Bill Graustein
In his first career, Bill Graustein worked for 25 years in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University: originally as a graduate student, and later as a research scientist after earning his Ph.D. in 1981.
His early training as a scientist instilled two habits that continue to inform Bill’s work, today, in the New Haven community. First is a habit of trying to bring relevant but seemingly disparate information together into a coherent picture. Second is a practice of framing issues for learning—deliberately creating the space and sense of safety necessary for old assumptions to be challenged, and new ones to be imagined and tested.
In 1993, an abrupt increase in the assets of a small foundation established by his father led Bill to redefine the foundation’s mission, structure, and strategies.
Under Bill’s leadership, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund initially focused on early childhood education in Connecticut, sponsoring collaborative tables in more than 40 cities and towns across the state. These tables included parents and representatives of nonprofit and government agencies and worked to assess, reflect, plan and advocate for the education of their young children.
Starting ten years ago, the Fund gradually shifted its focus to achieving equity in education across the state, again with an emphasis of supporting the capacity of communities to organize and advocate.
Bill’s work with Memorial Fund has been limited to a governance role, but as resident of New Haven, he began to hear a widespread yearning from folks in the nonprofit and civic sector to work more collaboratively and for support in building relationships across boundaries that could sustain the challenges of cooperation and collaboration.
To respond to these yearnings in 2002 Bill started the Community Leadership Program, or CLP, to “equip, support and inspire each other to practice values based collaborative leadership” Nearly 700 people from Greater New Haven are now alumni of CLP.
In 2011 he co-founded, “Co-Creating Effective and Inclusive Organizations to support New Haven community movements and organizations in building internal practices and external interactions that are co-creative, that embody social and economic justice and that increase effectiveness.
His efforts have been instrumental in breaking down barriers and providing pathways to success for countless individuals. Being inducted into the Gateway Community College Hall of Fame is a testament to his work and enduring legacy in advancing education and community empowerment.
Quote
“In working with the Community Leadership Program over the last 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of being with hundreds of people who have a sense that they are capable of something greater and wanting to find a path to fulfilling that potential. I’ve seen over and over how learning and pushing one’s boundaries, with the company and support of others from different parts of our community, is a powerful, enlivening, and generative experience.
Gateway has been creating such experiences for much longer than I have, so I regard this recognition as a particularly high honor. “