Are You Hiring the Right People?
Cliff Nellis is the executive director of the Lawndale Christian Legal Center (LCLC), a nonprofit that provides free legal services to their community, North Lawndale, located in Chicago.
Their program is working — 89% of the kids LCLC has served have never returned to crime.
As one of the most effective nonprofit leaders in the country, Nellis’ advice to changemakers is “the people you’re serving need to be the driver of change.”
LCLC takes this advice to their core. Every person on the founding board of directors is from North Lawndale, and 51% of the board will always be residents of North Lawndale. Furthermore, LCLC prioritizes hiring from the community.
“If you’re looking around and nobody who is the beneficiary of your service is leading that service or doing that service with you, then you are not in the right relationship with your cause,” says Nellis.