Calvin Allen

Calvin Allen was promoted to MDC’s Vice President for Partnerships and Programs in December 2022, honing MDC’s programmatic vision and direction while supervising MDC’s program leaders. He also cultivates and manages key state, regional, and national partnerships across the 13 southern states MDC supports.

With 30 years of nonprofit experience in organizational development, philanthropy, rural community economic development, conflict management, and leadership development, Calvin holds a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University, where he has also been a co-instructor at the Nicholas School of the Environment for the past 10 years for their Community Based Environmental Management practicum.

Calvin joined MDC in 2021 as Senior Program Director for the Rural Forward program. He co-founded Rural Forward in 2014 after serving three years with the Golden LEAF Foundation as a community grantmaking program officer. He also served as deputy director at the Southern Rural Development Initiative, director of the National Community Forestry Service Center at the Conservation Fund, and associate director at the Dispute Settlement Center of Orange County.

He is a 1994 graduate of Leadership Durham and a 2003-2005 graduate of the William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative where he serves on the board of directors.