Fahe’s 45th Annual Meeting Recap: Housing Can’t Wait®
This fall in Kingsport, Tennessee, the Fahe Network filled the rooms at the MeadowView Conference Center with fresh energy and ideas. Our 45th Annual Meeting gathered Members and partners for two and a half days of connection, learning, and action. The theme was clear and urgent: Housing Can’t Wait.
Throughout the week, Members shared how they’re expanding capacity, innovating in the field, and advancing our shared 2030 goals: to double our impact in Appalachia by building or rehabilitating 60,000 more homes and providing community services to benefit one million more people.
Take a look at the Facebook album to view a gallery of standout moments!
Day One: Setting the Foundation
Tuesday, September 30th, 2025
Before the full Annual Meeting began, Fahe Members gathered for our Member Meeting to share progress and set the tone for the days ahead. The room filled with laughter as Vonda Poynter and Maggie Riden kicked things off with a burst of energy — and a nod to Saturday Night Live’s iconic Hans and Franz — proclaiming, “Fahe Members, we want to PUMP YOU UP!”
From there, our Four Corner Working Groups took turns highlighting progress in advocacy, capacity building, narrative, and money. Fahe Consultant Diedre Kendall presented some of her findings from her AmeriCorps VISTA project exploring Fahe’s history to mark our 45 year anniversary. We welcomed new Members, celebrated leadership transitions, and heard a report from President Sara Morgan and Fahe’s policy and membership teams on how we’re aligning our efforts to meet the Housing Can’t Wait® challenge.
The inspiration carried into the afternoon as the Annual Meeting officially opened, uniting Members, partners, and staff around the shared mission that drives us forward. Fahe leadership, CEO Jim King and President Sara Morgan, took the stage with a clear charge about where we have been and where we are going. Their message was direct and motivating, emphasizing our history of stepping up together and the urgency of this moment. King urged the group to embrace the responsibility that has come with our shared success with a call for bold leadership:
“If not us, who?”
We heard about state caucus successes and new strategies for advocacy, while researchers from Fahe and West Virginia University unveiled findings from Fahe’s Economic Impact Report, proving that housing’s influence extends far beyond a roof; it’s a catalyst for economic growth across the region.
The conversation deepened during the keynote dinner featuring Dana Bezerra (CREO), Jeff Mosley (Capital Impact Partners), and Jackie Mayo (Knox Housing Partnership, Inc.), Fahe Board President. Together, they brought national perspective to our shared work, speaking to the power of sustainable investment and the responsibility to use capital as a force for good. Bezerra’s words captured the heart of the evening:
“Investing in Fahe is investing in hope.”
tennessee), Dana Bezerra (CREO), and Jim King (Fahe)
Day Two: How We’re Innovating Today
Wednesday, October 1st, 2025
The second day began with a deeply honest conversation about what resilience truly means in our region. In the Learning in the Aftermath session, Members Seth Long (HOMES, Inc.), Melisa Winburn (Appalachia Service Project), and Randy Welch (SERCAP) shared firsthand lessons from rebuilding their communities one year after Hurricane Helene.
Together, they spoke candidly about the challenges of disaster recovery, the strain on local capacity, and the human toll that lingers long after the cameras leave. Long’s words captured the heart of the discussion: “We need to think differently than we ever have before to really dream up things we’ve never done before.”
“We can do anything as long as we have the money.” – Seth Long
If one session embodied the day’s theme of innovation, it was Bigger Impact Through Capacity and Creativity, led by Fahe’s Advancement Director Traviss Witt. Witt took the stage with unmistakable energy, turning a technical conversation about funding into an engaging, inspiring dialogue about possibility. It was a standout moment of the conference. When reflecting on the power of flexible funding through the Maximizing Appalachian Capacity (MAC) Grants, Traviss’s words captured the joy and trust that define the Fahe Network.
“Being able to pass these grants to our Members has been the best part of my job. Members asked me, ‘What are the restrictions for these funds?’ And for the first time ever in my experience, I got to respond, ‘There are none. What do you need?'” – Traviss Witt
In the afternoon, Stories from the Field spotlighted Members Tom Manning-Beavin (Frontier Housing), Lindy Turner (Clinch Powell RC&D), Krystal Gibbons (TCAC), and Tim Thrasher (CAPNA) for a look at how they’re leading change in their communities. At Thrasher’s cue, voices across the room joined together in saying his organization’s mantra: “helping people, changing lives.”
