Creating Connected Communities Gets Co-Executive Director

Dara Grant joined Creating Connected Communities as co-executive director with founder Amy Sacks Zeide on Aug. 13. Zeide said the decision to share the executive director role came out of strategic planning last year. “In order to maintain a growth plan and scale the organization, the operation side needed to be formalized.”

Grant will serve as chief operations officer while Zeide will serve as chief program officer.

“I hope to be able to blend my knowledge from the corporate world with my years of volunteer experience with other leading organizations to help CCC continue to engage more Jewish teens and serve more children and families in need,” said Grant, who has known Zeide since high school.

Grant has volunteered with Amy’s Holiday Party, CCC’s most well-known event, since it began in 1995. She plans to address operations and finance for CCC and share fundraising and marketing responsibilities.

Grant comes to CCC from The Coca-Cola Company, where she oversaw workplace projects across North America, including the end-to-end process of opening new Coca-Cola offices.

Her leadership in the Jewish community includes serving with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and the Marcus JCC. She serves as co-chair of the membership committee at the MJCCA and is a member of the Federation’s National Young Leadership Cabinet. She has volunteered with the JFGA for nearly 15 years, including overseeing events, serving as a member of the Young Leadership Executive Board, co-chairing the women’s philanthropy pomegranate campaign, and participating on the allocations committee.

CCC’s mission is to bring life-enhancing programs to children in need by empowering teens to become engaged community leaders and volunteers. Each year, more than 80 teens in CCC’s Leadership Development Program plan and implement nine community programs for thousands of children in need while learning valuable leadership skills such as fundraising, public speaking and program planning. Through their programs, children receive thousands of gifts, meals, books and personal care products. They participate in such activities as outdoor festivals, carnivals, craft projects and DJ dance parties, with the help of more than 700 teen volunteers.

The leadership development program is expanding in January from Congregation B’nai Torah, where 80 teens are served, to the northern suburbs.