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New VP at Catholic Charities USA will help ‘shape public policy’
By LINDA M. LINONIS
youngstown
Today, Brian Corbin begins his new job as senior vice president of social policy at Catholic Charities USA in the Washington, D.C., area.
He worked for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Youngstown for the past “27 years and two weeks,” he said during a recent interview. For the past 13 years, he was executive director for Catholic Charities Services and Health Affairs and corporate secretary/treasurer for the diocese’s Catholic Charities Corp., where he coordinated health and social ministries of the church. He also has served on national boards of Catholic Charities USA.
Though his location is changing, his mission through Catholic Charities remains the same. That is to provide services to the poor, be an advocate with and for those with no voice and to convene the Church and others of good will.
In the Diocese of Youngstown, Catholic Charities works in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark and Trumbull counties and operates three social-service agencies and a housing organization. Among services are adoption, emergency assistance, pregnancy and family-support programs, housing counseling, senior support, domestic-violence shelter and immigration. Statistics for 2013 note that Catholic Charities served 49,177 individuals with 71 percent of those being at or below the federal poverty line.
Corbin said he is proud of all the practical assistance that Catholic Charities provides and gratified it revolves around “compassionate service.”
“This is about living out the Corporal Works of Mercy,” he said. Those “charity toward our neighbors” practices are to “feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit those in prison and bury the dead.”
From his work at the diocesan level, Corbin said he knows “what works and what doesn’t.” In his new position, he will oversee the social-policy team and manage Catholic Charities’ advocacy and government-affairs efforts. He said he will use his practical experience and data amassed from Catholic Charities in the 170 dioceses in the United States to shape public policy through lawmakers.
Corbin said he has “the knowledge, backed by experience, to know what works and what doesn’t in the real world.”
In his new role, Corbin said he will be the liaison between Catholic Charities and the White House and Congress.
Orginally from Maine, Corbin said he “knew pretty early on that I wanted to work for the Church.” A friend who was a priest told him about a social-action and pro-life director position in the Youngstown Diocese. He applied and was hired. Corbin has worked with Bishops James W. Malone, Thomas J. Tobin and George V. Murry. His education — study of philosophy and politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., political economy at Massachussetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and organizational and educational leadership at Youngstown State University — gives him a broad-based background.
Work in Catholic Charities, he said, “finds a way to be active in charity and justice.” Corbin was involved in the community-work movement that morphed into the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University.
Corbin was involved in the formation of Common Wealth Inc., a nonprofit community-development corporation that focused on affordable housing and economic revitalization locally, and Common Wealth Kitchen Incubator, a commercial kitchen whose purpose is to lower the cost for starting or expanding local food businesses. He said that project works with Lake-to-River Food Cooperative, which makes food more accessible. “These efforts reduce food insecurity,” he said.
He also worked with Humility of Mary Housing on Eastwood Village, which provides affordable housing for individuals and families at risk. “I really learned a lot from that project,” Corbin said.
Corbin also has been involved with ACTION, the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods, and Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. Those activities, he said, have given him insight about grassroots efforts in communities and what concerns and issues are. He also worked on interfaith, ecumenical and community activities.
Corbin and his wife, Dr. Donna M. DeBlasio, are members of St. Columba Cathedral. She is a professor of history at Youngstown State University and a manager at the Youngstown Museum of Industry and Labor.