The Arc of Essex County congratulates Senior Director of Children and Day Services Laurie Best and Senior Director of Adult Residential Services Rebecca Lorusso for their graduation from The Arc of New Jersey’s Leadership Institute program in November.
Best and Lorusso were chosen to represent The Arc of Essex County at the state-wide program, which included seven sessions over the course of six months, each focusing on a different aspect of leadership. Two staff members were selected from each Arc chapter throughout New Jersey to attend the day-long sessions, which took place at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. Outside of the group sessions, smaller teams of participants worked on capstone projects through the duration of the program.
The Arc of New Jersey Leadership Institute started with a bootcamp in April and was followed by a series of sessions with topics related to executive management of nonprofits, including titles such as “The CEO View,” “Working with Key Stakeholders,” “Human Capital Management,” “Financial Management,” and “Improvement and Innovation.” Arc Leaders from throughout the state discussed the challenges facing chapters, and capstone project teams, which were made up of representatives from different Arc chapters, worked on solutions together, culminating in a final project presentation at the November graduation.
“Each session was a deep dive and included in-depth working knowledge of nonprofits, tailored to be Arc specific,” Lorusso said. “In addition to building leadership skills, the experience also facilitated collaboration between chapters, and was really successful in creating those connections.”
Best said she was honored to be part of the program, which is setting the stage for a strong future for The Arcs throughout the state. “It speaks volumes of The Arc of New Jersey and The Arc of Essex County investing in the future, and its next generation of leaders.”
The Arc applauds both Laurie and Rebecca for their hard work and their graduation from the Leadership Institute.