Opportunities for Communities, Inc. is an organization with a primary function of providing educational instruction through experiential learning courses in sustainable development program.

Meet some of the people of OfC -
Directors - OfC’s board of directors is comprised of its three founders.

Doug Albertson
The meeting of Doug’s passions and convictions made OfC inevitable. His vision for OfC as a forum for teaching sustainable development is a natural combination of his desire to assist communities with improving living conditions and his conviction that the best way to help people is to teach them. OfC results from the spiritual roots of his care for the condition of the world combined with his desire to go someplace warm in the winter. In the mid-’80s, Doug served in Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea advising local government projects. He then got his Master’s of Urban Planning from the University of Washington. As the town planner for Belchertown, Mass., he also serves on several local, regional and state-wide boards to further community and educational development. Doug is also vice-chair of the Kestrel Trust, an Amherst-area land conservation trust, and is active with South Amherst Congregational Church and its outreach work.

Dave Wintsch
Dave has been a youth leader for 35 years, the last 20 with Young Life. Dave’s work has inspired OfC as he has brought teenagers to Haiti, Mexico, the Navajo reservation, Bahamas, New Orleans, Miami and more to learn about needs and how to address them. He has also taught auto mechanics and been a high school wrestling coach. Dave is a true spiritual leader, living out the tenets of his Christian faith in all he does through his devotion to loving all people and his commitment to serve where he sees needs. Dave solidly adheres to Gandhi’s credo to be the change you want to see in the world. Dave does this by acting on Jesus’ admonition to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to care for the imprisoned and oppressed. Dave does all this with great joy, humor and outright silliness, endearing himself to all, especially teenagers.

Ken Mundt
Ken’s heart was touched on a trip with Dave and Doug to the Dominican Republic, where the three – with Ken’s daughter Amanda and Timothé Indrik – talked about forming OfC. Ken’s experience on this trip changed his life - and this change is indicative of what happens to any of us who become involved in and work with a community different from our own. Ken realized that not only are there needs to be met and young people to teach, but there are many adults who seek fulfilling activities and contributions; OfC is a way to link all three. Ken’s vision for OfC is to teach effective sustainable development through the three communities OfC serves: the youth of the Amherst area, the host communities, and the adults who support and participate in OfC’s work. Ken is a frequent world traveller in his paying job as an epidemiologist at ENVIRON International Corporation. He is a former University of Massachusetts professor of Public Health.

Pam Albertson, Treasurer
Having spent 20 years living in many countries via State Department postings, Pam and her husband, Steve Hartwell, settled near Amherst. Pam is glad to use her accounting experience to assist OfC. Beyond OfC, Pam is Finance Committee Chair of US National Committee for UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) and is their past treasurer. She continues her work as an accountant for a private accounting firm.

Elizabeth Mundt, Manager
Elizabeth is who keeps OfC operating. She has over 20 years of experience managing multiple operations simultaneously including field hockey clubs, children’s schedules, Ken, and the Amherst ENVIRON office. She is the perfectionist we need, and without her the rest of us would be all over the place.

OfC benefits by the expertise of its accomplished and widely respected advisors.

OfC benefits by the expertise of its accomplished and widely respected advisors.

David I. Bell, EdD, Advisory Board Chair
Associate Professor, International Development and Social Change, IDCE Coordinator of Experiential Learning, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. David has worked extensively in southern Africa in education, empowerment, social transformation and community development. He has also worked at the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding. His current research is in the social and political juncture of education policy in sub-Saharan Africa and the role of higher education in social transformation. His work includes a focus on experiential and service learning.

Martin Ross, ME
Marty is a mechanical engineer whose work is mostly in heat transfer and thermodynamics. He studied mechanical engineering at UMass, RPI, and Caltech. He is interested in alternative energies and heat recovery. Most of his career he has worked in power generation, submarines, and aircraft engine components. He is on the UMass MIE Alumni Board and is an officer in his local ASME chapter. Marty is a Commanding Officer of a US Naval Reserve unit in the Bronx, but spends most of his military time at the submarine base in Groton and in Washington. Marty and his family live in Windsor Locks.

Joan Paul, Esq.
After a career in tax and joint venture law in the Silicon Valley, Joan came to live in the quiet of Amherst with her husband, Bruce Schaeffer. Joan is a member of the Massachusetts and California bars and has a private practice in Amherst. During a previous career as a mathematician, Joan was a volunteer teacher in a special program teaching math to underprivileged elementary school students. This experience interested Joan in creative education as a tool for effecting meaningful change. She finds the energy, creativity and potential effects of the OfC mission very appealing and is pleased to have the opportunity to be part of growing this organization.

Amanda Mundt
Amanda is an inspiration to all ages in her ability to attract and touch children just by showing up. OfC has affected her significantly. She wrote: Watching the organization both locally and in Haiti begin and develop has taught me a lot about how to think, act and handle different situations I would normally not face. Watching this development take place both within OfC and within myself helped me realize what path I wanted to take in my life. I am now studying International Development and Social Change at Clark University. My hope with OfC is to bring a different view to the advisory board, one that represents the youth and students.

Rev. Caroline Meyers
Pastor, South Congregational Church, Amherst, Mass., M.Div. Yale University, 1985; AB in Education, Smith College 1979. Caroline has served United Church of Christ congregations in Michigan, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and is a licensed Spiritual Director. She is a clown, a retreat leader, and the mother of two teenagers. While invigorating the South Church congregation over four years, Caroline has emphasized the work
of the church as service and outreach.

David R Buchanan, DrPH
Professor, Community Health Education; Director, Division of Community Health Studies; Director, Institute for Global Health; Full Professor of Community Health Education, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts. David earned his Master’s and his doctorate in health education from the School of Public Health at the University of California. His primary research interests include public health ethics; community-based participatory research; education programs; and international health. Associate Professor, International Development and Social Change, IDCE Coordinator of Experiential Learning, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. David has worked extensively in southern Africa in education, empowerment, social transformation and community development. He has also worked at the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding. His current research is in the social and political juncture of education policy in sub-Saharan Africa and the role of higher education in social transformation. His work includes a focus on experiential and service learning.