History
The Phoenix Project was founded in January of 2006 by Virginians who believe in the power of the Commonwealth’s universities to effect positive change in severely distressed communities and in the need to prepare a new generation of social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders to devise solutions to Virginia’s greatest challenges, especially those faced by communities in which 750,000 Virginians still live in poverty.
A statewide board of prominent civic, public, private and nonprofit sector leaders has led the Phoenix Project since its founding. Suzann Matthews, a long-time supporter of higher education in the Commonwealth, chairs our board, and our vice-chair is Michael Caplin, a leading nonprofit management consultant.
Founders Greg Werkheiser, Executive Director, and Marion Forsyth, Associate Director, lead the staff of four full-time and nine part-time professionals. Mr. Werkheiser is a lawyer and social entrepreneur recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of the nation’s leading civic educators. Ms. Forsyth is a lawyer and educator who has taught at Harvard University and at the College of William and Mary.
The Phoenix Project has made remarkable progress toward its three ambitious goals:
- To build mutually beneficial partnerships between colleges and universities and Virginia’s most economically distressed communities;
- To develop a statewide program to recruit and train future nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs; and
- To accelerate social entrepreneurship in Virginia.
In just two years, we have engaged leaders from forty Virginia universities in the fight against poverty and deprivation. We have educated and graduated forty-five young leaders who are already serving on the front lines of the battle to revitalize distressed communities. And, we have rallied leaders from all sectors to join us in accelerating Virginia’s social entrepreneurship movement. As former Governor Mark Warner noted, The Phoenix Project is uniquely poised to lead this campaign.
Looking Ahead
With your help, 2008 will be a blockbuster for The Phoenix Project. In addition to our work in Petersburg, we will implement powerful new partnerships in the Route 1 Corridor in Northern Virginia and the East End of Newport News in Tidewater. We will convene a second conference of public, private and nonprofit sector leaders to develop further strategies to increase the rate at which nonprofit enterprises incorporate entrepreneurial strategies into their work and universities incorporate entrepreneurial education into their classrooms. And, we will graduate another statewide class of highly-motivated young through out Nonprofit Leadership Program who will have the knowledge, relationships and courage to serve effectively as our next generation of nonprofit executives and leaders of transformative community organizations.
The Phoenix Project recently moved to its new headquarters in Burke, Virginia (12 miles south of Washington, DC. In 2006 we opened a satellite office in Petersburg (20 miles south of Richmond ). In 2008 we anticipate opening an office in the East End of Newport News, Virginia.
The Phoenix Project is sustained through the generous tax deductible contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations and through earned program income.