The Business Journal asked readers to nominate people who have made a significant positive impact on their workplace and in the community. Here is one of the Impact Makers:
Laura Dewberry
Director, Center for Nonprofit Leadership, YSU Williamson College
Laura Dewberry exemplifies creating impact through her community engagement and service. She provides leadership for academic and co-curricular initiatives that engage students in our communities through service and philanthropy.
Laura is an integral member of the faculty at Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration. She collaborates with faculty across the college and the university on her service-learning/nonprofit initiatives, and through course development and delivery.
Positive, energetic and always having a sense of humor, Laura is dedicated to getting the job done.
Laura’s leadership of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, her design of the nonprofit courses and her leadership of our freshmen business course all focus on the same objective – building leadership capacity and engaging students in ways that make a difference for them and our community.
She is committed to helping develop our community’s next generation of nonprofit leaders and volunteers through activities such as our United We Care/Dare to Care volunteer days, student philanthropy, student projects and experiential learning. She developed a curriculum that enables our students to develop the knowledge and skills to be successful nonprofit professionals.
Laura’s contributions have already had a lasting impact and will continue to do so.
Our nonprofit leadership classes and activities have impacted many organizations, and the work of Laura and her students has resulted in philanthropic gifts, internships and student consulting projects. Most importantly, Laura’s work helps to develop the nonprofit leadership capacity for our region.
She developed a sustainable Pay It Forward Student Philanthropy Initiative that has extended 10 years after the initial funding from Ohio Campus Compact. Students raise the money and conduct the grantsmanship process from RFP through presentation of the grant. Over the past 10 years, the students have awarded approximately $60,000 to nonprofit organizations.
Laura also built the Student Nonprofit Leadership Organization, which involves students across campus in fundraising, community service, and nonprofit consulting.
Nominated by Betty Jo Licata.