LIFT

Kirsten Lodal co-founded LIFT in 1998 as a sophomore in college and has devoted herself since then to guiding the development of LIFT’s innovative program model.

Kirsten LIFTs because she believes that we all share a drive and aspiration to succeed, and we all want to build a better future for our kids and families.  She also believes that we all need people in our corner to get by in life – not one of us got ahead without mentors, sponsors, and friends cheering us on in tough times and giving us guidance along the way.  She gets lifted every day by LIFT's amazing clients whose stories demonstrate what courage and resilience actually looks like.  Kirsten considers it a privilege to serve as LIFT's CEO, guiding the organization’s strategic vision, external affairs, policy, and national partnership efforts.

Kirsten is committed to changing the conversation about poverty and opportunity in the United States from one about arbitrary income thresholds to one about genuine well-being and quality of life; from one marked by insidious stereotypes about the deficits of "poor people" to one about harnessing the extraordinary talents and strengths of the people in our society who are finding a way to get by even in the toughest of times, often with the least support.

Kirsten plays a leadership role in numerous poverty-related policy initiatives, including Opportunity Nation. She is the Chairman of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, a powerful model for restoring childhood to children living in shelters.  She also serves on the Board of DC Greens, a non-profit focused on making healthy food more accessible through farmers' market incentive programs and seed-to-table education.  She is a frequent and passionate public speaker on the topics of poverty, economic and social opportunity, and innovation; Kirsten’s leadership with LIFT has been featured by the NBC Nightly News, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, and MSNBC.  She is the proud recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service.

Kirsten graduated from Yale University in 2001 and has completed the Executive Management Program at the Columbia Business School’s Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. She is the proud wife of Jeff Himmelman, an author and musician, and mom of their 1-year-old daughter, Billie.

Video of Kirsten Lodal:

• MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, 2011
• Speech from LIFT's Annual Spring Benefit, NYC, 2011
• Huffington Post Spotlight, 2010

At LIFT, Tony is chiefly responsible for directing the implementation of LIFT’s strategic plan and LIFT’s national operations and programs.  This includes management of LIFT’s performance, impact, and evaluation efforts, supervising LIFT’s field operations and ongoing program development, driving critical thinking around organizational and staff development, informing strategies that leverage and harness new technologies, and overseeing LIFT’s financial operations and budget.

Tony LIFTs because of a deeply held belief that our well-being as individuals and as a society is completely dependent on the well-being of the people around us. He LIFTs because of his belief that we have an individual and collective responsibility to recognize the inherent value, beauty, and potential of all people and to do what we can to mitigate the level of unnecessary suffering experienced by so many in the world today.  Tony LIFTs because he believes that when people have the opportunities to nurture, develop, and bring their gifts to bear on the world, the world is simply better for it.

Tony joined the LIFT team in 2007.  He has over 15 years of experience in organizational and business development, counseling and social work, IT consulting, and service to low-income communities in the U.S. and abroad. Tony received his M.S. in Counseling from Loyola College in Maryland. He completed his undergraduate work from, and is proud alum of, the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.  In 2010, the University of Dayton recognized Tony's accomplishments as an alumni dedicated to service; read the article and watch the video.

At LIFT, Amy is responsible for forming and managing relationships with funding partners, building the development infrastructure to effectively support the organization, and providing strategic thought partnership to executive leadership on development topics, particularly its various growth targets. Since starting with LIFT in 2007, Amy has helped the organization experience a 66% increase in its funding and built out a national partnership program for signature corporate and foundation partners.

Amy LIFTs because she recognizes that every person--no matter their upbringing or economic status--will hit hard times. In those life moments, we lean on our various networks to buoy ourselves to stable ground, but LIFT has found a way to systematize that buoying for people without that support network already in place. Amy is continuously humbled by the number of "LIFT moments" she experiences in her own life, and dedicates her time to a model that helps others through them.

Amy started her career as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, serving her country through a year of service. She is a graduate from Providence College (GO FRIARS!) with a double degree in Political Science and Public and Community Service from the Feinstein Institute for Public Service. It was in her academic training that she learned the true power of community and the impact of human relationships to transform society. Beyond LIFT, Amy currently serves as the Vice President for her alma mater's alumni chapter and previously served on its National Board of Governors. She was formerly involved with the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Education (CIRCLE), on the board of the Young Nonprofit Professional Network of Washington, DC (YNPNdc), and the advisory board for America's Promise Alliance.

At LIFT, Patience is responsible for developing and managing the long-term national communications vision for the organization. She serves as a thought partner to executive leadership on communications-related matters and develops and implements an annual communications plan that syncs with LIFT’s national strategic plan. She is the lead on developing, testing, and refining messages that are in alignment with LIFT’s brand, mission, and vision.

Patience LIFTs because of her own experience with poverty as a youth. Having grown up utilizing many public and community services, she knows first-hand the inter-generational and transformational impact that LIFT’s model can have on a community.

For nearly a decade, Patience has honed her skills as a communications professional through roles that married communications, program, and fundraising functions. She most recently served as the Associate Director of Development Communications at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and has held positions at leading organizations such as KIPP DC Charter Schools, Share Our Strength, and the Advisory Board Company. Patience credits her career in mission driven work to her being an alumna of the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows program, a program run by the Congressional Hunger Center. She is a founding board member of the Women Achieving Visionary Excellence Scholarship Fund, supports several local and national charities, and volunteers regularly at her church. Patience holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Hampton University (GO PIRATES!) and is a proud native of Washington, DC.

