Director
Developmental psychologist Micheline Ridley Malson’s 40-year professional career in human development and social policy includes experience in research and evaluation, social entrepreneurship, program development and management, organizational development, and advocacy and activism. Her work in both rural and urban counties in North Carolina began while she was Director of the Division of Family Development at NCDHHS where she created 4 programs and 22 family resource centers that mandated the involvement of families from poor communities in their design, governance, and evaluation.
For almost 30 years her work has focused on grassroots leadership development and building the capacity of community-based and faith-based organizations. She is a founder with End Poverty Durham of the Durham Economic Resource Center (DERC) and facilitates Living the Word, a placed-based community development ministry of the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church to help congregations act on their faith to change their communities.
She was involved in the development of two faith-based initiatives: JUBILEE-NC, as the Director of the Families First and the Voices programs, and Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, a collaboration of 5 congregations where she served as coach-evaluator. She has provided consultation to faith-based organizations including: Faith Partnerships, Inc. (on the Black church and philanthropy, the Welfare Reform Liaison Project (a faith-based employment development program in Greensboro, NC); and the NC (eastern) and Western NC Conferences of the United Methodist Church. In 2001 she attended the Summer Leadership Institute on the Black Church and Community Economic Development at Harvard University Divinity School.
Before working with community organizations Dr. Malson focused on the design and evaluation of social programs and projects. A partial list includes 1) Durham, NC Smart Start; 2) NGAAP (The Next Generation of African American Philanthropists) & The Birmingham Change Fund, Hindsight Consulting, and the Ford Foundation; 3) Burke County Public Schools FUTURES Project; 4) Institute for Families in Society, TDE & University of South Carolina; 5) Sheps Center for Health Services Research, UNC-Chapel Hill; and 6) the Brookline Early Education Project, the demonstration project for Families as Teachers.
She holds degrees in psychology, child development, and human development and social policy from Howard, Tufts, and Harvard Universities, respectively. She was formerly a member of the faculty of the Sanford Institute (now school) of Public Policy at Duke University, a lecturer at UNC School of Social Work and NC Central University, and Director of the Minority Women’s Research Program at Wellesley College Center for Research on Women.
Photo Credit: Durham Magazine