Holly Holcombe

Holly Holcombe, Associate Director of DART, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where she credits “coming of age in the 1960’s” as an exciting and defining time. She graduated from University of Michigan in 1974 and started on the path that led to a career in community organizing. While working with VISTA volunteers in Wisconsin she was introduced to congregation-based community organizing in Chicago; subsequently she moved to Florida and began organizing with a senior citizens organization in Broward County, Fl.

While organizing in Broward County Holly’s path crossed with John Calkins who provided mentoring in her development as an organizer; she later became the lead organizer of a similar senior citizens organization in Miami Dade County while John began building the PULSE organization.

In the early 1980’s John and Holly were both challenged by another mentor, Herb White, to consider a long-term strategy for building and sustaining community organizations. At the same time, clergy from other areas of Florida were expressing interest in building similar institutionally based organizations. In 1982 DART was created in response to that interest, and to the growing commitment to build a vehicle through which more organizations could be built, and strong training for leaders and organizers provided.

Holly has been instrumental in initiating new organizations in Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida, and provides ongoing consultation to the affiliates in these states, as well as Indiana. She is excited by the new organizers coming through the Organizer’s Institute, and credits Ben MacConnell for his laser focus on developing a successful recruitment track and strong training curriculum; she similarly credits John Calkins for his vision for the network and Dr. Jana Adams for her strong leadership of DART’s national and regional leadership training events.

Holly says the work is only possible and successful because of the DART core staff, a strong team of senior organizers, and a promising next generation of organizers emerging through the Organizer’s Institute.