Nonprofit veteran tapped for service agency

October 2, 2009

Patrick Corvington

President Barack Obama says he will nominate Patrick Corvington, a nonprofit veteran who is a senior associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to be CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Corvington, who has headed the foundation's efforts to work with grant recipients on leadership, development, next-generation leadership and capacity-building, also is known for his work on new and emerging philanthropy, and on volunteerism.

Corvington would fill a key job for Obama, who has said public service is a priority for his administration.

The agency Corvington will head is the largest grantmaker for volunteering and service and spearheads the United We Serve initiative Obama has launched calling on Americans to serve.

Core programs the agency operates, including Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, involve four million Americans a year.

A native of Haiti, Corvington immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager and worked his way through college. He holds a  bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Maryland in College Park and a master's degree in public policy from Johns Hopkins University.

He has served as a case manager traveling the East Coast migrant stream working with migrant workers, and worked as an advocate for adjudicated youth at a group shelter home, and as a patient advocate in a community-based HIV/AIDS clinic.

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