Suggestions
Frank Cohn
Executive, Founder, Advisor, Consultant, University Lecturer, advancing inclusive Social Change projects
Professional Background
Frank Cohn is a dedicated and experienced professional who has built a distinguished career in community development and social work over the past 20 years. He hails from Vancouver, Canada, and has showcased a commitment to fostering positive change across various communities, both locally and internationally. His expertise in facilitating, designing, managing, and evaluating community development programs has made him a sought-after lecturer at numerous prestigious universities. Frank has held teaching positions at institutions such as the University of British Columbia, Columbia University, and New York University, imparting his knowledge in subjects such as social work, public affairs, youth development, international community engagement, and non-profit management.
In addition to his teaching roles, Frank has conducted training sessions and workshops for educators, managers, and youth, equipping them with vital skills and knowledge. He is linguistically versatile, conducting training in five languages: French, Spanish, English, Chinese, and Haitian Creole, and possesses a working knowledge of several additional languages. This linguistic ability has greatly enhanced his effectiveness in international settings and in working with diverse populations.
Frank’s exceptional journey has allowed him to impact over 10,000 youth across more than 100 rural villages and urban neighborhoods in 22 countries, primarily in Latin America and Asia. He has spearheaded leadership capacity-building initiatives and has managed and evaluated international travel exchanges for over 1,000 young individuals, enabling them to experience transformative opportunities.
Education and Achievements
Frank Cohn's academic background is both robust and relevant to his professional endeavors. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Philosophy from the esteemed University of British Columbia, followed by a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University in the City of New York. His academic journey has been foundational to his understanding of social issues and his ability to develop effective solutions through community engagement.
Among Frank's notable career milestones is the founding of Global Potential, a social enterprise that he started in 2007 and led as CEO for nine years. Under his stewardship, Global Potential has positively influenced the lives of 4,000 youth from underserved communities across five countries, providing them with vital networks and transformational experiences. Frank's initiative in launching this organization highlights his innovative thinking and his passion for empowering vulnerable populations.
Additionally, Frank was recognized as the New Yorker of the Week by NY1 Television in 2011, showcasing his impactful work in New York City. Furthermore, he received the Emerging Social Worker Award from the National Association of Social Workers – NYC Chapter in 2010, affirming his contributions to the social work profession. In 2005, he further strengthened his legacy by becoming the Founding President of the Columbia University Partnership for International Development, a testament to his leadership in fostering international collaboration and development.
Professional Affiliations
Throughout his career, Frank has held various leadership and advisory roles in notable organizations. He currently serves as the Executive Director at the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST), where he continues his mission of supporting marginalized communities. He has also been involved with organizations such as Cool Culture, the YMCA in Vancouver, and the JUMP Foundation in Bangkok, where his insights and guidance are invaluable.
Frank's previous positions also include being the Director at The DUDES Club, the Associate Director at Bushwick IMPACT, and serving as a Field Program Director at Reto Juvenil Internacional / Youth Challenge International. His diverse background in these roles illustrates his wide-ranging skill set and his commitment to youth leadership development and social justice.
Impact and Community Engagement
Frank's passion for community development extends far and wide, impacting thousands of youth globally. One of his core philosophies is to build leadership capacity among young people, providing them with tools and experiences that empower them to become change agents in their communities. This approach has seen him working in various socio-economic settings, emphasizing the importance of education, cultural exchange, and personal development.
His work in community development has not only focused on local initiatives but has also extended to international partnerships, where he actively engages with various stakeholders to enhance social policies and programs. Through his involvement with the United Nations in Youth Social Policy & Development, Frank has contributed to significant conversations around youth issues on a global scale, advocating for inclusive and effective policies to support young people.
As a consultant and advisor, Frank has made significant contributions to various organizations, ensuring sustainable and impactful program development. His expertise in program evaluation has allowed organizations to refine their approaches and optimize their services to maximize positive outcomes for participants. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to every project he undertakes, always aiming to elevate the standard of community engagement practices.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Frank Cohn is an exemplary figure in the realm of community development and social work. With a rich educational background, extensive teaching experience, and a profound impact on youth globally, he stands as a beacon of hope and inspiration. His commitment to building leadership among youth and fostering transformative community experiences remains at the forefront of his work. As he continues to engage in meaningful projects, Frank's influence will undoubtedly leave a lasting legacy in the field of social work and community development.
Achievements
- Launched and led Global Potential as CEO for 9 years, impacting 4,000 youth across five countries.
- Recognized as New Yorker of the Week by NY1 Television in 2011.
- Received the Emerging Social Worker Award from the National Association of Social Workers – NYC Chapter in 2010.
- Founding President of the Columbia University Partnership for International Development in 2005.
Questions
How did Frank Cohn's diverse linguistic skills enhance his ability to connect with youth in various countries?
What inspired Frank Cohn to pursue a career in community development and social work?
How has Frank Cohn’s teaching experience influenced his approach to community engagement?
What are some of the key challenges Frank faced while managing Global Potential, and how did he overcome them?
In what ways has Frank Cohn's work contributed to international youth development policies?
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.