In his third year of service to Housing for New Hope, Executive Director Russell Pierce has been the subject of two profiles highlighting his lifelong mission and the longstanding efforts of Housing for New Hope in the greater Durham area.
In August, the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business ran an alumni profile on Russell. The profile highlighted Russell’s journey from his volunteer work at a Rwandan refugee camp in 1996 to today, in his third year as Executive Director at Housing for New Hope.
Russell, who has both a Master of Divinity from Duke University and a Master of Nonprofit Administration from Notre Dame, laid out Housing for New Hope’s key differentiator, observing, “As an agency, we’re unusual in a couple of ways. Oftentimes, you have an agency that will just do homeless services, or just affordable housing. But from the time we were founded, we really were bringing those two pieces together.”
Russell was also profiled and interviewed for the website Faith & Leadership, a project of Duke Divinity. In its Q&A, F&L characterizes Housing for New Hope’s work in a local context, specifically taking note of Durham’s rapid gentrification in the past few years. In his interview, Russell emphasized Housing for New Hope’s focus on rapid re-housing as an essential strategy in serving marginalized populations and supporting their journey to stable, long-term housing.
Want to learn how you can make a difference here in Durham? Read our summarized State of Affordable Housing & Homelessness in Durham Report and learn ways to take action.