FUTURE 5 Completes Staffing

FUTURE 5, a unique life- and work-skills not-for-profit organization for at-risk Stamford high school students, today announced that it has made three appointments to round out its management staff. Kristin Faig becomes F5's first Director of Operations; Deirdre Didden McAllister, a Staff Coach has taken on the additional responsibility of Corporate Relations Liaison; and Kate Sullivan has also been promoted to a full-time position as F5's Student Advocate.

"Future 5 is a community with many voices including our student members, our student alums, our valued volunteer coaches, our staff, our active board, our financial supporters and our community relationships," says Clif McFeely, Founder and director of FUTURE 5. "These new positions will coordinate with vitally important constituencies to assure that F5 is well-managed and highly effective."

FUTURE 5, and its 37 community volunteers, most long-time professionals, target high school students at risk of graduating high school without an actionable plan to transition to a two-or four-year college, vocational training, or the military. To help students make connections and develop their personalized plan, FUTURE 5 conducts workshops to develop a plan to achieve success in the next stage of their lives. Of the 132 FUTURE 5 graduates, 92% committed to 2yr/4yr college, trade school or military as planned, and 99% have graduated from high school as planned.  (Stamford’s graduation rate is 75.7%)

As Corporate Relations Liaison, Deirdre Didden McAllister will be responsible for Future 5 student programs within the corporate community. This includes the F5 College Club that was initiated with PWC to give F5's community college students an education in financial literacy, its Job Prep program implementing the job shadowing aspect with Ashforth, Nielsen and Bank of Ireland and F5's Open Speaker and Brainwave series as well as any events or programs established within the corporate community.

Ms. McAllister has been a volunteer at Future 5 for two years, both as a staff coach and as a co-coordinator of the Job Prep Program.  Before Future 5, she worked at Capula Investment Management and Sound Shore Management, both investment management firms. Ms. McAllister holds a Master of Arts in Applied Psychology from Fairfield University and a BA in Arts, English from College of the Holy Cross. She lives in Darien and has two sons.

Ms. Faig comes to FUTURE 5 from the New Canaan Community Foundation where she had been Manager of Operations. She is a 1985 graduate of New Canaan High School and attended Northeastern University. Earlier in her career she worked with the New Canaan YMCA. Ms Faig is married, has two daughters and will work out of Future5's Stamford office.

Ms Sullivan, as Student Advocate, will work closely with F5 student members as a mentor and to ensure their participation in life-and-job skills workshops, to organize tutoring appointments, and assign appropriate volunteer support. She holds a degree in Anthropology from Colorado College and is planning to get her Masters in social work.

FUTURE 5 (http://www.futurefive.org/) and its 37 community volunteers, most long-time professionals, target high school students at risk of graduating high school without an actionable plan to transition to a two-or four-year college, vocational training, or the military. FUTURE 5 helps students make key connections, develop their personalized plan, and gain the skill sets that are needed to move successfully beyond high school. Of all 132 FUTURE 5 graduates, 92% committed to 2yr/4yr college, trade school or military as planned, and 99% have graduated from high school as planned.

Launched in March 2009, FUTURE 5, is based at 135 Atlantic Street, but conducts classes at the Stamford Innovation Center. The organization is supported by a number of Stamford and Fairfield County businesses such as GE, Purdue Pharma, Nielsen, Bank of Ireland, Ashforth Co., and individual benefactors.