Overview...

Held on Saturday October 28th at Georgetown University's Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Conference Center, this full-day retreat was designed to engage participants in a facilitated dialogue designed to determine the steps and strategies necessary for the formalization of an active professional national network for public policy professionals of color. The retreat was envisioned to build upon concepts explored at the October 14 COMPAS Conference and to concentrate the attention of public policy professionals on the opportunities for a professional national organization devoted to minorities in public policy.

COMPAS Retreat participants outline priorities and goals for formalizing a new network of policy professionals and students.

This event was the second phase of the COMPAS Project -- an initiative designed to address the needs for multicultural leaders in public policy. The COMPAS Project is coordinated by a multi-ethnic volunteer steering committee, many of whom are alumni of the Sloan, Woodrow Wilson, and Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship Programs from 1980-1999, and counseled by a special Advisory Board. CoMPP New York, which is comprised of minority policy professionals and public policy fellows, is supporting the New York Policy Conference.

Funding for the COMPAS Project and the retreat is made possible through assistance from Graduate Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University, AT&T, and the Academy for Educational Development's Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship Program through a grant from the Ford Foundation. 
 
 

Structure, Goals, and Retreat Agenda...

Structure & Goals

The COMPAS Retreat was designed as a facilitated discussion around the components of a national effort to promote multicultural policy leadership. The retreat was design to build off of previous attempts to organize alumni of Sloan, Woodrow Wilson, and PPIA Fellowships Programs in an effort to help retreat participants develop an action plan which will seek to coordinate the resources and expertise necessary to accomplish objectives as defined by the group in the interest of multicultural policy leadership. Attendance at the Retreat was by invitation only - 50 participants invited - to focus discussion on organizational issues. Participants were selected because of their previous involvement in policy related initiatives, as well as their ability to add constructive comments during the discussion at the Retreat. Retreat organizers also worked to build a group that was balanced on many criteria including geography, professional experience, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Retreat Facilitator
Erica S. Turnipseed
Consultant,
eSeed Ventures

Development, alumni affairs and organizational capacity building have defined Erica's professional career. As a consultant with eSeed Ventures, she provides assistance in fundraising, events planning and special projects to nonprofit organizations and other entities, with a focus on those that serve people of color. Current clients include educational nonprofits and cultural institutions. Additionally, she is the Associate Director of Alumni Affairs for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, an organization that provides educational remediation, enrichment and professional opportunities for students of color from middle school through college.
 

Erica has also served as an adjunct lecturer for Baruch College of the City University of New York. She was the Director of Donor Relations at Columbia Law School and has worked at the Citicorp (now Citigroup) Foundation and with Thirteen/WNET, New York City's public television station. In addition to her business commitments, Erica devotes much of her time to capacity building for growing organizations. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Black Ivy League Alumni League, Inc. ("The League") and is founder and co-chair of the "Five Years for the House" Initiative, a fundraising drive for the Afro-American Cultural Center of Yale University. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and graduate degree from Columbia University, both in anthropology. Erica is a native New Yorker and lives in Brooklyn.

Retreat Agenda...

8:00 AM	Registration
9:00 AM	Welcome & Opening Remarks - Brian Kenner, COMPAS Steering Committee
9:15 AM	Debriefing on Results of NYC Conference - Jean Lu, COMPAS Steering Committee
10:00AM	Facilitated Discussion & Group Exercises - Erica S. Turnipseed, PPIA Regional Conference Facilitator Exercise one: Common Lexicon Exercise two: What's in it for me? Exercise three: Open Space
12:00 PM	Working Lunch: Open Space Discussion
1:00 PM	Open Space Reports & Morning Wrap-up
2:00 PM	Overview: National Organizational Models
2:30 PM	Focus Group Discussions Mission Funding & Fundraising Membership Communication Strategy Strategic Alliances
3:45 PM	Focus Group Presentations with Action Steps
4:30 PM	Consolidated Action Plan & Closing Remarks - Erica S. Turnipseed, PPIA Regional Conference Facilitator - Kristi Guillory, COMPAS Steering Committee

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Retreat Discussion Highlights & Findings...
 
 

Background and Problem Stated

Potential Organizational Models

Findings & Action Items

 

Credits...

Retreat Coordinating Committee

• Dale Robinson Anglin, New Community Corporations 
• Kimberly Driggins, Ernst & Young 
• Burton Edwards, United States Institute of Peace 
• Kristi Guillory, U.S. Department of Health & Human Service 
• Brian Kenner, Ernst & Young 
• Elvis Lewis, Federal Reserve Bank of New York 
• Jean Lu, Hartford Investment Management Company 
• Guillermo Maciel, East Harlem Council for Community Improvement 
• Belkis Suazo, Graduate Center, CUNY 

Note - Professional Affiliations are Given for Identification Only
 

Advisory Board

• Lawrence J Chu, President CLEC Consulting Group 
• C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President 
• Simone Meeks, Co-Chair, 6th Congressional Health Advisory Committee 
• Dr. Walter W. Stafford, Professor of Public Administration & Planning