Janet, former Board Chair and Founding Member, has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s degree in urban planning from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.

 She and her husband, David, came to Fairbanks Alaska in 1960 where she was hired as Planning Director for the Fairbanks Planning Commission. Since then she has worked professionally as a planner for state and federal entities, including the Alaska State Housing Authority. She was Staff Planner for the Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission that guided the creation of Alaska’s National Interest Lands. In 1979 she was appointed as Regional Director of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service by Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Department of Interior. When the functions of that agency were combined with the National Park Service, she became Special Assistant to the NPS Regional Director. There her responsibilities included acquisition of Kennecott Mine in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and formation of the KMTA National Heritage Area. 

In 1999 she and Judge James Wanamaker formed Partners for Progress with a goal of reducing unnecessary incarceration. They worked with Anchorage Municipal Prosecutor, John Richard, to establish the Anchorage Wellness Court, Alaska’s first therapeutic court. Over the next decade Partners for Progress went on to change state law and secure public and private funds that expanded therapeutic courts to Bethel, Juneau, Ketchikan, Palmer and Fairbanks.

 Under Janet’s leadership as Board Chair, Partners for Progress started Partners Reentry Center in 2013 to provide transitional housing, employment assistance and counseling to individuals leaving prison. For these efforts Janet McCabe was awarded the 2014 Jay Rabinowitz Public Service Award by the Alaska Bar Association.