Please join us in welcoming new members to our team!
The Scranton Area Community Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of new members to both our staff and the Board of Governors.
The Scranton Area Community Foundation’s Board of Governors and staff are committed to the Foundation’s mission of enhancing the quality of life of people in Northeastern Pennsylvania through the development of organized philanthropy.
Meet Jana Nelhybel, Scranton Area Community Foundation’s NEPA Thrives Manager
Please join us in welcoming Jana Nelhybel to the Scranton Area Community Foundation as the NEPA Thrives Manager.
The Scranton Area Community Foundation, together with many community partners, has created NEPA Thrives, an equity-driven workforce-based initiative focused on identifying opportunities and solutions to Northeastern Pennsylvania’s workforce challenges.
In her role, Jana will execute the goals of the NEPA Thrives steering committee, focusing on ensuring a workforce strategy that connects the unemployed or underemployed in Northeastern Pennsylvania to job skills training and opportunity employment.
Jana is thrilled to be working with regional and national funders, local and regional officials, industry representatives, educational institutions, and key employers both from the private and public sectors to strengthen partnerships and build effective talent pipelines and career pathways for jobseekers in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Jana Nelhybel brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position including 15 years of development and communications leadership roles at workforce development, arts, and youth nonprofit organizations. She also has worked for the federal government for several years in international trade. Before moving to the area from Washington, DC, Jana was the Grants Manager at Jubilee Jobs, a nonprofit organization that helps people with barriers to employment find jobs.
Jana has also held management positions at organizations including HumanitiesDC and AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation and has completed an Arts Management Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jana was previously an International Trade Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce where she served as the Acting Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassies in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Prague, Czech Republic, and was one of the Commerce Department’s leads on Afghanistan investment and reconstruction.
Jana has an MA in International Affairs from American University and a BA from Bucknell University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sitar Arts Center, a cradle-to-career arts education nonprofit in Washington, DC, where she had volunteered teaching the violin for many years.
Jana can be reached at jana@safdn.org. Welcome, Jana!
Michael Villa, Grants Assistant, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Grant Program
Please join us in welcoming Michael Villa to the Scranton Area Community Foundation team. Michael has joined the Foundation as the Foundation’s part-time Grants Assistant. In his role, he will provide assistance with the Foundation’s grantmaking processes, particularly with the administration of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal grant program.
Michael holds an A.S. from Lackawanna College and a B.S. in Criminal Justice from the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
Fluent in both English and Spanish, Michael has experience working with diverse populations and has served as a bilingual advocate, providing assistance to victims of crime in the Philadelphia area. He also has experience as a Direct Service professional, providing support to individuals with intellectual disabilities.
We are thrilled to have Michael as a part of our team to provide assistance in our grants department over the duration of the ARPA grant program. Welcome, Michael!
Welcoming new members to our Board of Governors
The Scranton Area Community Foundation is proud to announce two elected members of the Board of Governors. Dr. Patricia Fox and Dr. Thomas Minora, both of Lackawanna County, have joined 13 other board members to serve as stewards of the Foundation to carry out the mission of enhancing the quality of life for all people in the Lackawanna County region through the development of organized philanthropy. Both newly elected members have diverse backgrounds and talents, filling vacancies from those who have recently retired from the role. Serving a term of a maximum of three three-year terms, or nine years, the new board members have been elected because of their varied skill sets and their knowledge and understanding of community issues and opportunities.
Patricia J. Fox, Psy.D. is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice with a Financial Psychology niche. She has a particular interest in helping women make a positive adjustment to sudden wealth; the philanthropic habits of high-net-worth women; and reducing the racial wealth gap.
She earned a B.A. in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, and an M.A. in General Psychology and a Doctor of Psychology from Marywood University.
Dr. Fox avidly promotes women’s well-being via psychotherapy, teaching, speaking, and community outreach. She is active with the Scranton Area Community Foundation’s Women in Philanthropy program that seeks to empower and transform the lives of women and girls, where she provides educational programming in the area of financial well-being for two of their five initiatives, Small Business Development and Financial Well-Being and Economic Education.
Dr. Thomas Minora is an internist who has been practicing medicine in Scranton for over 39 years. He is board certified in internal medicine and geriatrics and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. His past clinical appointments include clinical instructor for Commonwealth Medical College and an assistant clinical instructor of medicine at Scranton Temple Residency Program.
His board of directors appointments includes PrimeMed, P.C., Northeastern Pennsylvania Physicians Organization, and Moses Taylor Physician Hospital Organization. He also served as treasurer and vice president of the Lackawanna Medical Society. He is one of the original founders of the Scranton Half Marathon and currently serves on its board of directors. Dr. Minora resides in Clarks Summit with his wife.
The staff of Scranton Area Community Foundation is composed of dedicated professionals who are devoted to helping our generous donors connect to the causes that they care about most.
Our Board of Governors and staff work to make our region a better place to live and we are proud to serve in the community.
You can learn more about our Foundation leadership here.
