Building Stronger Communities Together: The Vital Role of Volunteerism

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Join NHC and NeighborWorks America for a conversation on the role volunteerism plays in strengthening housing organizations and the communities they serve. This webinar will explore how organizations can build and coordinate effective volunteer programs, engage residents and community leaders, and connect volunteer service to broader organizational and community goals.

Panelists will share perspectives highlighting resident leadership and corporate and community partners – offering approaches to volunteer recruitment, program infrastructure, community investment, and other volunteer initiatives that bring us all together to benefit the communities we live.

Panelist: 

Debbie Wise is Senior Manager of Workforce Development and AmeriCorps VISTA Project Director at NeighborWorks America. She leads strategy and operations for a national AmeriCorps VISTA program that places full-time volunteers with nonprofit housing and community development organizations to build organizational capacity.

Since joining NeighborWorks America in 2009, Debbie has overseen the placement and support of more than 1,000 VISTA volunteers serving with 69 nonprofit organizations in more than 35 states. She manages the full program lifecycle, including partner selection, recruitment, onboarding, training and support for volunteers and supervisors, performance, compliance, evaluation, and continuous improvement. Her work focuses on helping organizations develop meaningful service opportunities, prepare supervisors, strengthen program infrastructure, and create an experience in which both the volunteer and the organization can succeed.

Earlier in her career, Debbie held progressively responsible roles at the Association for Talent Development spanning research and knowledge services, technology, member programs, and career services. She managed an online career platform that connected employers with workplace learning professionals and developed career and professional-development resources for ATD members.

Debbie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hofstra University and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Long Island University.

Lawrence Bowdish is the Lead for Insights and Innovations for Financial Health Philanthropy at Wells Fargo. In his role, he manages grants and other activities that focus on new ways to understand and address fundamental needs of all groups who have been left out of financial inclusion in our society. Previously, he was the Executive Director of Research for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Lawrence earned a Ph.D. in U.S. Economic History from the Ohio State University (2010), where he wrote a dissertation on consumer credit discrimination before and after the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974. He also has a B.A. in History/Economics from New College of Florida (2004). He lives in the Washington, DC metro with his wife and son.

As Director of Strategic Initiatives and Development at Volunteers of America National Services (VOANS), Lee Goldstein is responsible for spearheading special projects, pursuing strategic grants and philanthropy, and cultivating partnerships amongst VOA’s network of chartered affiliates. Lee also works closely with industry associations and public sector stakeholders to advance VOANS’ public policy priorities.

Prior to Volunteers of America, Lee worked as a consultant with CSG Advisors, where he provided development advisory services to public housing authorities repositioning their portfolios. He also spent six years working in the District of Columbia government, where he led the planning and disposition of public property for redevelopment and structured public subsidies to create new mixed-income, mixed-finance housing developments under the city’s New Communities Initiative.

Lee holds a BA and MPA from the George Washington University, and is a graduate of ULI Washington’s Regional Land Use Leadership Institute. Lee is also a recipient of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award given by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND).

Leslie Marbury, Chief Strategy Officer, Habitat for Humanity Pensacola