I recently wrote an article about how changes to the staff at The Contributor could affect the paper. The most notable of these is the transition from Cathy Jennings to Will Connelly in the role of Executive Director as of December 1, 2023.
Jennings said the search for her successor has been ongoing for about a year.
Why now? She cited the fact that she is getting older, and with new family responsibilities (she’s a new first time grandmother) she felt she was unable to devote the amount of time necessary to be effective as an Executive Director and wanted to have someone in mind to take the reins.
She said she wanted someone who shared The Contributor’s values, had a knowledge of grants, housing, and who understood the paper and its mission.
She said they had a number of people interview for the position, but none of them had all the pieces in place. They just weren’t the right fit.
Interestingly, Will DID NOT seek out that position. Why? He said he was busy, he wasn’t ready to make a move to another organization, he wanted to remain open to other possibilities ie non-proffit, government or something completely different.
In other words, he wasn’t sure what direction he wanted to go with his career at that time.
So how did he come to be here, and ultimately become The Contributor’s new Executive Director?
Upon hearing about his resignation from Park Center, Jennings actively sought him out.
He went through the interview process and that included multiple meetings with Cathy, then the executive members of the Board of Directors, then with the full Board of Directors.
His selection denotes a measure of logical reasoning in the sense that he was with the paper from the beginning at its inception. In 2007, he met Tasha French-Lemley who as a photographer was interested in the pictures of the homeless individuals she met. He was more interested in their personal stories.
They felt VERY protective of the things they had acquired, but they didn’t know what to do with them.
Some time later, they met Lee Stringer, the editor of Street Sense, a street newspaper based in New York City. Eventually they got a tool kit for starting a street newspaper from the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) and they, along with Tom Wills and Steven Samra, started a street newspaper of their own: The Contributor.
Eventually they achieved a 501(c)(3), a tax exempt status for charitable programs. Two years later, the paper was still staffed by volunteers. As a result, Will, had a day job at MDHA Outreach working with the homeless and the SOAR program (an acronym for SSI/SSDI, Outreach, Access, and Recovery). Then in 2009, they received a grant from the Tennessee Titan Foundation.
So what has he been doing since then?
He got a job in Washington, DC, doing more SOAR work. He left Washington in 2013 when he was offered a job as Executive Director of Metro’s Homelessness Commission where he served until 2017.
In 2017, he moved to Denver and served the homeless community there until 2019. From there it was back to Nashville, where he served as the CEO of Park Center from 2020-2023.
For the past 15 years or so he has worked to improve the plight of the homeless. He says he felt a clear calling to work specifically with and for them.
He is passionate about the organization and his main goal is to make sure we continue to focus on the newspaper. To that end he says he’s talked with everyone on the team to get a better understanding of what their roles are.
What would he like to accomplish in his role?
He indicated he wants to attract new people to the organization, and I’m all for that, but I also believe you should NEVER forget where you came from, and who got you there — a dance with the one who brung you kind of thing, but a change to the database has made that somewhat difficult.
He says he plans to listen to the staff, the vendors and the board members in an effort to continue printing a high quality newspaper.
Going forward he said he would like to see more direct vendor involvement.
I asked how he plans to accomplish that and he said he would give adequate notice for those interested in participating in activities related to the paper.
He mentioned the possibility of paying vendors for their time.
He said in the future he’d like to see:
- More vendors
- More outreach to those in the community in need of services provided by The Contributor
- More employment opportunities in addition to the paper for individuals in the program
Since assuming his new role he appears to be very good at delegating authority.
Doing so has resolved a long-standing problem with obtaining and maintaining subscriptions. I’m VERY happy about that!
Still other problems remain that in my opinion can detrimentally affect the vendors — the segment of the population that The Contributor is working SO hard to help.
For my part, I’ve made a few suggestions he noted are worthy of consideration in the future. He admitted that when he was with the paper in the beginning he, “wasn’t involved in the day to day, and that he, “was new to this.”
This is a cause of concern for me.
Shouldn’t the Executive Director of a program like this be familiar with ALL aspects of the organization BEFORE taking on the role of Executive Director?
Maybe he should seek out some mentoring from the former Executive Director and others who have been associated with the paper (much like Tom Wills is doing with Chelsea Jackson who is assuming his role) until he masters the little things. After all, “the devil is in the details”
The bottom line is: what’s done is done. I can’t change it, and even if I could I’m not sure I have a better resolution than what’s been provided.
While I DO have reservations based on my past experience in a similar situation with this organization, I feel it is in everyone’s best interest to work together as a cohesive unit to ensure The Contributor’s continued success.