Neighborhood Service Organization's President and CEO Receives $50,000 McGregor Grant
Money Awarded to Support Sabbaticals for Top Nonprofit Executives.
- (1888PressRelease) October 21, 2011 - Detroit - Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO), a nonprofit human services agency, announced this week that it has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the McGregor Fund, an 86-year-old charitable foundation in metro Detroit, for its President and CEO, Sheilah P. Clay to take an 18-month sabbatical beginning October 2011.
Clay will take periodic leaves of absence for up to two months at a time during the next 18 months. The primary focus of her sabbatical will be organizational and personal leadership, health care reform, and youth violence prevention. This will include visits with national thought leaders and cutting-edge organizations, a volunteer internship at the Center for Disease Control Youth Violence Prevention Division, and joining Cross Cultural Solutions as an international volunteer working with at-risk children in Africa. NSO's longtime Chief Operative Officer William Weld-Wallis will assume agency leadership in her absence.
"I'm humbled and excited to have this phenomenal opportunity from the McGregor Fund. I will spend my sabbatical learning about new and innovative strategies and initiatives to continue to move NSO forward and meet the needs of the community we serve," Clay said.
The fund's board of trustees selected four recipient agencies, including NSO and Clay, to receive $50,000 grants as part of the Eugene A. Miller Fellows Program, an initiative launched three years ago that recognizes nonprofit leaders by funding sabbaticals for longstanding top executives of McGregor Fund grantees.
Each fellow designed a personal sabbatical plan that will relieve them of everyday responsibilities at their organizations and allow them to enhance skills and increase their knowledge in their respective fields.
"I expect to return with an even deeper passion and vision for the work of creating positive change in the lives of the individual and communities we serve as well as developing leadership skills in others," Clay added.
NSO offers mental health services, addiction treatment, early childhood education, crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs, youth violence prevention and much more to individuals and families in Wayne and Oakland counties. The organization's $50 million restoration of the historic former Michigan Bell Building is under way and will provide permanent housing for formerly homeless adults, along with support services and also will serve as the group's headquarters.
Clay holds a bachelor's degree from Spelman College in Atlanta and a master's degree from Wayne State University College of Education. She serves as board president of Farmington Board of Education, board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago - Detroit Branch, president-elect of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, board member of Behavioral Health Professionals Inc., and ConsumerLink Network.
About NSO
Since 1955, Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) has been reaching out to people across metropolitan Detroit by strengthening and empowering neighborhoods, supporting families and helping people in need. Over the years, the scope and variety of services offered have grown into a network of sophisticated, vertically integrated programs that have received local, statewide and national recognition. For more information on NSO, visit www.nso-mi.org.
About the McGregor Fund
The McGregor Fund is a private foundation established in 1925 by gifts from Katherine and Tracy McGregor "to relieve the misfortunes and promote the well-being of mankind." The foundation awards grants to organizations in the following areas: human services, education, health care, arts and culture, and public benefit. The area of principal interest of the foundation is the City of Detroit and Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. The McGregor Fund has granted over $200 million since its founding and had assets of $165 million as of June 30, 2011. Visit www.mcgregorfund.org for additional information.
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