Table of Contents | Previous | Next |
About The Authors
Jodie Sue Kelly, has been active in social services for over two decades as a service provider, trainer, program operations specialist, and independent consultant. She is currently the President of Cygnet Associates, which she co-founded in 1984. She specializes in the application of market-driven strategies to employment and training performance issues. Over the past three years, MDRC has hired Jodie to provide training to many of the ERA sites. She has used training materials that she has developed throughout her career. However, some material has been developed specifically for, and with, the ERA sites. Cygnet Associates provides training for all materials presented in the ERA Toolkit.
Melissa Wavelet, Operations Associate at MDRC, has worked on workforce development issues during the past eight years. She divides her time between ERA and the Opening Doors Demonstration, a national study of community college innovations for serving low-income adults. Before MDRC, she was part of the workforce development grant making team at the Ford Foundation and a manager of education and training programs in the South Bronx.
Sharon Rowser, Vice President and director of MDRC’s Oakland Office, specializes in the delivery of technical assistance in the areas of welfare-to-work, programs for noncustodial parents, and employment and training systems. She currently directs MDRC’s work on the national project, Building Strong Families, and leads technical assistance efforts in several others, including ERA. Previously, she was the manager of DOL’s Welfare-to-Work Technical Assistance project and Winning New Jobs, a replication of a successful job search assistance program, and she was the operations coordinator for the national Parents’ Fair Share demonstration, which aimed to increase the employment and earnings, and child support paid by absent parents to poor families. Before coming to MDRC, she was a program officer in the Ford Foundation’s Urban Poverty program.
Frieda Molina, Senior Operations Associate at MDRC, has worked on the delivery of technical assistance in the areas of workforce and economic development over the last fifteen years. She divides her time between ERA and the National Work Advancement and Support Center Demonstration, a new project that aims to increase the income of low-wage workers. Prior to her work on ERA, she managed MDRC’s Neighborhood Jobs Initiative, a five site neighborhood-focused employment initiative, and before joining MDRC she managed a national sector-focused employment project for a national economic development intermediary.
Dina Berin, Operations Analyst at MDRC, has worked on the delivery of technical assistance in the areas of welfare reform and employment for the past four years. She has worked closely with several ERA sites and oversees the ERA Learning Community Website. She also has development and management responsibilities on a new initiative called the Enhanced Services for the Hard to Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, a national evaluation of programs designed to enhance employment outcomes for people who face serious obstacles to steady work.
| Table of Contents | Previous | Next |