Resume

Lee Winkelman

Professional Experience

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZING
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
May 2015-Present           Los Angeles CA

  • Supervised, trained and supported organizers running state projects in Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, and California.
  • Provided coaching and training to Reform Jewish congregations in California and New York to strengthen their ability to move their congregations’ members into action for social justice
  • Coordinated successful statewide campaigns to pass state legislation to prevent the state prison and law enforcement from cooperating with Federal deportation of immigrants; win money for affordable housing; set benchmarks to make all energy in California renewable and carbon-free by 2040; collect information from law enforcement to track racial profiling; and tripled state funding for proven local gun violence prevention programs. 
  • Taught a college class on community organizing to Rabbinic Students at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. 

RELIGIOUS OUTREACH COORDINATOR
California Calls (as consultant)
January 2014-May 2015                        Los Angeles CA

  • Developed relationships with religious leaders around the state and involved them in the Religious Committee for Commercial Property Tax Reform.
  • Reached out to business leaders to get their views on commercial property tax reform and to identify business supporters of our campaign.
  • Developed materials and gave presentations to explain commercial property tax reform to religious leaders around the state. 

CONSULTANT/COACH TO ORGANIZING GROUPS AND FUNDERS
Winkelman Consulting
November 2007-Present             Los Angeles, CA

  • Provided coaching to Pilipino Workers Center to develop and implement a new leadership development plan (through Liberty Hill’s Wally Marx Institute, March 2012-present). 
  • Convened grantees working on transit-oriented development for the California Community Foundation (January 2013-January 2014)
  • Developed talking points, story, and fundraising strategy for new national organizing network The Alliance for a Just Society. 
  • Designed curriculum for, provided training to, and ran the Jeremiah Fellowship, a social justice leadership program for Jews in their twenties and early thirties for Progressive Jewish Alliance (March 2011-June 2011, April 2012-June 2012, September 2012-June 2013)
  • Wrote an analysis of the Los Angeles Jewish social justice world for Jewish Organizing Institute and Network for Justice and made recommendations to JOIN for Justice’s future LA work.  (2011)
  • Provided coaching and training to Jewish World Watch. 
  • Coordinated the Working Group on Labor and Community, a funders’ affinity group that is a project of the Neighborhood Funders Group. Under my leadership, the Working Group increased its programming, expanded its membership, and raised the profile of labor-community partnerships in philanthropy.
  • Wrote case studies of four community organizations practicing Integrated Voter Engagement for the Funders Committee on Civic Participation.
  • Conducting a scan of the community organizing movement in the United States for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. 
  • Completed consulting projects for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Liberty Hill Foundation, Jewish World Watch, and the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program. 

DIRECTOR of the COMMUNITY ORGANIZING RESIDENCY
Jewish Funds for Justice (as consultant)
November 2009-February 2011              Los Angeles, CA

  • Co-designed and co-ran this new program for people of faith who want to be community organizers.
  • Recruited 16 Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Spiritualist organizing residents.
  • Recruited 16 host groups in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and the Bay Area who provided organizing placements, mentoring and training to the residents.
  • Led the process to design curriculum for the program, centering primarily on personal leadership skills and the connection between organizing and faith. 
  • Provided coaching and one-to-one direct support to half of the organizing residents. 
  • Mentored JFSJ staff so they could run the program in-house from second year of program onward. 

PROGRAM OFFICER
Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
June 2004-June 2007                 Manhasset, NY

  • Managed grantmaking programs in community organizing, democratic participation, and immigrant rights program areas. Awarded $2 million dollars of annual grants that led to increased minimum wage in 6 states, millions of new and infrequent voters casting their votes, and strengthening of the movement for economic justice and civic participation. 
  • Helped to increase congregation members’ understanding of and support for the grantmaking strategies of the Veatch Program, their congregational funding program. 
  • Led effort to create a grantmaking strategy focused on winning change at the state level.

DIRECTOR OF GRANTMAKING, PROGRAM OFFICER
Jewish Fund for Justice
January 2000-May 2004                        New York, NY

  • Managed community organizing grantmaking program for this national public charity. 
  • Conducted an evaluation of JFJ’s grantmaking
  • Supported an initiative to involve more synagogues in faith-based community organizing efforts. 
  • Participated in senior management team.   
  • Raised funds from new and established donors. 
  • Supervised and hired program officer and grantmaking associate. 

