Valarie Ashley is recognized as a collaborative nonprofit executive who has served youth, adults, and families. Prior to coming to Fair Chance, she was the Executive Director of Southeast Ministry for ten and half years. She was named one of “10 Local Heroes” by Washingtonian Magazine in 2012 and was an honorable mention for the Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman 2014 EXCEL Award. Through her work at Southeast Ministry, she helped found the DC Adult and Family Literacy Coalition, the Skyland Workforce Center in Ward 8 and the HIRE DC database to help small and mid-size nonprofits have access to a high-quality affordable database. Valarie is a proud member of Leadership Greater Washington’s Class of 2014. A Long Island, NY native, Valarie received her B.A. from Boston University and attended George Washington University for graduate school. She loves to read and is a member of two book clubs.

What does a child need to succeed?
Caring adults who make them feel safe and secure to explore their world and develop their gifts and talents.

Eshanda is a Capacity Building Specialist working with our Praxis Partners. She has over 15 years of experience as an innovator and social entrepreneur in project management and organizational development. Eshanda has provided a multitude of capacity building trainings for both U.S. and international organizations with a focus on strategic planning, program evaluation, and board development.

Prior to joining Fair Chance, Eshanda launched Simply eConsult, an enterprise development solution for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMEs) with a focus on building capacity and strengthen opportunities for SME participation in a broader economic ecosystem.

Eshanda is committed to transforming nonprofits, small businesses, and non-governmental organizations by identifying business gaps, structural needs and addressing business operations.

Eshanda earned both a bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Howard University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is passionate about travel, culture, family, friends, music, and authentic food.

What does a child need to succeed?
Every child needs to feel loved and supported by their community and confident knowing that all is well.

Jeffrey Franco is the current Interim Co-CEO at Fair Chance and has served as Interim CEO for 10 nonprofit organizations across the country. As a leadership strategist with more than 25 years of experience, Jeff has extensive experience leading large-scale organizations and advising public, private, and social-sector leaders. In his Fair Chance role, he leads the board and staff toward mission alignment and fulfillment, achievement of strategic goals, and setting the vision for expanded impact. He is the CEO of Camino Consulting Group and Co-Founder of the Transformation Leadership Institute, where he works with local and national nonprofit CEOs on strategic planning, board development, executive coaching, interim leadership, fundraising strategy, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) facilitation. Jeffrey is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in nonprofit management and leadership. He currently serves on the boards of Potomac Conservancy, City Year, and the Center for Inspired Teaching.

Jeffrey has served as interim CEO or Executive Director for nonprofits with budgets ranging from $4–$14 million and teams of 15–100 employees across Washington, DC, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. He has led organizations such as the Children’s Heart Foundation, City Year Miami, Rising for Justice, the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation, and Youth Speaks. In each role, he managed staff, operations, programs, and fundraising while guiding organizations through leadership transitions, organizational challenges, and major change-management processes. He continues to coach and support many of the incoming leaders who succeeded him in these roles.

Before founding Camino Consulting Group, Jeffrey spent more than 12 years with City Year, serving as Executive Director of City Year Washington, DC and later as Senior Vice President for the $200 million national organization. Under his leadership, City Year DC tripled its staff, quadrupled the number of students served, expanded its budget from $2 million to nearly $9 million, and secured its first multimillion-dollar contract with DC Public Schools. He also secured multiple seven-figure gifts and established significant national corporate partnerships.

Earlier in his career, Jeffrey held roles in global business development, consulting, and marketing with Voxiva, Deloitte, Corporate Executive Board, and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group.

Sawida Kamara is a Capacity Building Specialist working with our Pathways Partners. She is an experienced nonprofit leader and change-maker who is passionate about supporting people and organizations in rethinking their status quo, and making generative changes that advance their missions. Sawida brings over 20 years of experience working with small, mid and large organizations on organizational renewal, organizational development, and change management.

Prior to her work at Fair Chance, Sawida led and managed diverse leadership development, training and technical assistance initiatives targeting government, civil society, and clinical professionals in the U.S. and globally. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from Virginia Commonwealth University. When not working, Sawida is an avid traveler and digital nomad.

What does a child need to succeed?
Affirming emotional connections, autonomy, supportive and safe spaces.

