CES Award

 

 

The Carolyn Eyster Steinhauser Prize was created by the Women’s Giving Circle of York County Community Foundation in 2017 to recognize the extraordinary contributions of its founder.

 

The award honors people whose contributions to community-building have been marked by singular excellence, reflecting Ms. Steinhauser’s decades of bringing the community together to address complex challenges.

 

 

Selection criteria can be found on the application.

 

 

 Jenny Englerth, President and CEO of Family First Health, has expanded both the scope and scale of her organization tremendously. She has shifted Family First Health from a single community health center serving York County to an organization with a presence in three surrounding counties. Jenny has also added much-needed behavioral health services as well as addiction services for community residents. In addition, she has lent her leadership and engagement skills to numerous community and statewide initiatives including the PA Coalition of AIDS Service Providers, Healthy York County Coalition and White Rose Leadership Institute.

 

 Jan Herrold has had three distinct careers: technology, nonprofit administration and consulting, and civic engagement. After working for IBM and Westinghouse, she pivoted to the nonprofit sector, working for the YWCA of York, Byrnes Health Education Center, and York Nonprofit Management Development Center. She then led the launch of the Center for Community Engagement at York College. Jan has played a leadership role in all her nonprofit sector positions and has served as a consultant to dozens of other nonprofits. She specializes in helping newly-formed organizations get off to a good start, as well as facilitating mergers, improving collaborative community efforts, strategic planning, and board development.

 

A graduate of York Country Day School, Carolyn moved back to York County to raise her family.  One of the groups for which she volunteered was the local YWCA, eventually becoming its executive director.  Later, she served on the board of the former York Foundation (now York County Community Foundation) and ultimately became its first executive director, serving for about nine years and raising YCCF’s first $25 million.  She also served as the first non-attorney president of the York County Bar Foundation, was a long-time trustee of York College of Pennsylvania, and still helps to oversee the York College Community Opportunity Scholarship Program (YCCOSP).

 

Carolyn is considered by many community leaders as the human startup capital for countless projects over the years that have raised the quality of life in the greater York community, including Focus On Our Future, which helped to push the number of accredited child care centers in York County well above the national average.

 

"I can't imagine how many things in York have happened because Carolyn had a good idea," said a founding Women’s Giving Circle member.

 

Not one for the limelight or to take credit, her friends say, Carolyn sees her role as a facilitator, connecting the dots among the different groups and individuals in the community who can partner to make something happen.

It's in keeping with her philosophy of "strategic philanthropy" — figuring out exactly what is needed, determining a specific action that can help, and then leveraging some money with a host of community partnerships for a positive impact -- all with an eye toward long-term sustainability and lasting impact.

"I like to build things," Carolyn said. "This is so much more fun than golf or bridge. This is what I love."

Carolyn founded the York County Community Foundation’s Women's Giving Circle in 2002 with like-minded women from the York community. It pools the dues from about 80 local women to provide grants for community projects. Collectively that group has invested over $1,100,000 in strategic community projects and helped to leverage millions more.