BEST Kids is pleased to announce the appointment of John Palinski as Executive Director. In this position, John will run the day-to-day operations of BEST Kids, including managing mentor recruitment, support and training, supervising mentor-mentee matching and reporting and leading BEST Kids’ outreach and fundraising efforts.
John has spent the majority of his career in the youth development field, beginning with his AmeriCorps service in 2002, where he served at the National Runaway Switchboard, working through the Public Allies Chicago program. After his term of service, John was hired as the DC Program Director of Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP), a community-based organization committed to introducing youth to volunteer service through work with hungry and homeless people. At YSOP, John helped build a sustainable Washington program for this New York-based nonprofit. John left YSOP to pursue his Master’s degree in 2006, when he was chosen as the John Ben Snow Fellow in Nonprofit Management at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. As a Snow Fellow, John was responsible for coordinating four grant programs at the Central New York Community Foundation alongside his studies.
Upon graduation, John joined Common Ground Consulting LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in managing change for domestic and international NGOs. In this capacity, John traveled extensively, engaging clients in organizational assessments and board and staff trainings. This hectic travel schedule prepared him well for his next calling, as a Field Organizer for Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign. John’s work on the campaign began in Iowa and took him to South Carolina, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., Indiana, and Pennsylvania. In February of 2009, John joined BEST Kids’ staff as Interim Executive Director.
According to BEST Kids’ Board President, Todd Leibbrand, “John has brought to BEST Kids a unique blend of capacity, know-how and willingness to roll up his sleeves, which makes him exactly the right person to lead BEST Kids now.” In fact, Leibbrand continues, “he has already increased our cohort of mentor candidates, energized our fundraising efforts, and enhanced BEST Kids’ relationships with the city agencies that oversee the welfare of children in foster care.”
For his part, John says that he is “excited to come to work each day, and humbled by the stories he hears about our mentors.” He explains: “Talking with mentor coordinators, mentors, mentees, and their caregivers, I am continually amazed by the positive role our mentors play in the lives of these children. The commitment of our mentors inspires me to help support them in any way I can. I look forward to doing that, and to recruiting quality new mentors so that we can provide that support to greater numbers of needy kids.”
John’s Master’s Degree is in Public Administration with a concentration in Public and Nonprofit Management. He also holds a B.A. in Economics from Grinnell College.
(March 2010)
