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Leader Empowers Young Women to Lifelong Success
Dutchess County and the legacy of famous Hyde Park resident Eleanor Roosevelt have proved instrumental in Kathleen Durham’s mission to transform young women into dynamic global leaders.
Durham, the executive director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val- Kill, grew up in Virginia. She studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and practiced law in California, but moved in Rhinebeck in 1988 and opened a practice in Poughkeepsie. She also joined the boards of Scenic Hudson and the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, wrote a weekly column for the Poughkeepsie Journal, and, in 1996, ran for Dutchess County executive.
Though she lost that election, Durham realized the e ect female leadership had on young women throughout Dutchess County.
“One thing I began to notice was the growth in young women’s eyes wheneverIcametoseethem,orwhen theirparentsbroughtthemtooneofmy talks,” says Durham. “They would say, ‘Ooh, there’s a woman there!’”
Though she took a nine-year detour in Savannah, Georgia, Durham concluded that she missed the combination of urban and country o ered by Dutchess County. Plus, she says, Dutchess County leaders give everyone an opportunity to a ect community change.
“I feel that there’s such great opportunity in Dutchess County for people to be a part of a change and see it happen, if they want it to,” she says.
She returned to Rhinebeck, and in 2008 joined the board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and became its executive director.
Located on the site of Roosevelt’s Hyde Park home, Val-Kill, the non-pro t Eleanor Roosevelt Center, helps to empower individuals and organizations to accomplish work that epitomizes the philosophies of social justice and human rights championed by the former rst lady and diplomat.
For 20 years, the center’s Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program has brought together high school girls from across the world for nine days of transformative learning in Hyde
The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill
Park and New York City. The girls – 20 percent of 2015’s class of 84 girls lived internationally – develop skills like self-con dence and share diverse viewpoints about social issues.
At the center, Durham acts on the connections she felt with young women when she was involved in politics. Working with students in the Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program gives Durham assurance that the Roosevelt legacy continues, touching thousands internationally.
“My landing at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center was very perfect for me, because it sort of speaks to the things that light me up,” says Durham. “And it lets me actually have the opportunity to impact somebody’s life in ways that I didn’t think of.”
The center also awards individuals and organizations who best represent the legacy of Roosevelt with its Val-Kill Medal. Winners have included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Pawling resident and actor James Earl Jones.
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