AROUND THE CENTER
Students and Mandel Center Receive Honor for Strategic Planning Work
Case students Katherine Readey, Jennifer Carr, Amy Garrett, Katherine Bradley and Sara Nienaber VanSlambrook accepted the 2004 Community Improvement Award from Stockyard Redevelopment Organization (SRO) on behalf of the Mandel Center for the group's work with the organization. During the 2003-2004 academic year, the group of students worked with SRO, a community development organization, as part of the Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations course taught by Mandel Center Professor John Yankey.
Readey, Carr, Garrett, Bradley and VanSlambrook met with SRO's strategic planning committee approximately 10 to 12 times throughout the year in connection with this strategic planning process. The end result was that the students presented the organization with a strategic plan, which SRO is beginning to implement.
"It's nice to see that the plan is not just sitting on a shelf collecting dust but that the organization is clearly interested in implementing it," Readey said. "We all learned a lot throughout the process, but they also seemed to really benefit from the plan."
At the organization's annual dinner, Al Brazynetz, Executive Director of SRO, presented the students with a plaque for the 2004 Community Improvement Award, as well as a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Representative Dennis Kucinich and a certificate from Cuyahoga County Commissioners Tim McCormack, Peter Lawson Jones and Jimmy Dimora for the students' achievements with SRO.
Readey said that she is hoping, along with Carr, to continue contributing to SRO by sitting in on one of the committees aimed at implementing the strategic plan.
"We worked hard, but they [SRO and its strategic planning committee] worked just as hard," Readey explained. "It was a really positive experience all around."
