Heroes: Nonprofit Professional of the Year

Nathaniel M. Fields,
president and CEO
Urban Resource Institute

Nathaniel M. Fields took over as president and CEO of the Urban Resource Institute (URI) in 2012, and all Fields has done since is "implement outstanding management practices while overseeing all aspects of the organization's programs, facilities and personnel," according to URI's Liliana Velez.

Under Fields' leadership, URI, which provides comprehensive, holistic and supportive human services programs that empower individuals and families in the New York metropolitan area to change their lives for the better, launched New York City's first co-sheltering program, People and Animals Living Safely, to enable domestic violence survivors and their pets reside together in shelter, and the Working Internship Network, a program that provides URI's domestic violence shelter residents with valuable job training and internship opportunities.

In 2014, Fields became a member of the National Domestic Violence Hotline's Constituent Advisory Council. Also, this past November, Fields was admitted to the Black Agency Executives nonprofit membership organization. Members are chosen based on their contributions in promoting the interests, values, welfare and empowerment of people of color. In late 2014, he served as keynote speaker for the Metropolitan Black Bar Association's Class of 2017 installation ceremony.

Further, URI became an organizational member of the Human Services Council, and Fields was appointed to HSC's Racial Equity Subcommittee, which is charged with increasing participation of people of color in nonprofit executive management positions.

Fields' track record of success began well before his presidency at URI. As senior vice president of the Domestic Violence Shelter Division and Hotline programs at Safe Horizon, he helped integrate and oversee nine domestic violence shelters, three citywide 24-hour hotlines and the Project Safe program.

With numerous affiliations and accomplishments in the past year and years prior, it's clear that Fields lives the mission of URI. He's a champion for both those he serves and the nonprofit community at large, making him the ideal Nonprofit Professional of the Year.