YOUR "FCS" TEAM

Daniel E. Frontera
Grant and Fund development specializing in events and sponsorships

Dan Frontera has been supporting the efforts of non profits and community organizations in the WNY area for 10+ years as a development manager. He holds a degree in Financial Services, and spent the first half of his career learning the ropes of commercial banking in some of Buffalo’s lowest income neighborhoods.

Service to the country and community has always been a foundation of Frontera’s life. He served for 21 years as a member of the US Army and National Guard and as a Volunteer Fireman since 2000. When an opportunity to work for a Class “A” Municipality which housed programs of the National Service Program AmeriCorps presented itself in 1998, Dan took this as a sign that his education, professional experience and his passion for service were finally combining for a new career life balance.

During the past decade Dan has developed extensive experience in grant writing and management, program development and implementation, community fund raising, annual, member and capital campaigns, and special events. Some of the highlights of his career in nonprofit management have included writing or leading the team effort to secure more than $19M in grant funding for National Service efforts in WNY; developed and implemented a financial recovery plan for AmeriCorps during the 2003 National funding cut; raised more than $1.3M in grants and annual campaigns for volunteer fire companies; developed and implemented a successful multi-year disaster recovery program in Mississippi to help recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina; managed multiple years of Community Development Block Grant funding for municipal projects from initial concept to proposal through completion and reporting; secured funding for special interest projects including library renovations, security enhancements for courtrooms, veterans memorials, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT); funding through national corporate grants to provide work boots for low-income members of AmeriCorps; and developed and implemented a national Professional Corps program that engaged First Responders in training the community on emergency preparedness and response.

Jolene Baller
Public Relations specializing in Media Marketing and relationships

Ms. Baller has an extremely long list of credentials in the Public Relations/Promotions field. Starting out as a Communications/Theater Arts Education major, Jolene entered the Broadcast field early on in her hometown of Wheeling, WV. Due to her innate talent in promotion, she was swept away to LA where she became a top-rated record promoter working with such labels as Geffen, Warner and others.

Since moving to Buffalo, NY, she never left her radio or promotion roots when she decided to combine her skills with the nonprofit arena. Instead, Jolene has combined these talents to offer a variety of community-based organizations best practices for Public Relations, Promotions, and Communications.

Jolene was the chief organizer of the 2000 Million Mom March for sensible gun laws and was one of 65 grassroots organizing Moms who were invited to the White House to meet the President and First-Lady Hillary Clinton.

In 2003 Ms. Baller was one of the main speakers at Washington DC's National Press Club for NeighborWorks.

Recently, Ms. Baller has provided such services for Daemen College’s Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement and West Side Neighborhood Housing Services among others.

Marilyn Rodgers
Grant Development specializing in Housing/Community Programming

Marilyn has been a community advocate for over a decade in Western New York and is trained in Nonprofit Administration. Her specialties range from Housing to the Arts. She is HUD certified in grantsmanship and also holds certification in the Public Authorities Accountability Act.

Ms. Rodgers served as a consultant to the Honorable Henry J. Nowak in the Housing
Court Reform Project for the Eighth Judicial District in the City of Buffalo. During this time many new programs were added to the solution-based court to assist in the relief of vacant and blighted properties as well as both home-owner and tenant assistance.

In 2006, she researched and developed the foundation for the current Lodging House Legislation, now included in the City of Buffalo's City Charter. This new legislation protected not only the surrounding homes and neighborhood, but created better housing for the less fortunate throughout Buffalo, NY.

Marilyn has also crafted four local organizations that are heralded for their work in various neighborhoods throughout the West Side of Buffalo: the Johnson Park Association, the West Village Renaissance Group, the Lower West Side Partnership, and most recently the Johnson Park Restoration Fund. She is also the recipient of numerous city and county awards of excellence for her community efforts and had also received an All-America City Civic Empowerment Award for her work with the Johnson Park Restoration Project.