Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I am writing to share with you some news that is both bittersweet and exciting for me. After 15 wonderful years at the helm of the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA) I have accepted a new position as the CEO & President of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC). This new role brings together my academic and career background in urban planning and community development and my organizational and leadership skills honed as MSA’s CEO over the past 15 years. I am both excited for the new challenge and sad to be leaving my terrific MSA and National Service family.
It has been a tremendous honor to be a member of the service and volunteerism world in Massachusetts and across the country for the past 15 years. I have had the pleasure of working with a team at MSA of extraordinary professionals who care deeply about service and volunteerism and who approach their work with such integrity and care. Having the ability to support the incredible AmeriCorps and Commonwealth Corps members and volunteers as they stand up to serve in our Massachusetts communities every day has fed me and sustained me during my tenure at MSA. Being able to strengthen hundreds of organizations across the state through grants and capacity-building support so they can effectively engage volunteers and Corps members to help meet their mission is such important work. I have also relished the opportunity to be part of a strong national movement and build connections with so many dedicated and passionate State Service Commission and National Service leaders through our work with America’s Service Commissions (ASC) and Voices for National Service.
I am so proud of where MSA is in its evolution. We have grown our staff, resources, program partners, and portfolio of grantees and host sites over the past 15 years. We have been doing intentional work internally and externally to be a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive State Service commission. We have maximized AmeriCorps Agency resources to support innovative programs across the Commonwealth that are addressing critical needs in our communities. We offer a continuum of ways to interact with and benefit from MSA resources from one-day trainings, a bi-annual conference, Service Enterprise Certification, volunteer generation mini-grants, hosting Commonwealth Corps members, AmeriCorps Planning grants, and AmeriCorps operational grants.
There is a lot of work still to be done – coming out of the worst of the pandemic, we are all experiencing struggles with recruitment for Corps members and volunteers at a time when the need for increased capacity in communities is so high. But the field is sharing best practices and we are all thinking differently about how to message to, engage, and support the next generation of service members. And that is exciting and critically necessary work.
I will be wrapping up my time at MSA in July and joining the MACDC team at the end of August. The MSA Board is working on a transition plan, but we have an incredible team at MSA so I know the work will go on without a pause. I am leaving a healthy, strong organization that is well positioned to continue the important work of engaging and supporting Corps members and volunteers to help organizations across the Commonwealth serve their communities.
Please stay in touch and I look forward to working with many of you in my new role at MACDC.
Warm regards,
Emily Haber
