Center for Progressive Leadership Announces...new leadership!

On July 7th of 2008, Haile Johnston, a community organizer in North Philadelphia and a 2007 CPL Pennsylvania Political Leaders Fellow, will be joining CPL as the new Pennsylvania State Director for the Center for Progressive Leadership.

When we started the search process, we were looking for someone who could bring a long-term vision for leadership development to the progressive movement in Pennsylvania, the management experience to build a sustainable organization, and the background to be able to engage new, diverse communities in our work.

In Haile, we found someone who could bring each of those things.

Haile has a diverse background working for progressive change in the for-profit, non-profit, and public sector. In all of his work, he has consistently found ways to use grassroots, community-based strategies to get new people involved in the fight for progressive change.

We were fortunate to have an incredible pool of applicants to choose from.

Elected officials, organizational leaders, nonprofit directors, donors, and political leaders recommended individuals, reached out to their networks, and spread the word about the job opening. Our alumni hosted state-wide conference calls, sent scores of emails, sent up meetings for CPL staff, and helped look under every rock for the kind of individual we were looking for. Almost 200 individuals were directly involved in the search process.

CPL has a strong network of support in Pennsylvania. Now, we also have a talented director to build on that foundation.

Over the course of the next several months, Haile will be reaching out to the CPL network in Pennsylvania to talk about the upcoming year, figure out the challenges and opportunities in the state, and lay out the priorities for 2008 as we continue to try and build a powerful movement of diverse leaders committed to a more progressive Pennsylvania.