FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Lorri Wendorf-Corrigan, lorriwendorf.corrigan@gmail.com, (608) 444-8475
Paul Terranova, paul@LCECmadison.org, (608) 833-4979 x210
Executive Director Paul Terranova will bid a fond farewell to the Lussier Community Education Center this fall
MADISON—After more than two decades of leadership at the Lussier Community Education Center on the west side of Madison, Paul Terranova is stepping down as executive director to focus on his next chapter.
“Bittersweet seems like an understatement,” Terranova says. “But it’s the only word I have. After 21 amazing years, I’ll be ending my time with this wonderful organization. I leave feeling good about what we have accomplished and with a certainty that the Center will continue to work for justice and a strong and healthy community.”
During Terranova’s tenure, the Center evolved from the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center in two apartments in the Wexford Ridge Apartments into the Lussier Community Education Center, completed in 2008.
An organizer at heart, Terranova approached the expansion as a community effort. Wexford Ridge residents and supporters from surrounding neighborhoods, nearby churches, local service clubs and schools came together with elected officials to build the new center. Governor Doyle signed legislation that paved the way for a 45-year partnership and lease between the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center and Madison Metropolitan School District. The mayor of Madison, for the first time in city history, pledged city capital funds to a nonprofit community center.
During this time the Center also established a unique model, the Lussier Framework, which guides the Center’s work. The Framework emphasizes organizing and power, a trauma-informed culture, positive youth development, racial and social justice, and intrinsic motivation to learn.
“It’s never easy when a highly successful, long-term executive director leaves an organization,” says LCEC Board President Lorri Wendorf-Corrigan. “But Paul is leaving the Center in great shape. We have a skilled and caring staff, an engaged board, committed volunteers and donors, and we are in a strong financial position. Paul’s values of community, collaboration and social justice are Lussier values and will continue on into the future.”
The Center’s strong foundation is anchored in a dedicated staff and board. In addition to all of the committed frontline staff and managers, there is 20 years of institutional memory between the assistant director and development director alone. In addition, Board President Wendorf-Corrigan spent the majority of her 36-year career at the City of Madison working with neighborhood centers, including 25 years working with the Lussier Center.
With a funding mix of individual donations, government and foundation grants, and endowment revenue, the Center’s $1.4 million budget is solid and has grown tenfold in the 21 years of Terranova’s tenure as executive director.
After gathering input from staff, the community and stakeholders, the Center’s board of directors aims to post the position in early July and have a new executive director on board in October. Terranova will leave the post in September.
The Lussier Community Education Center, located at 55 S. Gammon Road, started in 1979 as the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center. Since then, it’s been a place for people from different walks of life to come together and build community. It includes activities such as afterschool programs for elementary through high school students, a job clinic and computer lab, radio station, community dinners, a food pantry and much more.
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Photo: Paul with Antrionna Cox, former Buffett Scholar and PASS AmeriCorps member, and Jatanna Harden, LCEC building assistant.
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