As the first Carol H. Pitchersky Development Fellow, Nakea West sets a high standard for future Fellows. Currently, Nakea is the development manager at the Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF), which provides below market real-estate financing services for non-profit corporations that serve marginalized communities.
Prior to working at the IFF, Nakea received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago. While at the university, she immersed herself in social justice causes, including serving as President for two years of Student Organizing Support, which raises awareness and resources for communities in the developing world devastated by disasters; working as a volunteer at Lambda Legal and tutoring young students at a local public school in Chicago.
Having worked both in a programmatic capacity and a fundraising capacity, Nakea understands the challenges and rewards of both aspects of social justice work. Yet Nakea is clear in choice to pursue the fundraising path in the civil rights community. In her own words:
"The importance [Carol Pitchersky] placed on the advancement of young minority development professionals cannot be overstated. In the development world, the power brokers tend to be the same race and gender. I feel that, in order to be successful, social justice organizations must do the work and not replicate the same oppressions internally that we challenge externally."
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund welcomes Nakea in our own pursuit of securing equality and equal opportunity in our country. She will begin her two-year fellowship in September 2006.
