CDCLP Team
Program Team
Michael R. White program Director
Michael R. White is the Senior Policy Advisor and Program Director for the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program (NLDP) and The Community Development Corporation Leadership Program (CDCLP). NLDP and CDCLP are programs designed to enhance the leadership capacity of two distinct cohorts of Cleveland citizens, engaged community leaders working in the City’s neighborhoods and leaders in community development corporations. Prior to joining the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation Michael was the Mayor of the City of Cleveland for twelve years and before that held two other elected public offices, Ohio State Senator and Cleveland City Councilman. Michael graduated from The Ohio State University with a BA in Education and a MA in Public Administration. He and his wife reside in Newcomerstown Ohio where they own a farm.
Jillian Svala Assistant Program Director
Jillian Svala realized a passion for a career in social service after graduating from Penn State University. Jillian then moved to Cleveland Ohio to pursue her Master’s in Social Science Administration at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. She began her career with the former Cuyahoga County Board of County Commissioners as a program officer over school-based programming. This led her to an opportunity to serve as the Managing Director with the Council of Neighborhood Leaders, a membership coalition of 14 Cleveland based not for profit organizations and Settlement Houses, all dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals and families by offering informal supports within the neighborhood of residence for each recipient. More recently, Jillian worked with City Year as the Chief of Staff for the Cleveland site. She currently lives in Avon Lake with her husband, two children and two dogs.
Additional Support
Sandra Kluk NLDP Program Administrator
Sandra Kluk is a native of Cleveland and has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Cleveland State University. Her work has mainly focused on directing and managing youth programs and social change organizations. She started her career in the Buckeye-Woodland neighborhood of Cleveland as a community organizer. There, she developed community networks and strategies on issues of housing, banking investment, affordable insurance, crime and community development. Later, Sandra turned her attention to youth advocacy and assisted in the creation and management of a career and GED preparation training academy for out-of-school disadvantaged youth. Her most recent work was as Director of Special Projects for a foreclosure prevention counseling agency.
Julia Ferra NLDP Assistant program director
Julia Ferra is a graduate of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies with a minor in Sustainable Urban Development. She grew up in Westlake but lived Downtown and in Lakewood in college. Julia worked with the Community Outreach and Events Coordinator as an intern at Bellaire-Puritas Development Corporation while she was at CSU. Following graduation, she moved to San Francisco to work with AmeriCorps as a Volunteer Coordinator at a nonprofit serving those experiencing homelessness in the city. Julia realized her love for volunteering at the age of 8 when she began helping at a soup kitchen on Cleveland’s west side and later traveled to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity for a week in New Mexico.