It’s hard for me to fathom that six months have already passed since I joined the Meyer Foundation.  During that time, I’ve been committed to listening and learning as much as I could—about Meyer and the team here, about all of you and your work, about the issues and challenges facing low-income people in our region, and about the opportunities to work collectively to have an even greater positive impact on their lives and well-being.

Earlier this year, tens of thousands of children from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador crossed the border from Mexico to Texas and turned themselves in to U.S. immigration authorities. This dramatic increase in the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border overwhelmed the immigration and court systems and received heavy media coverage.

One of the most inspiring aspects of working in philanthropy is the opportunity to hear powerful stories from so many different organizations—stories of transformed lives, revitalized neighborhoods, and game-changing partnerships with business and government.

One of my high school English teachers introduced a unit on poetry with a drawing on the blackboard: a large carton of orange juice, standing tall next to a small can of frozen orange juice concentrate.

This week, Nicky Goren and I had the privilege of attending the ribbon-cutting for Dance Place’s new 9,500-square-foot dance education and performance space on 8th Street NE in DC.

As I begin my third week at the Meyer Foundation, I wanted to share how truly honored I am to be leading this institution, and to underscore the enormous sense of responsibility I feel as I assume this role.

Today the Meyer Foundation’s staff had a farewell lunch with our president, Julie Rogers — the last in a series of ceremonial moments to honor Julie as she steps down after 28 years of service.

How many nonprofits would consider telling stories to be their job? Probably not many, and with good reason—for there to be stories worth telling, programs need to be run, and services need to be provided.

One of the most noteworthy findings from Daring to Lead 2011, the national study of 3,000 nonprofit executives produced by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation, was the contrast between the large number of executive directors who described themselves as “very happy” after less than a year on the job (more than half) and the much smaller number who said they were very happy after being an executive director for a few years.