CDCLP Team
Program Team
Joe Black program Director
Joe has more than a decade of experience in community organizing and philanthropy, with a focus on resident-centered engagement and equitable investment in underserved communities. He previously served as Senior Program Officer for Community and Economic Development at the Cleveland Foundation and held community investment and engagement roles at the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, where he led the Central Promise Initiative. He also co-founded and continues to lead the Reverse Ride Along, a nationally recognized initiative that immerses civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders in resident-led neighborhood experiences, strengthening cross-sector collaboration and promoting community-informed decision-making. Joe is a graduate of NLDP Cohort 8 and Leadership Cleveland '25, and he serves as vice chair of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and on the board of the Health Comp Foundation. Joe lives in Cleveland with his wife, Amber, and their two sons Jordan and Isaac.
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.
Molly Crawford graduate support manager
Molly Crawford has had a passion for urban spaces her whole life and delights in being able to have a hand in building, shaping, and hopefully improving neighborhoods and communities in Cleveland. She has spent the past 7+ years in community development and most recently served as Director of Community Development for West Park Kamm’s Neighborhood Development. Molly is passionate about placemaking, public art, multi-modality, and pretty much all things public realm. Previous to her current role, she worked for the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation and the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation in several different roles while earning a bachelor's degree from CSU’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. She currently lives in Cleveland Heights.
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.