Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Williams.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I came from a working class family in Dallas. I graduated from Skyline High School and then went on to graduate from the University of North Texas with a degree in English as my original goal was to teach High School English. My dad worked for a Program Director local nonprofit for many years before transitioning to life as a senior pastor of a local church. My mom is a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom. Both parents instilled in us (I’m the oldest of four children) the importance of working hard and giving back. I worked my way through college that combined both. I was a Family Recruitment Coordinator for a new nonprofit that was designed to transition families from welfare to work. This job, which was just meant to be temporary and part-time, sparked my love for empowering families with children to overcome poverty. It also taught me that I was a natural leader with a gift for strategic thinking. (Had I know that earlier I would have pursued a business degree.) It did not take long for my boss and my board to notice my passion and productivity. By 26, I was promoted to development director and by 27, I was named Executive Director with the former Executive Director’s blessing upon his retirement. Our center won a national award for empowering families to overcome poverty and at HUD’s urging, I launched a consulting practice to help other centers that they funded at the time achieve similar results.
My work at Wheatland Community Learning Center created a passion to learn more and do more. Over the next 14 years, I would spend 7 years as Director of Community Outreach at Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas because I wanted to learn how a larger more, complex nonprofit operated and while continuing to take on one to two consulting clients each year to keep my skills sharp. Seven years ago, those experiences led me to the most challenging yet rewarding position of my career, CEO of Interfaith Family Services.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Being CEO of Interfaith was the most challenging position of my career because at the time of my hiring, the 25 year old organization was facing some very significant challenges. The economic downturn had taken its toll on Interfaith, which provides transitional housing and support services to empower families in crisis (either homeless or at risk for homelessness) to overcome poverty. The decreased financial support coupled with the rise in poverty created the perfect storm. When I arrived, Interfaith was facing a nearly $500,000 budget deficit and our clients had a less than 50% long-term success rate. The good news was that the history and foundation of accountability-driven programs created a solid foundation upon which to build. Yet, there were several things that needed to change in order to increase our impact and improve our financial outlook and change is hard.
The need to change and the initial resistance to do so proved difficult for me as a no-nonsense, business-oriented 37 year old leader. I soon learned that if Interfaith was going to successfully change, I needed to make some changes as well – not in my vision or strategy – but in my approach. I had to address my personal insecurities while learning to manage the fears and emotions that my team faced in this time of uncertainty. In the end, we all learned that (in the words of Sarah Jakes Roberts) “The desire to make an impact has to be more important than your insecurities.”
So, we came together, created a new vision for a broader impact and rebranded. In the last four years, we have also raised $10.5 million via our Champion 4 Families Capital Campaign and recently broke ground on Dallas’ first Family Empowerment Center, which is scheduled to open in May.
Please tell us about Interfaith Family Services.
Interfaith Family Services empowers families to overcome poverty through using what we call the three E’s. We “eliminate barriers” to family stability by providing transitional housing for homeless families or financial assistance for families on the verge of homelessness. Next, we “equip parents” to overcome poverty through career coaching designed to elevate wages and financial coaching designed to increase savings and reduce debt. Simultaneously, we “educate children” to break the cycle of poverty through our on-site after-school and summer programs which focus on filling in the academic gaps in reading and math that are common among children who have experienced homelessness or poverty. This holistic combination of services achieves remarkable results which are currently among the best in Dallas! Over 80% of families exiting with employment and housing and as of this year, 80% of children exiting at or above grade level in reading and math. Furthermore, I am most proud of the fact that these results are long-term, over 90% of our families remain stable with full-time employment two years later.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
The only thing that I would have done differently is to have more faith in God’s plan for my life and in the gifts that he has given me. My leadership journey was not pre-planned but it evolved organically. There were many times that I doubted myself and whether or not I had what it took to make a real and lasting difference. In those moments, I relied on the faith that I had been taught as a child. Then, it was based on what I’d heard, now it is based on what I know.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5600 Ross Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75206 - Website: interfaithdallas.org
- Phone: 214-827-7220
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