Charlotte, NC (April 2016) ­– Non-Profit Industries, Inc. (NPI), often known by the name of its core program Socialserve.com, welcomes new Executive Director Tara Peele.

Ms. Peele has been engaged in expanding access to affordable housing for 17 years, in North Carolina and the Midwest. She holds Master’s degrees in Regional Planning and Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Early in her career, Ms. Peele worked in Durham, NC, to support homeless families in achieving their goals and securing permanent housing. At nonprofit housing developer DHIC in Raleigh, NC, Ms. Peele implemented programming for tenants in affordable apartments and assisted with plans to create supportive housing. Subsequently, Ms. Peele helped North Carolina Department of Healthcare and Human Services and North Carolina Housing Finance Agency implement a renowned program to target integrated affordable housing to people with disabilities.

In 2007, Ms. Peele moved to Illinois to develop policies and programs to increase supportive housing options funded by Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA). While at IHDA, she worked with advocates to set supportive housing goals, instituted strong incentives to include integrated supportive housing units within properties financed by IHDA, established referral networks to fill the resulting units, launched the statewide housing locator ILHousingSearch.org, and established the first Permanent Supportive Housing Development Program at IHDA. As of 2016, the programs launched by Ms. Peele in her time at IHDA have resulted in the creation of approximately 1,800 housing units.

Ms. Peele joined IFF, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, in January 2012. As Director of Home First, she led an initiative to develop affordable, integrated housing for people with disabilities. The initiative included expanding awareness of the need for, and barriers to, development of scattered-site, accessible housing. In 4 years at IFF, Ms. Peele secured nearly $50 million in funding commitments to create over 260 housing units and worked closely with the State of Illinois to ensure its priority populations could access the housing.

“Our company, staff, and mission will benefit from the depth of Ms. Peele’s experience and her dedication to empowering people through housing,” commented NPI/Socialserve.com founder Van Gottel. “Her insights will help us to continue to expand how we serve nationally and in the Charlotte community.”

“I’m excited to be working with a staff so full of passion and purpose,” said Ms. Peele. “We have a lot of good work to do.”

Ms. Peele resides in Charlotte, NC, with her husband, Kevin, their young son Levi, and their dogs Beatrice and Huxley.