Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler
(818) 677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

CSUN Roundtable to Explore How to Strengthen
Community Organizations in the San Fernando Valley

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Oct. 25, 2001) - Representatives from some of San Fernando Valley's leading community-based organizations will gather at Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Nov. 1, for a roundtable discussion on how to strengthen social services in the area. The invitation-only event will take place from noon to 3 p.m. in the University Club, on the southeast corner of the campus at Nordhoff Street and Zelzah Avenue. "As our society increasingly requires greater services from social sector organizations, it is necessary to ensure that the organizational capacity exists to meet expectation. The Center Management and Organizational Development seeks to establish an on-going dialogue between the social sector organizations of the San Fernando Valley and the major foundations that support them on how their capacity needs can best be met," said CSUN management professor Alan Glassman, director of the center, which is organizing the roundtable. Glassman pointed out that during the past decade, the San Fernando Valley has become one of the most diversified communities in the United States, and CSUN, with approximately 30,000 students, has been identified as one of the top 10 most diverse universities in the nation. The community roundtable will bring together 25 key social sector leaders and funders in the San Fernando Valley to share ideas on how local nonprofits can be strengthened through organizational capacity building so they may better achieve their goals. Among those organizations invited to take part in the discussion are Executive Service Corps., Community Partners, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the California Community Foundation as well as Child and Family Guidance Center, Tarzana Treatment Center, Meet Every Need with Dignity and the Northeast Valley Health Corp. For more information about the roundtable, call (818) 677-6400. CSUN's Center for Management and Organizational Development is a university business consulting practice that hopes to provide support to Los Angeles' business community while at the same time bringing real-world experience to students. California State University, Northridge has more than 30,000 full- and part-time students and offers 63 bachelor¹s and 51 master¹s degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."