New CSS Director of Community Impact: Blake Burrell

Did you know CSS has a shared leadership model, with three directors? This November, Blake Burrell joined CSS as our new Director of Community Impact. His role supports all of our direct service staff, managing internal relationship-building, culture creation, program operation, mentoring, and conflict resolution. Read on for his introduction:

My name is Blake Burrell, and I am very excited to join the Community Supported Shelters Team as Director of Community Impact. In the past weeks, I have been overjoyed to meet the teams and dive into the amazing work we are doing for our community. I am ready to invest in this organization and lead CSS’ teams! 


I am a nonprofit administrator and public official residing in the City of Eugene. I am a lifelong learner with a diversified educational background. My personal studies led me to research fields such as psychology, anthropology, and urban planning. My professional work in nonprofit administration has centered on developing and implementing homeless and emergency service programs, teaching tenant education seminars, and investing in professional development opportunities for staff, interns, volunteers, and beneficiaries entering the human service field. Overall, I am an open person and passionate leader, and I look forward to connecting with the CSS community. 


As I embark on my new journey with CSS, I will start by supporting our client services teams and collaborating with our leadership teams to implement various projects. I am very excited to further develop our client service models for our communities and to implement a new program model for our upcoming collaboration on the Community Court Program. (Ed: We have more exciting news to come about how CSS is partnering with Community Court—stay tuned for future newsletter and social media updates!) Our leadership team will be working to sustain our current operations and explore new opportunities to serve our unhoused community and partner organizations. 


I feel most alive when I am helping people and investing in making a more just and equitable community for us all to call home. I look forward to this opportunity to serve Community Supported Shelters, and I look forward to the year to come!


Best, 

Blake

You can read more about CSS directors, as well as board members, here.

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