fbpx

Longstanding Community and Nonprofit Leader Joins Child Advocates

Posted on August 15th, 2021

INDIANAPOLIS – He has been a college professor, an arts administrator, a singing and recording artist, and a dedicated community and nonprofit leader. And now Steven Stolen, currently a project consultant for various organizations, is making Child Advocates his full-time home.

Stolen is joining Child Advocates as the Director of External Relations, building new relationships and funding for the agency’s critical work serving children who face abuse and neglect.

Stolen’s former leadership roles at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indy Chamber and Children’s Choir, among others, give him a wide breadth of experience, relationships, and impact in our community and in the lives of people whom area nonprofits serve.

Child Advocates CEO Cindy Booth says, “We respect and appreciate Steven’s vast knowledge of the nonprofit world, and when you add in his passion and heart for the community, he is a perfect complement to the Child Advocates team and the work we do for children.”

Stolen states, “Two things are important when I look for a job: purpose and people. If a job doesn’t have meaning to me, I won’t pursue it. Cindy Booth, her staff, and this position have both of those critical ingredients. I am excited to do meaningful work with people who care.”

And for Stolen, Child Advocates’ work to help change or even save the lives of abused children is also, personal. “I grew up in a violent household and we had to create our own survival techniques without the benefit of child services help. In those days, people didn’t report abuse as often and children were harmed.”

And as an adult, Stolen and his husband adopted a daughter more than 20 years ago, and they worked within the child welfare system to serve as a permanent guardian, today, to a 5-year-old boy. Stolen says, “Everyone cares about children. Sometimes we have to remind them how important this work is.”

And he will get to work helping Child Advocates tell its story of incredible services for children, when he joins the organization, on Aug. 31.