OVERVIEW
William Bloomfield has been a social-policy entrepreneur for his entire public-private sector career. He founded and led five public/private applied research and consulting organizations, as well as holding senior research and management positions at Brandeis University’s Heller Graduate School, National Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in Washington, and New England Medical Center’s Health Policy Institute.
For over 40 years, Bill has worked with top decision-makers and executive-level leaders in K-12/higher education, corporations, CBOs/NGOs, government, and philanthropic organizations as strategic advisor, facilitator, consultant, and coach. He has led public-private partnerships and advised hundreds of key community stakeholders to identify and create public/ private sector strategies to resolve long-standing education, youth, community and workforce development problems in economically depressed communities around the globe.
Bill holds a Ph.D. in social policy from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and a B.A. in Education from the University of Akron. As part of his graduate work in Cross-Cultural /International Development at Lesley University, he was invited to conduct a youth-workforce feasibility study in Puna, India. Bill received a research fellowship grant to study philanthropic practices at the Rockefeller Archive Center.
CAREER TRAJECTORY
After a series of leadership positions in the arts, neighborhood/community development, and academia, Bill began a private education and organizational development consulting practice that morphed into a series of opportunities to create, lead, and evaluate dozens of school, college, and community initiatives in urban areas, small cities, and rural communities throughout the US and in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Mexico, and the Middle East. He’s currently working on a unique STEAM-focused training and workforce development project in Rural Kenya for out-of-work, non-educated young people.
- In the late-1980s Bill created the Center for Corporate and Education Initiatives at Brandeis University’s Heller Graduate School, where he served as director/senior research associate and national director/principal investigator of four multi-million dollar national, replicable demonstration models. While at Brandeis, Bill edited “Youth Policy Review” for the Center for Human Resources and co-authored two widely read studies and articles on welfare-to-work and youth policy.
- In 1992 Bill founded School & Main at New England Medical Center’s Health Institute in Boston, where he also served as executive director and on the senior scientific staff. School & Main expanded several education and school to work/career initiatives for thousands of vulnerable students and young adults (grades 6-16) in more than 70 communities. These programs have been recognized as exemplary models by: U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, The White House and Congress, National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Crime Prevention Council, National League of Cities, Children’s Defense Fund, NYC Board of Education, The Urban League, The National Mentoring Group, The College Board, The Conference Board, Fortune Magazine Education Summit, Committee for Economic Development, National Middle School Association, Phi Delta Kappa, and the American Youth Policy Forum, among others.
- In 1997 he launched a nonprofit, Civic Strategies, to expand and broaden the work begun at Brandeis and the Health Institute. Civic Strategies worked with foundations, local/state/federal government, business, school districts, higher ed, and community leaders committed to systemic change initiatives for children and youth and the organizational shifts that were essential to achieve it. Civic Strategies Partners, Bill’s for-profit consulting firm, continued the work from 2008 through 2018. Over the years, Bill has been a keynote speaker, panelist, and conference facilitator about leadership, community strategy capacity-building, program design, resource development/philanthropy, evaluation, corporate/community partnerships, authentic school improvement, and grassroots empowerment for numerous national and international organizations as well as higher education, philanthropic, government, and high-level community events).
Bill is the author and principal investigator/senior staff for dozens of applied research, evaluation, and program grants. His publications include papers, articles, monographs, and essays on social policy, school improvement, program/project management and implementation, economic development, intermediary organizations, youth mentoring, school-to-work, and business involvement in community programs.
Bill has served on numerous policy boards and advisory committees, including: Massachusetts School Leadership Project, Community Schools for Career Success, National Mentoring Working Group, Collective Impact Alliance, and Clean Airport Partnership. He is listed in several biographical reference publications, including Who’s Who in: the World; America; the East; Emerging Leaders in America; American Education; and Business.
On the creative side, Bill is a film/tv actor and producer, an internationally recognized sculptor, and a private/corporate art consultant. He was president of the New England Sculpture Association for 5 years and served on the board for several years. More recently, he produced the Overview Effect Film Festival in 2021 and is the U.S. producer for a new one-woman show. Bill was a volunteer Foster Care Case Reviewer for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. He also continues to coach teens and young adults to help them navigate their career-life decisions.