Welcome to Centripetal Strategies

 National First Ladies' Library: Judy worked with the Board and staff of the NFLL and representatives of the National Park Service to complete an extensive organizational analysis then initiate the restructuring of the organization. This included restructuring and training the Board, developing a vision statement and new mission statement, creating new bylaws and required policies, creating human resource policies, managing several personnel issues, working with the auditor and financial staff to develop a functional budget and new reporting procedures, developing Board member recruitment and orientation procedures, leading the process to hire a new CEO and assuring the new CEO and Board have clear goals, meeting procedures, documentation processes and evaluation plans to be successful. 
 

Neighborhood House/St. Stephen's Community House:  Judy was retained by SSCH (jointly funded by UWCO and The Columbus Foundation) to work with both entities to effect a merger. Consultant completed extensive analysis and  concluded a "merger" was not indicated. Consultant worked with the  group of funders to determine how to continue services in the community and worked with NHI to transfer clients to other organizations and close the organization. 
 

CelebrateOne: Consultant was retained by CelebrateOne to identify  existing community resources and leaders within and around the South Linden area, meet with identified leaders and key residents to obtain input  regarding community assets, future community vision and challenges to  overcome to achieve the vision, develop a list of contacts and  create an internal summary of the initial input received. This project  was completed with the three-month time frame requested and included  interviews with 36 community leaders and residents. Recommendations were  used to create CelebrateOne's blueprint for work in the Linden area.
 

CHOICES: Judy was retained by the Columbus Foundation and a group  of funders on behalf of CHOICES. The work included an assessment, work with CHOICES Board leadership, identifying Lutheran Social Services as the appropriate  organization to acquire CHOICES, and working with LSS and CHOICES personnel to establish the parameters for the acquisition.  The resulting acquisition was effected seamlessly by LSS and has led to  more sustainable services to people impacted by domestic violence. 
 

Communities In Schools:  Judy was retained to complete an organizational analysis  and recommend steps to be taken to revitalize CIS. This work resulted  in a restructuring of the organization including hiring new and  additional personnel to implement new and revitalized programming in  Columbus area schools.
 

City of Columbus - Southern Gateway Revitalization Collaborative: Judy was retained as the lead consultant of a large consultant team to engage residents of a specific part of the south side of Columbus in developing a plan to revitalize the area. Judy was responsible for timely, on-budget delivery  of every aspect of the effort including the recruitment of the original  tenants of the Reeb Center. This project obtained input from over 800 community residents, included over 300 meetings, and produced recommendations from 10 volunteer-driven committees (over 150 committee members) in ten different aspects of community development. The Southern  Gateway Community Report "Roadmap to Revitalization" (written  by Judy and edited by Murphy Epson) is available at  www.allthingssouth.org and also on the City of Columbus, Department of  Development website.
 

United Way of Central Ohio - Neighborhood Leadership Academy:  Judy was retained by the United Way of Central Ohio to develop the  Neighborhood Leadership Academy that was implemented in September 2012.  Judy researched best practices, developed the content summaries for each session, laid out the timeline, developed session-by- session objectives and evaluation documents,  identified and negotiated with potential presenters and provided  recommendations to UWCO personnel regarding implementation of the  project. The NLA had over 40 applicants for its inaugural season..

OTHER PROJECTS:

Syntero (formerly Dublin and Northwest Counseling Centers):  Judy was retained to lead the exploration and subsequent affiliation of the two organizations. 
 

Cancer Support Community of Central Ohio:  Judy has had several engagements including organizational assessment, Board training and development, strategic planning and development of board policies and procedures.
 

Equitas (formerly Columbus Aids Task Force and Aids Resource Center - Ohio):   Judy worked with the Boards and staff of both organizations to complete in-depth organizational analyses, the due diligence process, effecting the merger and developing a plan for the organization's future. 
 