Consultant
self-employed
January 2000-July 2001            New York, NY

  • Provided technical assistance and coaching to community groups to improve their organizing work.
  • Worked with staff and leaders of the Fifth Avenue Committee to develop a plan to increase resident engagement and accountability.
  • Led board of New Prospect Fund in a process to develop a new grantmaking strategy.
  • Provided coaching and support to community organizer at the Pratt Area Community Council.

DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZING
Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations.
June 1997-December 1999         Boston, MA

  • Designed and ran a new initiative providing training, technical assistance and funding to improve community organizing practices of CDCs and raise organizing standards for the CDC field.
  • Raised $1.5 million from national and local foundations for organizing initiative.
  • Designed and ran training workshops and provided direct technical assistance and coaching to CDC executive directors, organizers and board members to help them develop community leaders, increase resident participation in their CDC, incorporate effective voter engagement into their work, and build power for low and moderate income residents and people of color.
  • Hired and supervised associate director of organizing. 

ORGANIZING DIRECTOR
Coalition for a Better Acre
August 1994-May 1997            Lowell, MA

  • Coordinated all organizing and community participation activities of grassroots-oriented CDC, including successful campaigns to win funding and city permits for 20 units of affordable rental housing, obtain land for a community garden, and win community benefits agreement for a new  hockey arena.
  • Managed a staff of four organizers and several interns and youth peer leaders.
  • As part of Senior Management Team, helped set development, management and fiscal policies.

VOTER ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANT and ANALYST
The Social Initiative for Democracy
September 1992-May 1994   San Salvador, El Salvador

  • Developed strategy and trainings for voter engagement field campaign for 1994 presidential election.
  • Analyzed official data and created materials to track voter registration.
  • Organized an alternative vote count that used over 100 Novell-networked computers in 8 different locations across El Salvador to prevent voter fraud.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Fenway Community Development Corp.
January 1989-June 1992   Boston, MA

  • Created and staffed two neighborhood coalitions working toward community control of development, which blocked construction of a biotech research skyscraper and convinced university to control disruptive student behavior.
  • Organized campaigns to register voters and support statewide anti-poverty efforts

TENANT ORGANIZER
Tri-City Community Action Program
January 1987-January 1989   Malden, MA

  • Organized over 2500 tenants into twelve tenants unions in buildings ranging from 6 to 900 units to improve conditions, change management companies, prevent displacement, and limit rent increases.
  • Trained tenants in tenants rights, campaign planning, outreach, lobbying, and direct action.

Other Leadership Positions

  • Member, PICO National Network Guiding Council, April 2014 through April 2015.
  • Board member of LA Voice, December 2009 through the May 2015.
  • Board member of the JOIN for Justice, March 2011 through the May 2015.
  • Member of the PICO Network National Steering Committee, January 2012 through January 2013. 
  • Member of the Southern California Regional Council of Progressive Jewish Alliance, 2009 – 2010.
  • Co-chair of the Minyan Tzedek community organizing path at IKAR, an unaffiliated progressive synagogue in Los Angeles, CA, Spring 2008 through the present.
  • Vice President for Community Service, Hollywood Schoolhouse Parent Association Board June 2009 through May 2011.
  • Steering committee member and chair of the program committee, Funders Committee on Civic Participation.  September 2004 to June 2007.
  • Board member of Interfaith Funders. January 2000-June 2007
    Co-chair of community organizing effort at Kol Chayeinu (an unaffiliated progressive synagogue), Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2004 through Spring 2007. 
  • Chair of New York City Funders Group in Support of Community Organizing, 2002-2003
  • Founding member of the Strategy Team of Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (IAF), 1999
  • National Board Member of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) 1995-1996
  • Keynote panel presentation at Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s Community Organizers Symposium, May, 1999 in Sacramento, California.

Education:

Southern New Hampshire University School of Business
Hooksett, New Hampshire 1998
M.S. in Community Economic Development.  Southern New Hampshire University was known then as New Hampshire College.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1985
B.A. Social and Political Philosophy, with Highest Honors and Distinction

Download CV