At LIFT Ben leads the overall development, strategy and growth in Chicago.  He formed and leads LIFT-Chicago’s Regional Advisory Board and oversees client service programming by directly supervising the Regional Program Manager and supporting the work of LIFT-Chicago’s Site Coordinators and volunteer advocates.

Ben LIFTs because of his steadfast belief in human potential.  Furthermore volunteerism has been hard-wired into Ben’s DNA by his family (his father founded the renowned volunteer-driven Wallace Medical Concern in Portland, Oregon when Benwas seven years old).

Ben is a Licensed Social Worker with nearly 15 years of direct service and non-profit management experience.  Prior to coming to LIFT Ben provided mental health assessment and treatment to individuals living on the South Side of Chicago; conducted policy research for the City of Chicago Mayor's Office; worked at a shelter for runaway and homeless teenagers and spent five years with LifeWorks NW in Portland, Oregon conducting outreach and home visits to families referred by the State of Oregon's Child Welfare Hotline.  At LifeWorks NW Ben also supported the HERO program which offered free, psycho-educational groups to children who witnessed domestic violence.  In 2007 Ben received a human rights grant from the University of Chicago to travel to Namibia to support UNICEF with initiatives aimed at combating violence against women and children.  This was Ben’s third time in Namibia, a country he holds dear to his heart.  Ben earned his Masters degree from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and Bachelors degree in Comparative Sociology from the University of Puget Sound.

With over 25 years working in the youth and community development fields Michelle Rhone-Collins has stood up for equity and access for disenfranchised individuals and communities. Most recently, Michelle was the Executive Director of The Children’s Nature Institute in Los Angeles, CA.  Under her leadership, The Children’s Nature Institute became a model for environmental advocacy, and justice and holistic community development as a lead partner in the Magnolia Place Community Initiative.

Michelle began her career working with homeless and runaway teens as part of the University Settlement House in NYC's Lower East Side. While there, she ran empowerment groups that taught participants community organizing tools to create both individual and systemic change. She has designed progressive youth leadership development, college preparation, and arts in education programs; directed a residential camp program for children from lower income urban communities; created a Hip Hop theater youth production that showed at the Bowery Ballroom, Central Park Bandshell, and Nuyorican Poets Cafe; developed service learning programs for immigrant youth; and organized a social justice and community service trip to the Punjab region of India.  As the Executive Director of a community center in Beacon, NY, Michelle led the charge to keep land from being developed so that it could be used for community purposes and worked to create a new model for gentrification by bridging relationships between new and established residents.

Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Duke University and Masters of Education in Psychological Counseling from Teacher's College/Columbia University with a focus on racism, racial identity, and mental health. She is also the proud mother of two beautiful children ages 8 and 11.

At LIFT, Josh is responsible for providing strategic, development, and programmatic leadership for LIFT-Philadelphia’s regional operations.  In addition, as a member of LIFT’s national team, Josh provides support in national communications and performance management efforts.

Josh LIFTs because, as the son of a clergyman and a social worker, Josh was surrounded by extraordinary role models who demonstrated the value and meaning of service.  His understanding of the transformative nature of service came during his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, West Africa, where his two years of service allowed him to engage and learn from community members in ways that profoundly and positively affected his career path.  While in Mali, Josh developed and implemented a successful model for a community-based women's savings and credit cooperative project and well as designed an after-school program for Malian children.  Prior to starting with LIFT in 2008, Josh had the opportunity to return to West Africa as the Associate Director for the Peace Corps in Guinea, where he built partnerships with Guinean nonprofit organizations and supported the efforts of Small Enterprise Development Volunteers throughout the country.  Before leaving for Guinea, Josh was the Director of Community Outreach with the SHARE Food Program, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit food distribution network serving families throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Josh holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a Masters degree in Intercultural Management from the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT.  Josh lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two young and adorable sons.

At LIFT, Maicharia is responsible for developing a local vision and model of engagement that empowers individuals and families throughout the Greater Boston-area as they seek financial security.  She manages three sites located in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville and a team of 8 staff and over 120 volunteers.  Maicharia also assesses and strengthens service-delivery to clients and directs regional fundraising strategies and initiatives. Since joining LIFT in 2009, Maicharia opened the first LIFT site in the city of Boston through an innovative partnership with the City of Boston and Circle of Promise.  The result of this partnership as well as expanded client service in Cambridge and Somerville, increased LIFT’s capacity to serve individuals and families by 68%.

Maicharia LIFT’s because she has witnessed the ramifications of systemic poverty as well as the transformation of lives and families when support, access and opportunity are provided to people seeking to reach their full potential.

Maicharia brings to LIFT-Boston nearly fifteen years of executive leadership and management, fundraising, community development, program management, and alliance management in the local, state and national nonprofit community.  Prior to joining LIFT she served as the Vice President of Fundraising and Marketing for the Whittier Street Health Center where she managed a $1.5M fundraising program and a $6M Capital Campaign. Maicharia also served as the Executive Director of the Organization for a New Equality.  Her service and leadership extend far beyond her profession with volunteer roles with Big Brother and Big Sister of MA, the Simmons School of Management Alumni Association, and currently serves as a founding board member for Mothers for Justice and Equality.