Columbus Jewish Federation Judy completed an assessment of  two local Jewish schools and recommended ways in which they might work more closely together. In a follow-up engagement, Consultant completed  an assessment and issued a report regarding the success of joint efforts  that had been implemented.
 

GroundWork Group: Judy was the consultant who worked with the  United Way of Central Ohio and Tony Wells of the Tony Wells Foundation  to develop GroundWork Group to help other nonprofit organizations  effectively manage technology challenges. Judy served as the project manager, wrote the initial business plan and helped obtain GroundWork Group's 501c3 status. In a subsequent engagement, Judy organized and conducted a series of focus groups with GroundWork Group clients, analyzed input and provided a report that helped with the restructuring of the organization.

Community Based Initiative:  This was a collaboration among several local funders including the United Way of Central Ohio, Osteopathic Heritage Foundations, The  Columbus Foundation and Franklin County Commissioners to assist smaller nonprofits in developing sufficient infrastructure to assure solid service delivery and appropriate accountability for public funds.  Judy  had two different engagements with this group; to conduct assessments of organizations and deliver capacity building consultation services (such as strategic planning and board training.) 
 

Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services:  For several years Judy has served as primary organizational consultant  for ETSS.  Results have included  finalizing the organization’s strategic plan, organizing ETSS’s first public event, training the Board and developing new bylaws and Board policies.

Since  2002, Centripetal Strategies has been owned and operated by Judy  Czarnecki, LISW-S, MBA.  Ms. Czarnecki has her undergraduate degree from the University of Toledo, her Master’s in Social Work from the  University of Michigan, her Master’s of Business Administration from the  University of Findlay and her coach training from MentorCoach. She is a  Licensed Independent Social Worker with Supervisor Designation in the  state of Ohio and a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers.

Judy  has over 25 years of organizational experience, most as CEO of various nonprofit organizations. She is widely known for her knowledge and skill  in organizational analysis, strategic positioning, effecting  organizational culture change, human resources development, Board-CEO relationships, project management, and organizational collaborations and mergers. Centripetal Strategies has worked with clients such as the  United Way of Central Ohio, the Columbus Federation of Settlements,  Osteopathic Heritage Foundations, The Columbus Foundation, CHOICES for Domestic Violence (now merged with Lutheran Social Services), ARC-Ohio  and Columbus Aids Task Force (now Equitas), the Western Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, Dublin Counseling and Northwest Counseling (now Syntero) and the National First Ladies' Library.

Ms.  Czarnecki has served as CEO of organizations ranging in size from  $100,000 to $3.5 million and situated in both rural and urban environments.  In addition, she has experience in the public sector through her work with the Williams County Department of Job and Family  Services where she started her nonprofit career as a child protection services worker completing home assessments and handling adoptions and  foster care services.  She is well-versed in the challenges facing  small, large, urban, rural, public and private nonprofit organizations.

Ms. Czarnecki's publications include: "American Philanthropy and the Immigrant-Led  Nonprofit Organization," in NASW-Ohio News, 2010; “It’s More Than Money – Is a Nonprofit Career Right For You," Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, Summer 2005; Chapter 33 “Life as an Agency CEO”, in Days in the Lives of Social Workers, Linda May Grobman, Editor, 1996; “The Rural Branch Office: Planning, Marketing, Commitment”, Waltman, Czarnecki, and Miller: Families in Society, January, 1991. 

Ms. Czarnecki is an active member of the Columbus Metropolitan Club and a  former Columbus Rotary member where she  served two years as chair of  the International Services Committee and three years on the Board.  In her spare time, Judy enjoys photography, playing golf and following professional and collegiate sports such as the Cleveland  Indians, Cleveland Browns, University of Michigan and Ohio State football and the U of M and OSU Women's  basketball teams. 

Judy  personally delivers services to each client organization and has a pool of other professionals that are called upon to assist from time to time  especially with legal, accounting and marketing issues.  Services are  specifically designed to meet the needs of each client and to achieve  maximum results with the least investment possible.