Deirdre Silverman
Deirdre Silverman is a principal in South Danby Consultants, specializing in strategic planning, group facilitation, needs assessments, program design and evaluation, and grant proposals. She has provided consulting services for a variety of public and private organizations in the fields of asset building, financial services, housing, substance abuse, youth and mental health services.
Silverman retired from Alternatives Federal Credit Union, where she was the Director of Community Programs from 1997-2011. She was responsible for securing grant income and program-related investments to support the credit union’s community development programs and supervising those programs, which include Individual Development Accounts, microenterprise training and support, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, financial education and financial counseling.
Prior to her work at Alternatives, Silverman served as an administrator at several human service agencies in Ithaca, New York, focusing on mental health issues, housing for people with special needs and for the homeless. She also taught Sociology and Women’s Studies at Ithaca College, and has participated in research projects on health issues, women’s work, and asset building initiatives. Silverman has a B.A. in History from New York University, an M.A. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research, and pursued Ph.D. studies in Sociology at the City University of New York.