We Are Going to Washington!
Earlier this month, I accepted an offer to be the new finance manager for Capital Partners for Education (CPE) in Washington, D.C. CPE is a not-for-profit organization that provides mentoring and college readiness programming to low-income youth, with notable and sustained success over its 25+ year history. I am to be CPE’s first dedicated finance staff member as part of some recent organizational restructuring, which adds another layer of professional excitement beyond the mission itself. I will officially join the CPE staff in early April, and Naomi and I will relocate to the Washington, D.C. area in May.
One question from several rounds of interviews was why I chose to pursue this role. I want to share here how I answered.
First, Naomi and I have been thinking about relocating to the Washington, D.C. area for a little while now. Naomi has a master’s degree in international relations, so this will be the ideal location from which to pursue that career path. As for me, given my myriad professional experiences in higher education, the performing arts, and nonprofit management, I knew I would be able to find a compelling professional opportunity to be the next chapter in my own career. We also both have a number of friends in the area, who are already being very helpful in our transition.
Second, CPE and the finance manager role itself. Over the past year, I have kept myself apprised of the national conversation about racial injustice and other systemic injustices and inequalities in our society, and spent time thinking and praying about how I can be part of the solution to at least some of those aspects of injustice and inequality. Also in the past year, I’ve become convinced that after the first-order tragedy of sickness and death, one of the greatest secondary tragedies of this awful pandemic has been the educational losses suffered by the school-age population, with greater impacts on students of low income and minority backgrounds. In addition, I began my career as an educator (my undergraduate degree is in music education), and while I have found great professional satisfaction in my career history that has trended away from the education profession, I have always in the back of my mind wanted to eventually find a way to re-engage at some level with that very important sector of our society.
Enter CPE and its search for a finance manager. Here is an organization that exists precisely to provide meaningful support to students (the education sector) to equip them “to overcome the many challenges they encounter” (inequity in our society). And they have an opening for someone with broad nonprofit finance management experience, precisely the skillset I have spent the last five years developing. As I said in my interviews, if I can take my professional skills and expertise in nonprofit financial management and use them toward creating a more equitable society, then that is right where I want to be.
Some may wonder: but Eric, you have been working in music and the arts your whole career, surely you will miss that? And you would be right. I know that I will miss being in the arts world, at least in my day job. But in reality, there are myriad ways I can remain meaningfully involved and invested in the arts, as a donor, patron, volunteer, church musician, and other roles, particularly in Washington, D.C. So by no means will I no longer consider myself part of the arts world.
As I found myself moving through CPE’s interview process, I had a conversation with one of my mentors and raised that same point. His very helpful advice was to think about where, at this point in my life, I can optimally use my professional skills. That, I am convinced, is Capital Partners for Education. And I am really excited to join CPE in their mission of supporting and equipping D.C.-area youth, and to discover everything else that is waiting there for Naomi and me.
