“By the age of 14, I had followed my mother – and my grandmother, and their forebears – into domestic work, cleaning homes for money. Unlike them, I benefitted from the Civil Rights Movement and Affirmative Action and got admitted to Harvard. There, I continued as a domestic, working in the kitchens and dormitories to ‘earn my keep’ as a scholarship student. The kitchens were inhabited mostly by women who looked like the women in my family but came from all parts of the African diaspora, and were a revelation. I got involved in organizations to support Black Studies, Women’s Studies, women of color and the rights of those Harvard workers, and I’ve been at it ever since.”

Candice Cason, M.Ed., Ph.D., has more than 20 years of experience leading health and human development organizations for underserved and economically disadvantaged populations. She recently created Common Forces, LLC to provide organizational operations and organizational climate assessment, assist with planning, provide team coaching and provide executive coaching. She works with leaders to design and implement strategies toward improved fiscal performance, enhanced staff performance and enhanced staff and volunteer engagement.

In three previous positions, she oversaw delivery of behavioral health education, clinical treatment, sexual assault and case management services for three different county governments within the metropolitan Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area, working with budgets of up to $15 million and serving as many as 10,000 unduplicated clients annually.

Her leadership roles in three community-based Boston non-profit organizations in combination with community organizing in Boston around violence against women, police brutality and voting rights continue to inform her practice. She recently completed a fundraising plan for a Family Justice Center created to ensure protection of rights and successful launch into independent living for survivors of domestic violence.

Candice lives in Bowie, MD.