With a mission to combat poverty and expand opportunity for all Americans, LIFT currently runs centers staffed by trained volunteers in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. to serve low-income individuals and families. LIFT clients and volunteers work one-on-one to find jobs, secure safe and stable housing, make ends meet through public benefits and tax credits, and obtain quality referrals for services like childcare and healthcare. Simultaneously, the LIFT experience pushes volunteers to grapple with our country’s most challenging issues related to poverty, race, inequality, and policy. Since LIFT’s founding, over 5,000 volunteers have served more than 30,000 individuals and families. By 2015, 10,000 LIFT volunteers will have advanced 150,000 clients on their path toward economic security and personal success. LIFT is a member of the venture philanthropy portfolios of New Profit, Robin Hood (NYC), and CharityWorks (DC), and a proud partner of the AmeriCorps program.
Lodal is a frequent public speaker on such topics as social entrepreneurship, program evaluation, and civic engagement. She is committed to strengthening the nonprofit sector as a whole by participating in numerous service- and poverty-related policy working groups, coaching leaders of emerging social ventures, and actively serving as the Chair of the Board of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (HCPP). Her leadership with LIFT has been featured by NBC Nightly News, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and CNN, and she has received numerous honors for her work, including the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service. In 2009, she was honored to be selected as a Scholar at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival.
Lodal 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 currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jeff Himmelman, who is an author and musician.
