Brenda Palms Barber Chief Executive Director
773-638-1805
Brenda is responsible for leadership and vision as well as managing development, human and financial resources, and programs. She is responsible for developing and maintaining the many diverse internal and external relationships needed to meet both employer and resident needs. She also represents the views and experience of the Network in forums designed to influence the systems and policies that affect employment and economic opportunity in North Lawndale. These forums include the State Workforce Investment Board Ex-Offender Employability Committee, Seventh District Congressman Danny Davis’ policy committee on ex-offenders, and the Executive Committee of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s State Re-entry and Public Safety Committee. She also represents the Network’s interests with Cook County Commissioner Bobbi Steele and was instrumental in helping the Commissioner to craft and pass an ordinance promoting the employment of formerly incarcerated individuals with the County. She also serves on the board of directors for the Lawndale Business Local Development Corporation, and chairs the Social Justice and Political Action Committee at her church. She is passionate about justice, equality, and human rights.
Since becoming the first Executive Director of the Network, Brenda has expanded its community outreach and membership and begun to implement a sectoral approach to workforce development. Under her leadership, the Network has grown to a $1.3 million agency, won the federal Going Home pilot program in partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections, and developed a new innovative job creation program called Sweet Beginnings, which is an urban honey farming business.
Brenda brings extensive experience in developing tools for job retention of disadvantaged and economically isolated workers to her work in Chicago. Before joining NLEN in February 1999, Brenda served as the Associate Director of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s and Piton Foundation’s Denver Workforce Initiative (DWI) for two years – an initiative formed in 1996 to create a labor force in metro Denver that meets employer needs, supports economic growth, and broadens work opportunities to residents of the city’s low-income neighborhoods. Brenda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.
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Brenda is responsible for leadership and vision as well as managing development, human and financial resources, and programs. She is responsible for developing and maintaining the many diverse internal and external relationships needed to meet both employer and resident needs. She also represents the views and experience of the Network in forums designed to influence the systems and policies that affect employment and economic opportunity in North Lawndale. These forums include the State Workforce Investment Board Ex-Offender Employability Committee, Seventh District Congressman Danny Davis’ policy committee on ex-offenders, and the Executive Committee of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s State Re-entry and Public Safety Committee. She also represents the Network’s interests with Cook County Commissioner Bobbi Steele and was instrumental in helping the Commissioner to craft and pass an ordinance promoting the employment of formerly incarcerated individuals with the County. She also serves on the board of directors for the Lawndale Business Local Development Corporation, and chairs the Social Justice and Political Action Committee at her church. She is passionate about justice, equality, and human rights.