Cynthia Freeman joined Fair Chance in Feb 2020 in the role of Finance and Operations Manager. She began her nonprofit career with (GEO) as Operations Associate collaborating with the Operations team on accounting, IT strategy, and facility management to keep the office running smoothly, and worked to incorporate an equity lens in day-to-day operations.
Prior to GEO, Cynthia has held Executive Assistance, Account Payable/Payroll Associate and Account Receivables Manager positions. She has managed all facets of office management including human resources, accounting, payroll and information technology in addition to providing support to board of directors.

Upon relocating to the United States, she worked at Sedgehill Secondary School UK as an Information Technology and Business Studies high school Teacher. Cynthia has a BSc in Business Studies/Information Technology from London South Bank University UK and an MSc in Education from Canterbury Christ Church University UK. She enjoys following interesting legal cases, traveling and learning about other cultures.

What does a child need to succeed?
A reliable environment. They need to know they have the opportunity to grow, learn and flourish.

Sallie is the Research and Evaluation Manager, responsible for data collection, evaluation, and knowledge management. Prior to joining Fair Chance, she spent eight years with the UDC-Community College’s Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning division where she was responsible for program development, operations support, and evaluation reporting. Before UDC-CC, Sallie worked at Mentors, Inc., a mentoring organization for DC public high school students, where she led the organization’s effort to pilot a new program for middle school students as well as managing all data-related activities. Sallie earned a MA in Organizational Sciences from the George Washington University and BA in Psychology with a minor in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

What does a child need to succeed?
She believes that every child needs a caring, supportive adult in their lives to succeed.

Dr. Nisha Sachdev serves as Interim Director of Development at Fair Chance. Nisha is a public health consultant, strategist and senior clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience leading multi-million programs within governmental agencies, organizations and foundations to address social issues in underrepresented communities. With a focus on at cross-collaboration with public and private partners, Nisha developed capacity building and high-impact, system-level interventions locally, nationally and globally to reduce the social and health disparities experienced by children, youth and families. She began her career working as a special education teacher. Nisha continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University. Nisha earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of Michigan and a Master of Public Health in Global Health Promotion, a Master of Psychology, and a Doctorate of Public Health in Health Behavior, and a Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Psychology from the George Washington University.

What does a child need to succeed?
Children need consistent, caring, supportive adults and environments that provide positive opportunities that foster growth, development, and empowerment to help them realize their potential.

Anjali Nagpaul, Director, DC Programs, is an experienced organizational development and nonprofit management professional who has been with Fair Chance since 2010. Anjali’s particular expertise centers on financial management, human resources, project management, board development, and leadership development.

Prior to joining Fair Chance, Anjali served the Executive Director of the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project for seven years. During her tenure, she quadrupled the organization’s budget, increased the staff, and created programming that assisted hundreds of Asian/Pacific Islander survivors of domestic violence in the DC area.

Anjali has a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School and a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia.

What does a child need to succeed?
Anjali believes that children succeed when their joy is valued, their resiliency is fostered, their empathy is developed, and their voices are heard and respected.

Victor is a Consultant Capacity Building Specialist for the Venture Philanthropy Partners’ Ready for Work Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative. As a former nonprofit executive director and philanthropic advisor, Victor Valentine brings a quarter-century of experience in multiple disciplines of capacity-building. Operating through the lense of racial-equity, diversity and inclusion (REDI), he brings expertise in the areas of board & executive leadership development, strategic & operational planning, financial management and advocacy to his work. Victor is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park with a Bachelor’s in Political Science and holds a Masters in Public Administration from Wilmington University.

What does a child need to succeed?
A child needs a nurturing and safe environment conducive of learning, personal growth and that points to becoming a well-rounded and productive member of society.

Andrew is a Consultant Capacity Building Specialist for the Venture Philanthropy Partners’ Ready for Work Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative. He is an experienced national operations, programs, development leader who possesses extensive infrastructure building, strong leadership skills and superb relationship management abilities. Andrew is also prolific trouble shooter; comfortable with tackling problems right through from detection to resolution. Andrew has held many executive positions with national and international organizations and brings over 15 years of experience serving in roles such as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Director, & Senior Adviser of various non-profit organizations focused on youth, health, education, and social justice. Andrew uses his communications degree to deepen his impact in human resources, fund development, marketing & communications, and change management.

What does a child need to succeed?
Every child needs a champion! Someone who will encourage their dreams, inspire them to hope and who will create opportunities for those dreams to be achieved!