Ruth Dickey

Ruth E. Dickey brings over 14 years of nonprofit experience and leadership to her role as Clifton Cultural Arts Center's Founding Executive Director.

Prior to CCAC, Ruth served as the Executive Director of New Futures in Burien, WA, a nonprofit that partners with families in low-income apartment complexes to create communities where children thrive. Ruth led New Futures to double the number of children and families served, while also leading an intensive needs assessment and strategic planning process to set shared priorities for the future of the organization. During her tenure, New Futures was selected as Organization of the Year by the Washington State Association of Social Workers, awarded the $200,000 Neighborhood Excellence Award by Bank of America, and attracted widespread attention for its evaluation work, including an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Ruth was also named one of "40 Under 40" by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Prior to New Futures, Ruth worked as a consultant with nonprofits across the U.S. on issues of organizational development, strategic planning, board development and fundraising. She has presented workshops on these topics as a part of the 2003 Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Organizational Development Gathering for Grantees, the 2002 Pittsburgh Nonprofit Summit, and to the DC chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Ruth also spent four and a half years as Executive Director of Miriam’s Kitchen, a breakfast and social service program for people who are homeless in Washington, DC. During her tenure, the organization executed a successful $1.4 million capital campaign to begin transitional housing, was selected as the Winner of the 2001 Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management, and she was awarded the Shayne Leadership Award for an outstanding Executive Director.

Ruth holds a BS in Foreign Service and an MA in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, and an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetry at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her poems and essays have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and have appeared in a range of journals, including Alimentum, Baltimore Review, Barrow Street, Divide, ellipsis, Kalliope, Margie, and Sonora Review. She has received a Mayor's Arts Award in Washington DC, and an individual artist fellowship from the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities.