By M. Margaret Burke

MICHELLE Foster is a proud Guyanese woman who is steadily striving to achieve her goals and objectives in life, while still using her free time to enjoy travelling, attending music festivals and theatrical productions, making scented candles, and soul line dancing. She also places a premium on spending quality time with her family and friends.

Dr. Foster, a chemical engineer with BP America, Inc., at the Warrenswille Research Centre in Cleveland, Ohio, was born to Winston and Muline Mickle in Berbice, Guyana, seven months after the country gained its independence from Britain. After migrating with her family in 1984 to Brooklyn, New York, Michelle enrolled in New York City Technical College. At the end of her first year she transferred to the City College of New York (CCNY) and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering in 1990. While at CCNY, she was a member of Tau Beta Pi, the oldest engineering honour society in the United States, and was elected Vice President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, student chapter. While at CCNY, she also worked as a summer intern at E. I. DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware, and as a part-time engineering assistant at Allied Signal in Morristown, New Jersey.

She said of her Guyanese compatriots, “I would like Guyanese girls and women and men (of every race and creed) to know that they should never settle in any circumstance that is not necessarily a predictor of the ultimate plans that God has for their lives. I encourage you to write grand visions for your lives; to run with those visions; to tarry for those visions, and know that in due season, those visions will be realised!”

FULL-TIME CAREER
In 1990, Michelle’s full-time career in chemical engineering began with BP America, Inc. While there, she worked as a development engineer in the Chemicals Development department and as a process engineer in the Process Studies department. Realising the need to further her education, Michelle enrolled in the Master’s in Chemical Engineering programme at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 1991.

Michelle was recruited by Union Carbide Corporation in South Charleston, West Virginia, in 1993, and continued her career in chemical engineering in the company’s Polymer Processing Engineering department. While working at Union Carbide, she completed her Master’s degree in engineering management at Marshall University Graduate College in 1996.

VOLUNTARY SERVICE AND WORK
Around this time, she also began volunteering in the evenings and on weekends at Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church. It was through volunteering at the church that Michelle found her true passion in community service.

In 1998, Michelle took a giant leap of faith and left the engineering field to work for the Kanawha Institute for Social Research & Action, Inc. (KISRA), a faith-motivated, non-profit organisation established by the church. At the time, KISRA had the documentation required to operate as a 501(c)3, tax-exempt organisation, but the organisation was dormant, with no programmes in operation.

While Michelle had no formal experience or education in community development, Pastor Emanuel Heyliger recognised her natural capacity for the profession through her volunteer work. He hired her to develop KISRA’s programmes and paid her a salary from the church’s budget for a little over two years. In her third year with KISRA, Michelle began funding her salary entirely through grants.

Michelle used her systems thinking, problem-solving ability and other engineering skills to transform KISRA into one of the most impactful and enterprising community-based organisations in West Virginia. She developed each of KISRA’s initiatives in the areas of health (behavioural health and affordable health care); employment (workforce readiness, responsible parenting; second-chance mentoring and job creation); asset development (financial fitness, credit and housing counselling, and business loans); and learning (early childhood education, after-school enrichment and youth development). Focused and nonprofit, KISRA’s programmes also include social enterprises such as urban farms, housing development, transitional rental housing, child care and catering.

STRONGER FAMILIES
Under Michelle’s leadership, KISRA’s initiatives strengthened families, including adults and children. The organisation employed more than 70 people and received funding from multiple local, state and federal sources, as well as from the organisation’s own social enterprises. The KISRA team served and empowered over 2,500 West Virginians annually.
In February 2016, Michelle transitioned to The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (TGKVF), where she serves as President and CEO. Her aim in her new role is to preserve the vitality of a successful organisation and take it to the next level. TGKVF is the largest community foundation in West Virginia and in Central Appalachia and ranks among the top 100 community foundations in the country. The foundation leads the nation in wealth creation and healthcare value chain initiatives and collaborates with public and private sector partners to build community wealth. TGKVF funds initiatives in education, health, community economic development, basic needs, and arts & culture granting more than $6.0 million per year.

RESOUNDING SPEAKER AT NATIONAL FORUMS

Michelle’s experience leading KISRA and TGKVF has made her a sought-after speaker at local and national conferences. She presents on topics related to nonprofit development and management; programme design utilising logic models; programme evaluation; sustainability; best practices in responsible fatherhood; social enterprises; family economic security; grant writing and grants management. She is also a subject matter expert with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance.

Through the years, Michelle’s work has been recognised locally and nationally. She has received a number of awards including the Living the Dream Award from the WV Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission (2016); Woman on a Mission Award from Union Mission (2016); Civil Rights Day Award from the State of West Virginia, Office of the Governor (2015); and many others.

A lifelong learner, Michelle earned a doctorate degree in community economic development from Southern New Hampshire University in 2010. Her dissertation was entitled, “The Contributions of Pre-Incarceration Experiences and Prison-Based Programmes to Post-Release Employment Acquisition, Retention and Recidivism.” She is also a certified economic development finance professional and certified housing development finance professional with the National Development Council. Most recently, she completed additional university-level studies in impact investing at the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School as well as in nonprofit management and leadership at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Michelle lives a life of community service and is actively engaged with a number of organisations, some of which are in Guyana. Additionally, she has served as the Minister of Administration of Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church since 1997.

She told the Pepperpot Magazine, “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to give back to Guyana,” and said that her recent volunteer efforts continue to benefit her home-country and have included planning, executing, and evaluating a student conference at her high school, which reaches 250 students annually.

She has also conducted a comprehensive needs assessment of her alma mater, at the same time facilitating the West Virginia State University’s recruiting and scholarship efforts in Guyana; co-hosting a visual literacy project team, again at her alma mater, which resulted in the publishing of a book; and donating school supplies to her elementary school. (mercilinburke2017@gmail.com)