Urban Resource Institute Promotes Jennifer White-Reid to Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the CEO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Dondi Quintans
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Urban Resource Institute
dquintans@urinyc.org, (646) 823-2239  

Urban Resource Institute Promotes Jennifer White-Reid

to Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the CEO

New York – June 29, 2023 – Urban Resource Institute (URI) is proud to announce the promotion of Jennifer White-Reid, Esq. to Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2023.

In this newly created position, White-Reid will be a member of the URI Executive team reporting to CEO Nathaniel M. Fields. As a thought partner and senior advisor, she will help catalyze efficient collaboration across the administrative, programmatic, funding, and policy agendas. She will also help inform and implement strategic priorities and manage the workflow of the CEO’s office, as well as engage with the Board of Trustees. White-Reid will help advance the URI core values of transparency, diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion, and a mission-centric focus through internal and external communications and collaboration.

White-Reid has dedicated her career of more than two decades to the empowerment and wellbeing of underserved individuals and families. She brings her expertise and experience in leadership, management and advocacy, most recently as the URI Senior Vice President of Domestic Violence Residential and Legal Programs, where she helped create, launch and lead URI’s pioneering People and Animals Living Safely Program (PALS), which has become a nationally recognized program. Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2023, URI PALS remains the only New York City program allowing domestic violence survivors and pets to stay together and heal together, while delivering training and tech assistance to service providers across the U.S. and beyond. Prior to the SVP role, White-Reid served as the Director of URI’s Legal Education and Advocacy Program (LEAP), which she created in 2006 to ensure that survivors of domestic violence residing in shelter had access to free legal assistance. 

“Jennifer White-Reid’s long and effective tenure with URI and decades of passionate leadership in our sector, as well as her legal training, provide a solid foundation for the position of Chief of Staff and serving as my Senior Advisor,” said Fields, URI CEO. “URI is proud to promote Jennifer and provide a platform to continue her inspiring career dedicated to the empowerment and well-being of underserved individuals and families.”

“I’ve worked in the organization for 20 years in a variety of roles and am excited to have the opportunity to broaden my focus and support the work across the entire organization. I’ve always been interested in policy development and nonprofit management, and this opportunity will afford me the chance to make an impact in a different way,” said White-Reid. “My interest and commitment to the work is shaped by the survivors we serve and the many talented employees at URI who have helped deepen my understanding of the communities we serve. I am honored that I will be able to continue to contribute to creating innovative solutions and programs, like PALS and LEAP, and help URI increase its visibility as a top provider of services for domestic violence survivors and families experiencing trauma and homelessness.”   

White-Reid’s career has been devoted to ensuring that the most vulnerable in society have access to justice, services, and support. Prior to joining URI, she served as a Senior Staff Attorney at South Brooklyn Legal Services. She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the NYC Coalition of Domestic Violence Residential Providers, and is a former Board member of the NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence. 

Jennifer obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Certificate in Executive Leadership in the Not-for-Profit Sector from New York University. She is a proud graduate of Fordham University School of Law, where she was a Stein Scholar. Jennifer was honored with the 2003 Stein Scholars Public Service Alumni Award and the 2019 Louis J. Lefkowitz Public Service Award, and recognized by Fordham’s Black Law Students Association during Black History Month as a trailblazer in 2019 and 2022. In June 2023 Jennifer was recognized by City & State NY as an Above and Beyond Innovator, and she was previously recognized as an Advocate of New York City by the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV).
  

About Urban Resource Institute (URI):  

Urban Resource Institute (URI) helps domestic violence survivors and homeless families transform their lives by empowering individuals, families, and communities, particularly communities of color and other vulnerable populations, to end cycles of domestic violence, homelessness, poverty, and trauma by increasing safety and resiliency. As the largest provider of domestic violence shelter services in the US and a leading provider of homeless services, URI’s programs impact more than 40,000 individuals annually through prevention, intervention, education, and direct services in both residential and non-residential settings in New York. URI is recognized as a thought-leader with influence across the U.S. and beyond. For more information, visit www.urinyc.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.   

If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call NYC’s 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.  

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