Profiles in Leadership: Robert Nelkin, United Way of Allegheny County

More than two decades ago, Robert Nelkin stood in front of a crowd of 1,000-plus community leaders and argued Allegheny County needed aggressive, new initiatives to help reduce black infant mortality rates.

The federal government was preparing to allocate more than $1 million to communities with solid plans to address the problem and Mr. Nelkin, who at the time was director of human services for Allegheny County, asked decision makers to endorse a proposal that urged young black mothers to receive better prenatal care, improve their nutrition and cut their consumption of cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.

The plan eventually garnered needed support — along with government funding — and was formalized in 1991 as one of the country’s original Healthy Start programs.

Mr. Nelkin, now 65 and the president and chief professional officer of United Way of Allegheny County, recalled that he persuaded local leaders to buy in to the plan by “making a really compelling case ... by showing them it would be more successful if we did it this new way.”

His innate sense that there are more productive ways to tackle a range of social issues — and his passion for people who are struggling — has informed Mr. Nelkin’s leadership style since he launched his career in the early 1970s working with urban teens in the city’s East End.

At Achieva, formerly the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens, he advocated to improve conditions for residents of state-run institutions and helped expose those facilities’ shortcomings.

Other posts include a long stint with Allegheny County as a top aide to the late county commission chairman, Tom Foerster.

After Mr. Foerster was voted out of office, Mr. Nelkin served as director, policy initiatives, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development, and as director of Gov. Ed Rendell’s Cabinet on Children and Families. In 2007, he moved to the United Way.

“Business leaders knocked on my door and wanted someone to think outside the box,” said Mr. Nelkin. “I told them I’m not a fundraiser but they wanted change. I took the job and they got behind me. I’d call it a bet they made.”

— Joyce Gannon: jgannon@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1580.