This is the fourth and final interview in this month’s series celebrating the leadership of Hispanics in the nonprofit sector. I’m profiling several nonprofit leaders I admire for the impact they make on their communities every day.
Jean-Paul Chaurand is the Senior Vice President of Community Investment at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. From his first job in the nonprofit sector at 15 years old, Jean-Paul’s career spans years of work on behalf of the Latino community. In this brief interview, Jean-Paul shares the path he took to get to his position at the Foundation and his advice for young people following in his footsteps.
How did you make your way into the nonprofit sector?
I grew up volunteering my time for nonprofit organizations. Giving back to the community is a value that was instilled in me at a very early age by my parents. My first job in the sector was when I was 15 years old. I was a counselor in an after school tutoring program in my neighborhood. After that I interned for a few different community based organizations and then I started working full time for a couple of them doing a host of things from development work to events and programs. In time I felt I had the skills I needed to run the organization and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to run a community development corporation. Eventually I joined the team at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.
What is your current position and day-to-day work?
My current position is senior vice president. My day to day activities change but they include leading a team of people who oversee the Community Foundation’s grant making activities, helping donors establish charitable funds so they can begin organizing their giving, and providing knowledge about local nonprofits and community initiatives that will make the region a better place so donors can become even smarter investors in the community. Everything we do ties back to our mission of increasing giving, connecting donors and leading on critical community issues.
What is your educational background and area of expertise?
I received a bachelor of arts in urban affairs/urban planning from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and I am a graduate of UMKC’s Bloch School executive MBA program. Prior to coming to the Foundation, I was executive director of the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation where I worked to improve the quality of life for Latinos in Kansas City through the development and implementation of economic development initiatives. I’ve also served as economic development specialist for the National Council of La Raza in Chicago, Illinois; director of development and policy analyst for the Guadalupe Center; and I served as coordinator for the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has reported that 82% of nonprofit CEOs are white. What does that mean for Latino leaders and other people of color who aspire to leadership roles in the future?
I want all of those aspiring for leadership roles to know that opportunities are out there. I am seeing more and more agencies – no matter what the leadership ethnicity is – embrace a commitment to recruiting, retaining and cultivating people of color. At the Community Foundation we are firm in our commitment to diversity: As the community’s foundation, we are committed to promoting equity and inclusion throughout the region we serve, and it is our obligation to model diversity and focus the community conversation on racial equity.
What advice would you give to young people who want to change the world?
Do it. You can change the world. Just work at it one day at a time. Most importantly, don’t wait for the opportunity to come to you. There’s no better time than now to get started.
