formally provide structure and integrity to the important work to come. It was a critical recognition of the importance of children and youth and commitment to the promise of organizational-based collaborative approach as a platform for systemic change.
One entity, two leadership groups
Historically, the Board oversaw everything: both the strategic vision of the Partnership, AND the financial and administrative functions of the Backbone. As the entity matured over the years, it became clear that the Partnership’s vision should, could, and eventually would be shaped by the community of focus whose lived experiences provide them with the necessary expertise and perspective. In 2023, Eastside Pathways capitalized on a ripe opportunity to actualize the community-based principles on which Eastside Pathways was founded by assembling a community-based leadership group to direct the Partnership’s future.
The goal is for the Partnership to be to be centered and guided by the community it seeks to serve.
As a recognized nonprofit organization, Eastside Pathways Backbone must still be overseen by a Board whose primary responsibility is to supervise the Executive Director and ensure the organization’s compliance with the governance and financial requirements described by state and federal laws. In the past, as many as 18 individuals, generally representing senior leadership of Partner organizations, served on the Eastside Pathways Board. Since the new Partnership Table will be taking on synthesizing the priorities of the community and providing critical information, the Board is now leaner to shift critical community resources from technical support to adaptive challenges as it focuses on the Backbone organizational and financial oversight. Appropriately, the newly streamlined Board is comprised of trustees who bring expertise in governance, administration/management, and finance. “It’s not that Eastside Pathways leadership is being disbanded; rather it’s coming into a new iteration of leadership,” said one trustee.
Eastside Pathways now has a new Executive Director, Kalika Curry, effective April 3rd. [In December 2022, Stephanie Cherrington vacated the position after over a decade in the role]. Kalika is responsible for overseeing the Backbone staff, execution of Eastside Pathways programs, financial management, fundraising, and stakeholder engagement.
The role of supportive funding: staying the course
The exciting transformations of the past and coming years would not be possible without the consistent financial support of funders who understand the importance and impact of collaborative, systems-level work, especially in times of change. It’s relatively easy to envision and state a population goal, but staying the course for community-wide, measurable progress towards those goals – the very work of collaborative action – is so much harder, particularly because the work carries across years and seeks to address adaptive challenges.
Eastside Pathways is grateful for the thoughtful, intentional support of many individual donors, private foundations, and public grants. Such generosity sustains a strong Backbone staff to engage Partners, facilitate convenings, and maintain momentum for collectively generated initiatives. Narima Amin of Global Social Business Partners explains why her organization is a Philanthropic Partner in this way: Eastside Pathways is really unique because it “has the relevant knowledge, power, leverage, credibility, and network resources in the community to advance itself and its Partner organizations.”
It may seem that the timing of changes to the Partnership, Board, and Backbone are coincident, but the changes are in response to the deep commitment that Eastside Pathways has to giving back the work and empower those most impacted. A new Partnership Table is emerging because the groundwork, which began in mid-2021, has been laid and the timing is right for community-based leadership. The Eastside Pathways Board has been streamlined because its responsibilities have been better defined. And the Backbone with Kalika Curry as its new Executive Director will continue to build an interconnected web to actualize the desired outcomes envisioned by and for the children, youth, and young adults of our community. Eastside Pathways Partners and Board are setting the open stage for an eventful, and even brighter, future ahead.
Read earlier article (part 1of 2): Modeling Community-based Leadership
Email info@eastsidepathways.org to share comments or for more information.