#60 Philanthropy Innovation Chat: Jeff Vega + Maria Vizcarronda - A Few Things - 52 Min

We discussed a number of things including: 1. State of philanthropy across the state and region 2. Examples of how foundations/nonprofits weathered the pandemic 3. Innovations across the spectrum worth highlighting 4. Outlook for the sector in short and long term Jeffrey Vega is the President and CEO of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, which has the mission of promoting philanthropy to advance the well-being of communities forever. With more than two decades of nonprofit leadership experience, Mr. Vega is an expert in creating social change through community building, leadership, and grantmaking. He has been honored and recognized for his work by various nonprofit and faith-based organizations and government agencies. Prior to joining the Community Foundation in 2015, Mr. Vega served as President of New Brunswick Tomorrow, an organization established to revitalize the City of New Brunswick through private/public partnerships. Mr. Vega is Board Chair of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and serves on the Board of the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce. He earned a bachelor’s degree in three majors, Urban Studies, Human Ecology, and International Environmental Studies from Cook College, Rutgers University, and a master’s degree as an Eagleton Fellow in Political Science/Public Policy from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. ---- Maria Vizcarrondo is the President and CEO of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers. She brings more than 25 years of experience transforming service organizations and has served her communities as both an appointed and elected official. In 2006, when he was first elected Mayor of Newark Cory Booker tapped Ms. Vizcarrondo to head Newark’s Health and Human Service Department, the largest of its kind in New Jersey. One of her first actions in that role was to develop a Children’s Bill of Rights to benchmark improvements in the lives of children and families throughout the city. Her accomplishments included securing state funding to establish Family Success Centers to provide neighborhood-based services, and launching a major citywide campaign to raise the immunization rates of Newark’s children. Prior to her mayoral appointment, Ms. Vizcarrondo served as the first woman president and CEO of United Way of Essex and West Hudson. Her pioneer work in re-engineering the organization’s mission into community building was documented in the United Way Transformation Diaries. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Ms. Vizcarrondo led the New Jersey United Ways in a statewide coordination of services for affected families and managed the distribution of corporate funding for these efforts. She was elected Essex County Surrogate in 1993 and served four years of a five-year term before leaving to join United Way. Ms. Vizcarrondo has been listed among the “100 Most Influential People in New Jersey” and was a founding member of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.