NCC Professor Amanda Andere, Executive Director of FACETS, Named A Northern Virginian of the Year

Amanda Andere, right, at FACET's Back to School Event

Northern Virginia Magazine has honored New Century College Adjunct Professor Amanda Andere's tireless work to end homelessness and break the cycle of poverty in Fairfax County by choosing her as one of its six Northern Virginians of the Year for 2012. The executive director of FACETS, a nonprofit that opens doors for people suffering the effects of poverty, Andere credits her parents as inspiration: As Kenyan and Jamaican immigrants, they received help from caring groups and individuals and ultimately went on to give back to their community through volunteer work.

Andere teaches NCLC 331, The Nonprofit Sector, this fall.  "The nonprofit sector will only thrive when we have young, diverse people entering into the workforce who understand how nonprofits work and their impact on important social issues," she says. "I also view the class as an opportunity to expose students to the possibility of being engaged in their community through volunteering and philanthropy, by looking at how well-managed nonprofits can seek systemic changes and not just service delivery." 

Andere serves the community as chair of Nonprofit NoVA. She is a board member of the following: the Reston Association, the Nonprofit Roundtable, the Fairfax County Alliance for Human Services, and Take Heart Kenya. She is also a member of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance Advisory Committee, the Leadership Fairfax Program Committee, and the Future Executive Director Fellowship Advisory Committee.

She has a BA in Political Science from James Madison University and a MPA in Nonprofit Management from George Mason University.