Member Spotlight: An Interview with Kimberly T. Henderson
by Lynare Robbins
Global Ties Miami member, Kimberly T. Henderson, is the President and CEO of the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida who dedicates her time to advancing economic inclusion for low wealth and marginalized communities locally, while also promoting the building of better lives through international engagement. This is the story of her journey as a Global Citizen.
Kimberly was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and spent much of her adult life in Washington D.C. She recalls that in her youth her parents got her involved with American Field Service (AFS), an intercultural international student exchange program. While in the program Kimberly spent time overseas as an exchange student and her family served as hosts for young people from South Africa, Costa Rica, and Kenya. These early experiences influenced Kimberly to study international affairs in her undergraduate and graduate education.
In reflecting on what shaped her appreciation and desire to understand the international landscape of the world, Kimberly states that it was after her parents introduced her to AFS and intercultural learning at an early age and encouraged her to not fear other cultures. “Our church, a traditional African American Baptist church formed one of the first church based AFS chapters.” She said that the program was started with a suburban woman who wanted to build bridges with the African American community in Milwaukee. “I am a champion of parents supporting exchange programs and encouraging their children to learn other languages. I really believe it will help us to build a better world.”
While most of her friends took opportunities with the U.S. Department of State, the Peace Corp, USAID, or NGOs after graduation, Kimberly chose a career with the federal government and later the private sector and nonprofit world respectively. On her role as President and CEO of the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida (NHSSF) promoting community development with an emphasis on affordable housing, Kimberly says, “I love my work. I came to Miami for this position and have found Miami to be so vibrant and a truly international city.”
NHSSF is a leading community development organization serving South Florida and is one of 300 affiliates of NeighborWorks in America. “Our goal is to bring about economic inclusion for low wealth and marginalized communities.” Kimberly explained that this goal translates into affordable housing development (both ownership and rental), nonprofit mortgage lending, community revitalization and stabilization, community leadership training, homebuyer education and financial literacy training. “When I reflect on the movement taking place recently with Black Lives Matter and what I predict may be a transformative movement for multicultural millennials and Generation Z, NHSSF has always been about bringing about economic inclusion and parity for low wealth and communities of color.”
Kimberly says her goal is for NHSSF to have a significant impact on expanding affordable housing opportunities and increasing the homeownership rate that is below the national average in South Florida. “In promoting economic inclusion and parity, NHSSF will assist residents to own homes and businesses, and build other assets,” Kimberly added that NHSSF strives to be on the cutting edge of working creatively with communities to reshape the built environment. On the issue of gentrification Kimberly added, “I am not sure we can beat back gentrification but I do believe that through collective action, we can improve our communities making them vibrant and great places to live and raise a family.” As Kimberly points out, there are promising strategies and best practices for community development taking place all over the United States and the world. “Our place-making strategies are about implementing promising ideas and exploring the intersectionality between community development and other sectors such as health, clean energy, the arts, and transportation.”
When asked how her organization is navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and what kinds of strategies are being implemented to meet the needs and challenges the community is currently facing, Kimberly said that NHSSF is open for business. “We were able to move our training, counseling and other services online to a virtual format. We got the waivers we needed and digitized our documents and most clients were quite adaptable. Our Homebuyer classes are filling up and our mortgage loan officers are busy approving customers.” On the near future goals of NHSSF, she shared “We are clearing out last fiscal year’s pipeline of properties and will begin building and rehabbing affordable homes in late summer.” In order to meet the needs of residents affected by COVID-19, Kimberly says that training has been expanded to include workshops on managing through financial crisis, avoiding eviction and foreclosures, and administering limited financial assistance to prevent housing instability among renters and homeowners. “We are proud of this work with the Community Foundation of Broward.”
When Kimberly is not busy trying to help build equity in her community, she says that she enjoys attending music events, gardening and spending time with her family and friends. Travel is also important to Kimberly. Among the global citizenry experiences that she has had includes living in Colombia and Costa Rica, and travel to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Panama, Ecuador, Ireland, Spain, Japan and Canada. “I was part of a US delegation of mid careerist Federal Government employees in an incredible three-week meeting with government managers in Tokyo and several parts of Japan.” Kimberly added that her favorite travel experiences in addition to time in Tokyo were her travels throughout Spain, especially Granada and Barcelona. “We can build better lives though engaging internationally,” added Kimberly. “In Spain, I learned a completely new approach to life. In Japan, it was fascinating to see their advancement in transportation, high definition filming, and their approach to food. Japan is a highly consumptive society like the U.S., but the Japanese are outrageous savers and enjoy twice the U.S. savings rate.” Kimberly discussed being passionate with helping regular everyday people build wealth and financial security, and explained that the model in Japan is her go-to example. “I still do not understand how they pull it off. We can learn a lot from each other.”
In describing her membership and affiliation with Global Ties Miami, Kimberly compares it as “being AFS for grownups.” She says “The Global Ties Miami history statement sums up my core beliefs and what I learned from my parents and AFS. We are connected and interdependent in this world. We can share our stories and learn from one another. We can find a place of mutual respect. I am so glad my chance meeting led me to know Global Ties and look forward to becoming an active member.” Drawing from her background in international relations, Kimberly says that international diplomacy is central to a stable world order and to worldwide growth and prosperity. “ It was my good fortune to participate in a number of exchange programs and I have hosted delegations from other countries. Through these programs like the International Visitor Leadership Program(IVLP) we can learn so much about the world, about how families, businesses, government operate. It is my hope, my dream that we eliminate conflict and that we reduce the deaths resulting from conflict.” Kimberly adds that diplomacy and international visitations facilitate the tearing down of stereotypes, ancient grievances and hatreds, and is a stepping-stone to peace.
