Organizations

In September, the U.S. Department of Education announced the 21 winners of $10 million in Promise Neighborhoods federal planning grants for 2010. The grants will help communities build “a pipeline of social, educational, and health supports that enable all children to learn, grow, and succeed from birth through college.” Winners include Abyssinian Development Corporation in New York City, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston, and the California State University East Bay Foundation. View a list of all of the winners.

People

Kenneth D. Wade will join Bank of America as the company’s senior community affairs executive, leaving his post as CEO of NeighborWorks America, where he has worked for nearly 20 years, effective December 31, 2010. In his new role, Wade will report to Andrew Plepler, Bank of America’s senior executive responsible for interacting with consumer and community groups. Before joining NeighborWorks America in 1990, Wade worked for nine years with Boston’s United South End Settlements. He participated in the development of the “Community Investment Plan” in Boston established by local banks and the Community Investment Coalition in 1990.

Terri L. Ludwig will become the president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners in January, succeeding Doris Koo, who will assume the position of senior advisor and continue to serve Enterprise and its mission from the Pacific Northwest. Ludwig has served as Enterprise’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since last fall. She has also served as president of the Merrill Lynch Community Development Company and president and CEO of ACCION New York, the largest nonprofit microlender in the United States. Ludwig will assume her new role in January, with Koo returning home to Seattle to be closer to her family.

The Surdna Foundation has named Shawn Escoffery as the director of its Strong Local Economies Program. Escoffery has served as the deputy director of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NONDC), and as the director of workforce development at Empower Baltimore Management Corporation and at the New Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey. He succeeds Kim Burnett, who served as program director from February 2005 to May 2010. Burnett is now a Denver-based consultant, assisting communities in the areas of community revitalization, economic development, and sustainability.

Mary Hanlon has been named vice president of policy and advocacy of the National Housing Conference. Prior to coming to NHC, she was the principal and owner of Hanlon Development & Consulting, working out of New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Portland, Ore. Hanlon also was a senior staff member at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Secretary Henry Cisneros.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has elected JPMorgan Chase executive Karen Parkhill to its national board of directors. Parkhill became chief financial officer of Chase Commercial Banking in 2006 after serving as a managing director in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, which she joined in 1992. She currently also serves on the board of regents for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago.

Joel Ratner, a former foundation executive and Ohio-based attorney, has been named president and CEO of Neighborhood Progress, Inc. in Cleveland. Ratner, who has worked in community development and advocated for low-income and minority clients in landlord-tenant and fair housing disputes, replaces the retiring Eric Hoddersen, who served as NPI president and CEO for 16 years.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General Kenneth M. Donohue is leaving the agency, and federal service, after nearly nine years of service. Donohue was confirmed in March 2002 after retiring from federal law enforcement.

Shelterforce mourns the passing of Shel Trapp, a Chicago-based community organizer who co-founded National People’s Action with Gale Cincotta. Both he and Cincotta are widely recognized for their work on the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act. Trapp passed away following a brief illness. He was 75.