Year Honored: 2023

Biography:

Leslie Newman, the daughter of Matthew and Gertrude Karp, was born in West Hempstead, New York. She grew up attending local public schools while enjoying her nearby extended family, the beauty of Long Island, and numerous childhood friends, several of whom she remains very close to, to this day. Upon graduating high school, she attended SUNY Buffalo, studying to be a reading specialist and completing a Masters. She went on to teach in New York, Philadelphia, and Connecticut.

In 1980, Leslie and her husband moved to Wilmington, and not long after, the first of her two sons was born. A devoted mom, as her children grew older, Leslie steadily became more involved in the community, working mostly in a variety of roles with the Jewish Federation of Delaware and its agencies.

After volunteering with The Family and Children’s Coalition, Leslie was asked to join the Children’s Bureau and lead its fundraising om 1992. Leslie was a very successful fundraiser, excelling at donor and community relations, event management, and enhancing the profile of the agency. In 2007, she was selected by the board to serve as CEO of what was by the Children & Families First, a position she would hold until her retirement in January 2020.

Under Leslie’s leadership, CFFDE continually grew and expanded in its role as a statewide social services agency, with a comprehensive array of services for children and families that included family foster care, adoption, child welfare prevention programming, home visiting services for pregnant and parenting women, family therapy, school-based mental health counseling, and community schools. The success and growth of CFFDE was rooted in numerous partnerships and productive relationships with state agencies, school districts, public health providers, the courts, and state and local government. Leslie was committed that her organization, its board of directors, and its staff, be driven by innovative and collaborative work. CFFDE developed into a nationally recognized, award-winning organization, and benefitted from achieving the highest ratings of nationally accredited nonprofit child and family serving organizations.

Leslie has been a true champion for supporting children and families and building a community where all Delawareans can thrive. A true believer in evidence-informed interventions, Leslie spearheaded the introduction of many nationally recognized, highly effective programs in Delaware. In the 90’s she travelled to school districts across the state to advocate for School Based Wellness Centers. These innovative programs provided access to children’s health services within the schools. To overcome resistance, with the support of the Division of Public Health, Leslie carefully built partnerships among parents, school administrators, and school board members. Most of these programs remain in existence today, continuing to meet the health and wellness needs of Delaware adolescents.

In many respects an extension of school-based health, Leslie championed bringing the Nurse-Family Partnership to Delaware as CEO of CFFDE. The evidence-based program that couples a licensed nurse with expectant parents at high risk for poor birth outcomes related to social determinants of health, is widely recognized for dramatically improved outcomes for infants and their parents. To properly replicate this program in Delaware, Leslie convinced the philanthropic community to join with state and federal government to assemble the necessary funding to pilot and assess the program. The positive early childhood outcomes realized from NFP throughout its implementation over more than a decade has led its continued expansion. Under Leslie’s leadership, CFFDE brought other model, evidence-based programs to Delaware, including Functional Family Therapy. Designed to reduce the entries of teens into foster care because of intense parent-child conflict, FFT intervenes with a manualized family counseling model that gives caregivers and youth important skills that improve the safety of their homes and the functioning of their family, so they might remain intact.

Appreciated for her problem-solving skills and her commitment to collaboration, Leslie was frequently called upon by state leadership to serve on numerous workgroups and committees. There are too many to list, but they include the state’s Child Death Review Committee, Delaware Early Childhood Council, and Home Visiting Community Advisory Board.

Leslie’s contributions to the Delaware community extend far beyond her responsibilities of CFFDE. From 1996 to 1998, she served as President of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. In 2021, she returned to a statewide leadership role, agreeing to serve as co-chair of a steering committee that worked for 18 months with Brandies University on a comprehensive study of the Jewish population across Delaware and the Brandywine Valley. The results of the study will assist with strategic planning by the Federation, synagogues, and service organizations. Since retirement, she has also been an active member of the Seaside Jewish Community and co-chairs the Social Justice Committee.

For more than 15 years, Leslie has chaired the board of the Milton and Hattie Kutz Foundation, a fund managed by the Jewish Fund for the Future, established through the generosity of former DuPont Executive, Milton Kutz. The board annually distributes funds to a wide variety of community organizations. In 2020, Leslie joined the Board of Delaware Public Media, the state’s only National Public Radio Station. And most recently, Leslie has begun working with the Lewes Public Library around strategic planning.

Leslie’s extensive knowledge of the network of services and community organizations throughout Delaware, combined with the respect of many community leaders, have served Leslie and the people of Delaware well. Delaware is more than simply a home for Leslie. It is the place where over five decades, she not only raised a family, but also engaged in numerous opportunities to develop and use her skills and apply her passion for the benefit of the state’s most vulnerable children and families, and for the benefit of the broader community.

In retirement, Leslie loves all aspects of being a doting “nanny” to her four young grandchildren who live with their parents in nearby Maryland and DC. She lives with her husband Bill in Lewes; in a home they have worked on together to remodel extensively. Leslie and Bill enjoy travel, volunteering, classes through OSHER, and most of all, having time to spend with family and friends.