Community Renewal Society

CHICAGO, Dec 2, 2011 -- Community Renewal Society, one of the city’s oldest non-profit agencies, today announced transitions to its executive leadership team.  Executive Director Dr. Calvin S. Morris, Ph.D., will begin his transition to retirement, announced in March 2011, with a six-month sabbatical.  Additionally, the Board of Directors hired Pat O’Connell, a 30-year non-profit management veteran, as transitional managing director.

O’Connell will be responsible for overseeing the daily management of the organization while Morris will remain committed to the organization, working on transitional relationships and preparations for the upcoming 130^th celebration luncheon in May 2012. "We are excited to have Pat join the CRS transition team," said Morris. "Her extensive non-profit management experience will be invaluable as the Board continues its national search for the new executive director. I am confident that she will help us make a smooth transition to the new leadership in July 2012”

“The CRS Board is taking this opportunity, following an in-depth strategic planning process, to begin restructuring the organization for its new future,” said CRS Board President John Purdy, Jr. “The decision to bring Pat on as transitional managing director makes sense as we plan for new challenges and forge ahead with our commitment to empower people to combat racism and the effects of poverty.”

As part of the leadership changes, some positions are being merged and shifted. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) position, currently held by Alysia Tate, is being merged with the responsibilities of the new executive director. Tate’s departure is effective December 15.  “On behalf of the Board and everyone at Community Renewal Society, I would like to thank Alysia for many years of dedicated service,” said Purdy. “Her stellar leadership has been a tremendous asset to CRS for the past 13 years.”

From 2000 to 2008, Tate served as Editor & Publisher of The Chicago Reporter, one of the agency’s two award-winning newsmagazines, where she had worked as a political reporter. Since becoming COO in 2008, Tate oversaw the streamlining and collaborations of many of Community Renewal’s programs to focus on the combined power of journalism and community organizing.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding 13-plus years, full of challenges and opportunities,” she said. “I am so grateful for all the important work I had the privilege to do at CRS, and I look forward to furthering those efforts at this amazing moment in history.”

Tate has won numerous awards for her work, including the Clarion Award from the national Association for Women in Communications and the Unity Award in Media from Lincoln University of Missouri. She was one of the 2002 “40 Under 40” in Crain’s Chicago Business, a 2004 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow in addition to a 2004 Poynter Institute of Media Studies Ethics Fellow. She is a member of The Chicago Network, a group of leading women executives.  

CRS is an organization rooted in a faith-based tradition which empowers people to combat racism and the effects of poverty by providing tools such as objective, investigative journalism, organizing and training to civic leaders, community activists and congregations. For more information visit www.communityrenewalsociety.org

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Contact:  Al Shaw
312-673-3865
ashaw [at] communityrenewalsociety [dot] org