Assistance Corporation (TCAC)
We then rolled up our sleeves for Communities of Practice, breaking into focus groups across single-family, multi-family, community services, and financial services to trade what is working and where we go next
During the evening reception, Fahe and FHLB Cincinnati made a special announcement about the Rise Up Program launch in Central & Eastern Tennessee, providing $25,000 in down payment assistance for qualifying first-time, first-generation homebuyers.
As the sun set over Kingsport, the Fahe Awards Dinner celebrated excellence across the network by awarding Members and partners whose leadership continues to move our mission forward. See the award recipients listed below.
Fahe Awards
This year we honored the following organizations and individuals:
Fahe Award for Excellence in Innovation: Seth Long, H.O.M.E.S. Inc.
Fahe Award for Excellence in Impact: Jackie Mayo, HomeSource east tennessee
Fahe Award for Leadership – Emerging: Dustin Smith, Woodlands Development & Lending
Fahe Award for Leadership – Seasoned: Stace Karge, Clinch-Powell Resource Conservation & Development Council
Art Collings Award for Advocacy: Chris Osborn, HomeSource east tennessee
Dwayne Yost Friend of Fahe Award: Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati
Voice of the Region Award: Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. (SERCAP)
Fahe Hall of Fame Award: Jerry Rickett, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp. (KHIC)
Day Three: The Road Ahead
Thursday, October 2nd, 2025
The final day of the Annual Meeting was shorter than the rest, but possibly the most fruitful.
We opened with The Road Ahead, where Fahe’s team previewed early work from Achieve Our Mission (AOM), a leadership initiative engaging 28 Members and 8 staff with coaching, shared tools, and a focus on adaptive, performance-driven change. Morgan invited staff to share “peek-behind-the-curtain” challenges and next steps: advancing clearer, tailored Member services, tackling funding uncertainty, and drawing more young people into the field.
We opened with The Road Ahead, where Fahe’s team previewed early work from Achieve Our Mission (AOM), a leadership initiative engaging 28 Members and 8 staff with coaching, shared tools, and a focus on adaptive, performance-driven change. Morgan invited staff to share “peek-behind-the-curtain” challenges and next steps: advancing clearer, tailored Member services, tackling funding uncertainty, and drawing more young people into the field.
We then heard a video message from Judge Executive Myron S. Lewis before two fast-moving panels: public partners Ralph Perry (THDA) and David Lipsetz (HAC) on Housing Can’t Wait as a campaign. Perry encouraged Members to carry the Housing Can’t Wait® message directly to their local leaders, reminding the room that “the heavy work happens at the local level.” He applauded Fahe’s timing, saying, “this is exactly the time to launch a bold campaign like this. This is our mission, let’s get after it.”
Lipsetz echoed that urgency, describing Fahe’s leadership as “the kind that pushes others to act” and warning of the deep funding threats facing housing programs nationwide.
“To take bold leadership and push the envelope right now has never been more important.” – David Lipsetz
This was followed with a panel of private funders, including Christine Looney (Ford Foundation), Lee Anne Adams (NeighborWorks America), Megan Teare (Wells Fargo), and Bleik Pickett (James Graham Brown Foundation), on broadening the tent and catalyzing investment. Pickett praised the campaign’s clarity, saying its ambitious goal and simple message make it powerful: “Funders want to put their money where it can have the most impact.”
The meeting’s last conversation was a deeply moving one that brought out grounded insights and some brave honesty. During The Future of the Field, moderated by Vonda Poynter, emerging nonprofit leaders Jordan Stidham (Open Door Community), Chris Mullett (Garrett County CAC), Emily Chase (Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority), and Jake Powell (Community Housing Partners) offered honest, raw reflections on what it means to lead in this moment, speaking about trust, adaptability, and mentoring future changemakers.
As the conference came to a close, Jim King spoke with conviction about the need for housing, economic development, and having courage in this moment.
“This has a lot to do with character. . . We have to stand up for this. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the right thing to do right now.” He reminded us that “our mission is big, but so is our responsibility. We have to act like the future depends on it, because it does.”
King’s words were an unshakable reminder that leadership begins with conviction, and that the Fahe Network is called to act, not wait. Because, as we’ll continue to urge, Housing Can’t Wait.
Want to see more standout moments? Check out the full Facebook album!