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"Common language": Newtown CDC teammates bond over American Express Leadership Academy experience
Jose Velazquez, Rochelle Henderson and Stephanie Brewer of Newtown Community Development Corporation have all graduated from the ASU Lodestar Center's American Express Leadership Academy.
Recent graduate Jose Velazquez is the organization's third alum
by Alexandra Conforti, ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation
June 16, 2021
Newtown Community Development Corporation has fewer than 10 staff members. But from that small yet mighty team, three share a notable distinction: graduating from the American Express Leadership Academy at the ASU Lodestar Center.
Stephanie Brewer is the executive director of Newtown Community Development Corporation and a 2015 alumna of the Academy. In a recent conversation with the trio of alums, Brewer noted that Rochelle Henderson, a 2020 alumna of the Academy and housing development coordinator at Newtown, was the only team member hired during the COVID-19 pandemic because she knew that Rochelle had gone through the Academy. With their shared experience, “I knew what she was capable of,” Brewer said.
Now, the Tempe-based nonprofit, which focuses on improving people’s financial well-being and finding them permanently affordable homes, is incorporating the knowledge and skills learned from the Academy into their organization to make a greater impact in the nonprofit sector.
Jose Velazquez, 2020-21 Academy class member who graduated this month and the operations manager at Newtown CDC, said that “everything we've been learning in the Academy has helped me in a different way, including being able to identify many communication styles, problem solving and decision making ... as well as focusing a lot on financial capacity and time management.” He’s also learned how to better take advantage of his current position at Newtown and maximize his potential.
Recognized throughout the Phoenix Metro Area, Newtown Community Development Corporation is a leading provider of homebuyer education, homeownership counseling, credit counseling, financial coaching, financial literacy education, and down-payment assistance, Newtown operates on an innovative Community Land Trust, which builds and renovates permanently affordable houses, providing successful homeownership opportunities for several generations of lower-income families. Created in 2001, Newtown’s Community Land Trust is the largest in Arizona with homes across Maricopa County.
“The skills that I received from the Academy gave me the confidence to be able to reach out to Newtown,” Henderson said. “Just employing those different skills, strategies and experiences from the program into my position now has definitely been really helpful.”
Velazquez and Henderson agreed that the Emergenetics exercise practiced in the Academy was a key takeaway, and specifically it gave Velazquez “a big-picture view of my overall strengths and my capacities.” But it also assisted them both with their communication techniques, time management skills and evaluation practices. Emergenetics generates a profile for participants and provides a distinct view into the ways that participants prefer to think, behave and lead. Through an assessment that generates a breakdown of key attributes, participants further their understanding of themselves and discover what is needed to build strong, productive workplaces and teams.
“Being able to be more proactive and following some of those key elements from my time in the program has helped illustrate how direct of an impact it’s had on my work,” Velazquez said.
“I also loved the Emergenetics,” Brewer said. “You can be good at everything, or anything, it just takes more energy to do it … I took a lot away from that exercise and it really helped me identify that I'm a great fundraiser, and also identified some of those activities that I know I can do now for my work today.”
Brewer said that her time in the program helped in building her confidence to continue advancing in her career. “What I've learned there and how I learned it, I've brought with me to the organization. It made me a more confident person, and Newtown received that more competent, whole person.”
Brewer and Henderson both joined the Academy before arriving at Newtown, and Velazquez just finished his program year in the Academy after 12 years at Newtown. Velazquez and Brewer work closely together at the organization, where Brewer said she’s noticed Velazquez’s “confidence level go up,” something she was hoping to see. “I'm very happy with who he is coming out the other side of the program, and now we can talk in a way where we have a more common language,” she said.