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CEO of Charleston nonprofit to step down

Jason Thomas //May 25, 2023//

CEO of Charleston nonprofit to step down

Jason Thomas //May 25, 2023//

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The CEO of a Charleston non-profit organization is stepping down.

Phyllis Martin, CEO of Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative, will be leaving the organization effective June 30, according to a news release. Martin will transition to a new role as the executive director of the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Greater Charleston, according to the release.

As a long-time advocate and change-maker in the non-profit sector, Phyllis has spent more than 20 years working with the sole purpose of helping communities solve their toughest challenge — implementing effective, sustainable change, the release stated.

During her three-and-a-half-year-tenure, Martin has led the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded programming, partnerships, and innovation, implemented a Community Leaders Council to drive TCCC’s impact strategies, as well as pivoted the organization to a new business model, the release stated.

This model built the foundation for TCCC to implement the Low Country Digital Equity Coalition, serve as lead agent for One Region Roadmap, execute the Tri-County Data Collaborative, enter into a partnership with the University of South Carolina’s All4SC Initiative to implement Community Schools, establish a partnership with The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to change economic mobility rates in the region, and a national partnership with Bridges to implement a regional Youth Advisory Strategic Plan, the release stated. Each of these partnerships will change outcomes for our region’s youth and families along the cradle to career continuum while addressing systems that serve as barriers to their success.

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Phyllis Martin, CEO of Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative, will be leaving the organization effective June 30. (Photo/Provided)“I was charged, as the transitional Chief Executive Officer, with leading the organization through a pivot during a critical time in TCCC’s evolution. I am proud of the work the Collaborative has accomplished over the past three plus years and its demonstrated ability to serve as a high functioning collective impact organization with the trust of local, regional, and national partners,” Martin said in the release. “More importantly, the Collaborative, comprised of over 60 partners, is working in alignment with a shared vision and the foundation needed to ensure that we collectively achieve community level change for our region’s Black, brown, and low-income children and families. I will remain a champion and supporter of this unique and very special organization and all those who have the courage to engage and participate in our collective work.”

Martin has worked diligently to strengthen the financial position of the organization by creating new opportunities for social impact investing, including partnerships with municipalities, national partners, and regional alliances while building staff capacity, the release state. In her tenure, TCCC received the Team/Collaboration – Noteworthy Network award at the 2022 Lowcountry Diversity Leadership Awards, hosted Charleston’s first Digital Inclusion Week in partnership with the City of Charleston, published the Community Focus Parent Engagement Report in 2021, and partnered with the University of South Carolina and All4SC to publish the South Carolina Whole Child Education Policy in 2022 to advance a whole child/whole community system of education in South Carolina.

The TCCC board of directors is working to name an interim CEO and a search for a permanent CEO has begun.

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