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Resume for Charles E. Betterton

Charles Betterton has over forty (40) years of managerial experience in community development, disaster relief and community economic development including twelve (12) years with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), three (3) years as Executive Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Kankakee, Illinois, and over fifteen (15) years as the founder or co-founder and Executive Director of non-profit organizations and businesses involved in personal, organizational and community development.  Charles has recruited, trained and supervised staffs of up to 250 employees, he has developed and managed annual budgets of over five million dollars and received numerous awards for his accomplishments including receiving the highest cash award ever paid a HUD employee for a project he initiated that saved over 300 million dollars.

Charles has been designing and developing award winning Community Empowerment Resource Centers for over 30 years. He was a co-founder of Kankakee County Community Services and he established the Kankakee Community Development Corporation, which transformed an abandoned National Guard Armory into an award-winning Community Resource Center that provides Micro-Enterprise Development training, a Revolving Loan Fund and an After School Youth Empowerment Program. Most recently he and Les Brown, “The Motivator” helped the Muncie, Indiana Public Housing Authority create an award-winning Success Center Partnership that provides youth residents with expanded access to educational resources and economic opportunities.

Charles co-founded the Ultimate Destiny University for Successful Living and the Center for Spiritual, Personal, And Community Empowerment (CENTER SPACE), two nonprofit organizations that provide educational programs and services that foster spiritual, personal professional, organizational and community empowerment. He also serves as Chairman and CEO of Universal Stewardheirship, Inc., a cause-oriented company based on the Benefit Corporation model that produces and provides seminars, workshops, publications, Internet web sites and consulting services that foster personal, business, organizational, spiritual and community empowerment.

Charles has a Master's in Community Economic Development from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Southern New Hampshire University. He has developed and conducted training programs and provided consulting services for individuals, businesses, organizations, churches, chambers of commerce, and communities on: strategic planning; developing mission statements; setting and achieving goals; creative thinking and problem solving; and conflict resolution.

Charles has designed, developed and marketed various educational programs, publications and products primarily for non-profit community development organizations. He has also designed and conducted successful direct mail campaigns, membership drives, public relations programs, and fundraising campaigns including sponsorship programs.  He has developed successful applications for grants of up to $750,000 from government and private foundations, has generated over seven million  dollars in grants and he has raised several million dollars in investment capital for start-up businesses.

Charles has developed and promoted large-scale community betterment events for up to 2,000 people with nationally known speakers such as Les Brown, Norman Vincent Peale, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Mark Victor Hansen, Chin Ning-Chu, William Bailey and Bonnie St. John Deane.

For an overview of Charles' interest in community, see A Lifetime In Pursuit of Community

Professional Certifications, Affiliations and Training:

Economic Development Finance Professional, National Development Council
Certified Trainer of Independent Success Coaches for Success Motivation International (SMI)
Certified Trainer for the Effective Personal Management Workshop from SMI
Facilitator/Trainer for Brian Tracy’s Phoenix Seminar on the Psychology of Achievement    
Board of Directors:
Ultimate Destiny University, Inc., Universal Stewardheirship, Inc and Community Economic Development Resource Center, Inc.

Member: World Business Academy, Social Venture Network, Institute of HeartMath, IONS

Email Contact:  ceo@universalstewardheirship.com