Greetings to all friends of Murray Hill Institute. Last summer I retired as Editorial Director, Music, at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and began my tenure as the first Executive Director of Murray Hill Institute. The leap into the non-profit sector has been an exciting one—especially since MHI is such a young and rapidly growing organization. I am eager to have feedback and ideas from all of you about how Murray Hill Institute can better carry out its mission of helping women transform culture.

The Institute’s greatest challenge—and probably its greatest opportunity as well—is that it encompasses all professions. This has enabled us to sponsor conferences on a variety of issues that reach across all types of work. While we will continue to sponsor such events, we are also prioritizing services that expand our outreach on the level of the individual. Foremost among these is our mentoring program. We are working hard to re-structure this program in such a way that it can reach many more people. To this end, we need a larger pool of mentors—those who are available for one-time-only exploratory conversations with persons interested in a particular field, as well as those who are willing to commit to a longer-term mentoring relationship.

Feedback from our conferences has shown us that one of the apects of these events that participants value most is the opportunity to meet and share ideas with other women in their own profession, as well as those in other fields. To this end, we have formed our first profession-specific group—for writers, artists, and musicians. This group had its first meeting in October, and we look forward to much productive interchange as we explore ideas together. If you are interested in forming a profession-specific group, please contact me: atrimmer@murrayhillinstitute.org.

My other retirement job is Marketing Manager for the South Bronx Educational Foundation, working at the Rosedale Center for girls in the Bronx. Since Murray Hill Institute’s volunteer outreach has a partnership with Rosedale, I am hoping to be able to strengthen the link between the women who participate in the MHI programs with Rosedale’s programs. There are many opportunities for volunteering with the cultural and educational programs at Rosedale, as well as helping with development. At the moment we are seeking internships for the high school girls who will be participating in the 2007 Job Training Program at Rosedale. This program runs for four weeks. Last summer, 21 interns worked at places such as Allen & Overy LLP, the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, Lighthouse International, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, and the Wave Hill Forest Summer Collaborative. The interns work part time or full time, and are supported with classes at Rosedale in computer skills, business communications, and professional ethics. Interns and employers alike were highly enthusiastic about the summer 2006 experience. If your place of work has a summer internship program, or would like to start one, please contact me. You can do this through the MHI volunteer page, or email me directly at Rosedale: atrimmer@sbef.org.

Murray Hill Institute itself also needs volunteers: we especially need people who have expertise with website development and/or graphic design, as well as writers for our newsletter and photographers for special events. In order to continue to expand and develop our programs, we need your help!

Alice Trimmer