Clifford Feldman, Stars Foundation President
Charlotte, NC
Biography:
World Help, Inc. Forest, Virginia 2008-2009
As Humanitarian Aid Program Director, Mr. Feldman was hired to develop and implement strategy to expand humanitarian and development programs for the organization. Using his twenty years of experience and skills in development, humanitarian aid, self-reliance and sustainability, capacity building and evaluation and monitoring as the building blocks for any program, Mr. Feldman was able to manage USAID international Food and Relief Programs in Guatemala and Honduras in 2008 and 2009, providing Goods in Kind of $12,000,000 in 2008 and $50,000,000 delivered in 2009
Food For The Poor, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida 1999-2007
Mr. Feldman was responsible for goods in kind donations, research and development,imlementation and reporting for US Government programs such as USAID Limited Excess Property Program (LEPP), USAID Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program, USDA 416 (b), USDA McGovern-Dole International Food For Education, USDA Food For Progress and OFDA Emergency Grants.
He developed system to mitigate loss and provide oversight by tracking items in customs and limiting delays in moving donated goods from the port to the warehouses and further on to the recipients.
Served as organization's liaison with foreign governments to access and receive donations of commodities, food and services. Also responsible for negotiating agreements and resolving customs issues with the host country Governments and for developing, managing, and providing oversight for agreements with local partner agencies and organizations. He developed capacity in partner organizations in 15 countries throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America (the area of interest of Food for the Poor).
Mr. Feldman created a goods-in-kind program and procured, shipped and distributed more than $900,000,000 in donations in 2007. More than $3,000,000,000 in goods-in-kind procured, shipped and distributed between 1999 and 2007. He created, developed, wrote the proposals and received USDA Food For Education, 416 (b) and Food For Progress programs in 13 countries. Highlights included the development components of these programs including, among others: Agriculture, Aquaculture, Mother Child Health and Nutrition, Fresh Water and Sanitation, Education, Microenterprise, Housing and Animal Husbandry. He implemented more than $200,000,000 in food-aid agreements between 1999 and 2007.
In the early 80's Mr. Feldman was President of Partners of the America's Montserrat/Oswego Chapter. As president he created and partnered in various programs to assist the island's population in business ventures. He founded Harvest of the Arts Resources and Programming Ltd, which promoted multicultural understanding through arts exchanges between Caribbean societies and New York civic and educational groups. He also served as an advisor to Voices on the Border, a network of sister communities in the U.S. that are paired with communities in El Salvador. Needing to find a way to deliver humanitarian goods to organizations with limited resources in El Salvador and other developing nations, Mr. Feldman utilized his civilian position as the Special Project Coordinator for the New York Air National Guard Humanitarian Program. He was known for his ability to gain access at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill but he would later be recognized for taking the little-used Denton Amendment (a U.S. government program that allowed the military to deliver humanitarian aid) and stretching it as far as he could to meet the needs of the poor in many developing regions. With the full cooperation of the 174th Fighter Wing in Syracuse, New York, Mr. Feldman created a full service transportation hub for nongovernmental and volunteer organizations in 20 countries. In 18 months, they airlifted over 5 million pounds of humanitarian aid. He was the first civilian to be inspected by the 9th Air Force inspection team and recognized as the "Best Seen To Date" humanitarian program on a U.S. military base.
Mr. Feldman was nominated for a Ford Foundation Award for "Creativity in Government". Additionally, during his time as a civilian with the NY Air National Guard, Mr. Feldman served as an advisor to Partners International, through which he supported the full equipping and transportation of materials and staff for the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunal to Kigali, Rwanda. He also acted as the logistics coordinator of the Eritrean Rural Development Initiative, which led to the donation of $20,000,000 in heavy equipment through the Humanitarian Assistance Program at the Department of Defense.
One of Mr. Feldman's key abilities is to oversee loss mitigation by tracking items in customs and limiting delays in moving donated goods from the port to the warehouses and on to the recipients. He has relationships with many government ministers, heads of state, and Ambassadors and helps organizations create important partnerships in development programs.