Non-Profit Exec at Peace Giving Back to Community

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For Mandy Nelson, making a difference in the community is all that matters. So when it came time to choose a profession, she went into teaching. Let’s just say it didn’t work out.

“I was pretty terrible when it came to managing the classroom, and dealing with the outside problems and issues the kids brought in,” Nelson said.

After a short stint as an educator, Nelson turned to the world of non-profits. Using lessons learned from her saleswoman mother, she went to work directing fundraising campaigns for various organizations.

“I knew fundraising was the place for me,” she said. “It’s selling people an idea and making them feel really good in the work we are doing.”

Nelson was recently named executive director of Peace Games’ L.A.-area program. The Boston non-profit partners with schools to teach elementary and middle school children conflict-resolution skills. She said her work has been particularly affected by the California budget crisis, which has school officials all over the state pondering cutbacks.

“How do we help a principal find a way to keep this going and how do we find the money to pay for it? These are the main challenges we are faced with today,” she said.

She has joined the organization as it embarks on a partnership with USC to establish the program at all schools within a 7-square-mile area around the university’s downtown campus.

Nelson said that in her fundraising activities she is quick to point out that the skills the children learn in the program are ones that employers desire.

“It’s not just rainbows and sunshine, it’s also a way to prepare these kids for practical work in the real world,” she said.

Nelson lives in Culver City with her husband, Tim, and two daughters, Grace and Amelia. In her spare time, she coaches her girls’ T-ball teams and reads voraciously. Her last book was the novel “Bright Shiny Morning” by James Frey.

“I try to read at least a hundred novels a year,” she said. “This last year I almost met my goal, I read up to 85. Sometimes it’s just a matter of deciding to stay up and read or sleep.”


Alexandra Hinojosa

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