Tuesday, November 16, 2010
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership has hired John Wilson as the interim executive director of the agency.
Wilson is president of Progress Resources Inc., a nonprofit training and technical-assistance organization that provides consulting services to community- action agencies nationwide. He has the dual purposes of heading the search committee for a new, permanent executive for MYCAP and for reviewing the troubled agency’s policies and procedures.
The process is expected to take about 90 days but could take longer, officials said.
The Ohio Department of Development has been investigating the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership’s programs and finances for more than a year.
Fallout from the investigation into whether the nonprofit organization misappropriated funds and resources led to the firing of former executive director Richard Roller III in May. Lois Clark, former head of MYCAP’s Head Start program, was then named interim agency director.
Wilson, of Camp Hill, Pa., has 38 years of experience in community organizing, program development and operational administration. Before his position with Progress Resources Inc., he served 16 years as the executive director of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania, according to a MYCAP press release.
Wilson also served 13 years as executive director of a rural-urban Community Action Agency in southwest Pennsylvania. “MYCAP has a tradition of providing outstanding service to the Mahoning- Youngstown community,” Wilson said. “I intend to ensure we continue in that tradition.”
He said he would immediately begin to review and assess MYCAP’s internal working processes and status. MYCAP is a nonprofit agency administering 11 programs: Head Start; Early Start; Women, Infants and Children (WIC); Home Energy Services; Food Service; Home Energy Assistance; Senior Services Outreach; Dial-A-Ride Transportation Services; Emergency Homeless; and Life Skills Development.
“We are very excited to welcome John Wilson to our agency,” said Jamael Tito Brown, MYCAP board president.
“Wilson brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to the job that is very inspiring to the staff and community.”