Michelle Kennedy

“Porchlight” - song written by Tiffany Ayalik

-- read poem (by Jacqueline Suskin)

-- read lyrics

Michelle Kennedy is the Executive Director of the Interactive Resource Center (IRC), an innovative day center working to end homelessness.  The IRC offers fundamental services (showers, laundry, etc), services that create a solid foundation (mail services, computer lab and other services allowing people to create connections), and services that help build esteem and create self-sufficiency (shelter referrals, case management, classes, support groups, etc).

Beyond this extensive list of services, The IRC is a community platform for ideas and creative solutions to homelessness, providing space for our community partners to best serve their target populations, and offering a unique location for community members to interact with and develop relationships with each other.

Michelle was named the 2016 Greensboro News and Record Woman of the Year.  In addition, she was awarded the Guilford Green Foundation’s 2016  Distinguished Leadership Award and recognized by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro as a Community Game Changer in 2014. She serves on the Board of Directors of Partners Ending Homelessness and the GTCC Adult Education Advisory Board.

Michelle is a nationally-recognized leader in healthy homes/housing program design and implementation.  She has more than a decade of experience managing nonprofit programs and agencies serving low-income communities with budgets ranging from $1M to $12M and teams ranging from 10 to 80 members.

Her career has included advocating for safe, decent, affordable housing with the Greensboro Housing Coalition; overseeing technical training and operations for the NC Weatherization Assistance Program and advocating for families and teenagers with the YWCA of Greensboro.

After more than 20 years in Greensboro, Michelle moved to Los Angeles to become the Associate Director of Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, a tenant rights and economic development organization in South Central LA.   While in LA, she led the development of a health and human rights initiative in partnership with the Los Angeles Health Department and other social justice organizations to improve housing conditions in low income apartments.

Having worked with communities in poverty her entire career, Michelle believes in meeting people where they are, coming out of our professional comfort zones and providing services and support with dignity where they matter most.