Today we want to share an interview with Homeward Bound President Sandi Keller. As the President of the organization Sandi works tirelessly to bring affordable housing to LaPorte County. We are so pleased to bring this interview to all of you to better get to know Sandi and her passion for bringing affordable housing to our community.
What inspired you to join this nonprofit organization?
I have always had a deep passion for housing ministries and more than a casual interest in house design. When I was introduced to Homeward Bound in 2020 – we all had a lot of extra time on our hands during the covid shutdown – it really opened my eyes to understand more about homelessness and many of the barriers to housing that is affordable for people at all income levels. Once people in the organization shared successful solutions that had been implemented in other parts of the country and how they overcame barriers, I was hooked. Building smaller and bringing people together in a cooperative setting just made sense and for so many reasons.
Can you briefly describe your professional background and how it relates to your current role?
I spent the latter part of my career focused on organizational development and working with large companies to change their outdated and ineffective ways of working. They all had similar challenges and patterns for how they organize and operate. I spent a lot of time studying, teaching and coaching people to change their workplace culture and how they operate. I’ve witnessed the difference it makes in the performance and outcomes of the teams and organizations. In my earlier career, I led large technology implementations and mentored individuals to lead large project initiatives. I like to see things get done and I think I’m pretty good at it. I am committed to be part of creating an organization that is valued for its workplace culture and brings about real change in our community.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Homeward Bound Villages currently?
I try to take a longer view of what we hope to accomplish. While we have immediate needs and challenges, like all organizations, our biggest challenges come from people who don’t understand that there is a real problem and that we don’t all have access to the same resources and opportunities to improve our circumstances. That is an opportunity for Homeward Bound and we’re working to educate people. Homeward Bound will be successful when there is greater collaboration on the housing problem and individuals are enabled to do more on their own.
Here is a great example about access to resources: it’s been proven all over the country and now incented by federal funding, that when you create a more equitable zoning code, especially limiting our single family zoning at 1000 sq ft, you empower individuals to more easily address the housing gap. I could add at least 2 small detached living structures onto my 1 acre property in the city and set the rents low, or even sell them, but the path to zoning approval makes this an incredible individual burden. Governments often think it’s their job to bring in subsidized housing developers when they could more easily bring about change by enabling citizens and small developers to do more.
Can you share a success story or achievement you’re particularly proud of since joining the organization?
Absolutely. Our greatest success story, and we’re so proud of, is that we are sufficiently funded and have everything in place to move ahead with our site development work for Karwick Village. We should have a contractor selected soon and it will be a joy filled day when we break ground.
What’s your vision for the future of our organization?
Our collective vision, and mine, is to develop many villages throughout LaPorte County that meet the needs for people of varying income levels and including equity ownership, not just rental. We want to collaborate and share our Village Model and make it easy for other communities to implement and for us to learn from their successes.
How do you measure the impact of our nonprofit’s work?
In these early stages, we measure our impact by the partnerships we’re developing and funding we receive. This reinforces that people, organizations and governments are confident in the approach we’re taking and the work we’ve done so far to build our organization and make Karwick Village a reality. Once Karwick Village welcomes residents, we’ll measure our impact through the positive stories of our residents and witnessing how it has changed their lives. I’m a huge data enthusiast and we already have some of our measures outlined.
What role does innovation play in your approach to leading the organization?
I’d like to see it play a bigger role and we’re working on the advocacy to bring that about. In my lifelong work in technology, I learned a lot about lean startup and experimentation cycles. Ideas → Build → Measure → Learn → Improve your ideas and do another cycle – over and over. It’s been tough giving up on starting small largely because of the way our cities expect development to be planned and built. If what you’re trying to do doesn’t meet zoning code, there is an immediate barrier to overcome. It has been difficult to convince planners and approvers of the value to test out something like building several small living structures on a city lot and assessing real results.
What advice would you give to someone aspiring to lead a nonprofit organization?
Find a good mentor. Be curious and always seek to learn. Build relationships and collaborate, so much more comes from building on each other’s ideas. Be persistent and patient because it will always take longer than you think to bring about the vision of the organization.