Goodbye Charles, Hello Talia

August brings an important change to Innovative Changes staff. On the 20th, Talia Kahn-Kravis will replace Charles Thompson as our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer.

Charles has been an integral part of the team and has helped establish Innovative Changes as a viable and valuable organization in the Oregon nonprofit community.

“I liked that [Innovative Changes] was a brand new program,” Charles said. “It also fit with my interest in finance and community development.”

Charles helped us design our curriculum, articulate our educational vision, connect with partners and potential partners, identify and reach out to donors, and translate and preserve templates for key organizational documents. In his mind, the organization fills an important gap in services.

“[Innovative Changes] provides people with the step between financial emergencies and good finance management,” Charles said. “We help people know what to do in times of financial crisis.”

Integrity and a good nature have been the hallmark of Charles’s work. According to him, “this has been an incredible learning experience. Every time I take on a new project here, I discover a whole new area of learning I wasn’t even aware of. It’s given me a lot perspective on where I want to go next. And it’s been affirming: I had a hunch it was what I wanted to do in my life and it confirmed working here was a positive move.”

We thank Charlie for his contribution and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors!

Talia Kahn-Kravis will be joining us as our next AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. She comes to us from Clackamas Community Solutions where she leads a crew of 10 high school students, of all backgrounds and abilities, who get paid to do conservation work, job training, and environmental science education. Talia has a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and experience in community organizing.

We look forward to Talia’s contribution to our team this coming year, and to bringing you her profile in September.