Meet Carrie Pleasants, Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center. Carrie has been an integral part of this organization for many years and continues to guide the Fair Housing Center with her vast knowledge and experience. Keep reading to learn more about Carrie and her dedication to fair housing work!
What brought you to the Fair Housing Center?
I was working on my Master’s thesis in Geography at Kent State University on the topic of the role of community based organizations and the local government in promoting and maintaining racially integrated communities. I came across the agency in my research and interviewed the founding director, Chip Bromley, as part of my research. Chip mentioned to me that the agency was hiring a Community Based Planner to do research and mapping, and that interview of Chip turned into my job interview and I was offered the job. I have been with the agency ever since.
How long have you worked here?
I have been working here for over 18 years.
Can you briefly describe your role at the Fair Housing Center?
Over the last 18 years, I have been involved with virtually every aspect of the Fair Housing Center — from grant writing and budgeting to fair housing testing and complaint intake to making coffee and filing. Now, as the Executive Director, I still do some of those things, but the majority of my time is focused on the various aspects of managing the organization, developing programs, looking for funding opportunities and making connections.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Empowering the staff to do their best work. I am privileged to work with such a fabulous group of smart, talented, dedicated, and mission driven people, and it is a joy to watch each of them grow in their roles within this great organization.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Spending time with my family — husband Jim, daughter Julia (age 8), son Owen (age 4), dog Toby (1 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound/American Staffordshire Terrier mix), and pinning things on Pinterest that I will never actually make.
If you could choose one fair housing issue that you wish people knew more about, what would it be?
I wish that more people could understand that we didn’t become such a segregated society by accident. Housing discrimination and segregation are the result of decades of purposeful federal, state, and local polices and without considerable federal, state and local effort, we will never undo this ongoing injustice.
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