Staff
NLEN
Brenda Palms Barber
Executive Director, North Lawndale Employment Network & Chief Executive Officer, Sweet Beginnings, LLC
Brenda Palms Barber, Chief Executive Officer of the North Lawndale Employment Network, an urban workforce development agency, and founding social entrepreneur and CEO of Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a social enterprise using urban beekeeping to create jobs for those with significant barriers to employment, has served as President and CEO of NLEN since its founding in 1999. She launched NLEN’s wholly owned subsidiary social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings, in 2004 to ensure its hardest to employ clients could get jobs and gain a history of employment.
Under Brenda’s leadership, NLEN has grown from two to 48 employees and generates an annual budget in excess of $5.2 million. Today, NLEN serves more than 2,500 people per year. Sweet Beginnings has expanded from a cottage industry to distribution at more than 43 Mariano stores, both O’Hare and Midway airports, and has been awarded one of the first Benefit Chicago loans for social impact businesses.
NLEN has received numerous awards including one of the first MacArthur Foundation Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions (2006) and the prestigious Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award (2015) and the 2018 Citi Foundation Community Progress Makers and recently the 2019 Google Impact Challenge award. Brenda has raised the national profile of NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, and the plight of people with barriers to employment through extensive media coverage including CNN, the NBC Today Show, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a TEDWomen Documentary, and Lifetime. Brenda has published in the Wall Street Journal and appeared on ABC7 Windy City Live as a 4-Star Chicagoan. In recognition of her innovation and commitment to helping those in need, Congressman Danny Davis awarded Brenda the Cardiss Collins Trailblazer Award (2013).
Brenda is a graduate of Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program and the Chicago Urban League’s nextOne entrepreneurship program, which included classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the Spertus Institute in Chicago.
Brenda Palms Barber, Chief Executive Officer of the North Lawndale Employment Network, an urban workforce development agency, and founding social entrepreneur and CEO of Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a social enterprise using urban beekeeping to create jobs for those with significant barriers to employment, has served as President and CEO of NLEN since its founding in 1999. She launched NLEN’s wholly owned subsidiary social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings, in 2004 to ensure its hardest to employ clients could get jobs and gain a history of employment.
Under Brenda’s leadership, NLEN has grown from two to 48 employees and generates an annual budget in excess of $5.2 million. Today, NLEN serves more than 2,500 people per year. Sweet Beginnings has expanded from a cottage industry to distribution at more than 43 Mariano stores, both O’Hare and Midway airports, and has been awarded one of the first Benefit Chicago loans for social impact businesses.
NLEN has received numerous awards including one of the first MacArthur Foundation Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions (2006) and the prestigious Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award (2015) and the 2018 Citi Foundation Community Progress Makers and recently the 2019 Google Impact Challenge award. Brenda has raised the national profile of NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, and the plight of people with barriers to employment through extensive media coverage including CNN, the NBC Today Show, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a TEDWomen Documentary, and Lifetime. Brenda has published in the Wall Street Journal and appeared on ABC7 Windy City Live as a 4-Star Chicagoan. In recognition of her innovation and commitment to helping those in need, Congressman Danny Davis awarded Brenda the Cardiss Collins Trailblazer Award (2013).
Brenda is a graduate of Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program and the Chicago Urban League’s nextOne entrepreneurship program, which included classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the Spertus Institute in Chicago.
Alex Garcia
Controller & Director of Operations
Lauren Wesley
Director of Development
Adam Levine
Director of Evaluation & Innovation
Dr. Tanesha House
Director, Economic Advancement & FOC
Jose Wilson
Director of Workforce Programs & Clinical Services
Dr. Kendall Martin
Chief Program Officer
LeOné Champion
Human Resources Generalist and Administrative Coordinator
Ramonda Roberts
Financial & Administration Manager
Chaundra J. Van Dyk McGee
Community Outreach & Engagement Manager
Reri Barrett
Business Solutions Manager
Christyn S. Freemon
Business Solutions Manager
Michelle Parker
Program Manager, Economic Advancement & FOC
Taneka Pernell
Senior Financial Capability Coach
Ana Encarnacion
Financial Capability Coach
Elaine Austin
Career Navigator
Melissa Lovitt
Career Navigator
Irene Zamora
Career Navigator
Fritzlene Emile
Career Navigator
Brenna Hampton-Houser
Curriculum & Instruction Specialist
Alice Mar-Abe
Program Associate
Gustavo Martinez
Visual Communications Manager
Fred Schroeder
Office Manager
Sabrina Johnson
AmeriCorps Program Assistant
Joseph Smith
Maintenance Technician
Zhane Davenport
Intake Coordinator
Rae Perez
Evaluation & Development Associate
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