Vancouver, WA – Share has welcomed a change in staff leadership with the retirement of Dee Sanders, the promotions of Katie Louis and Nicky Ferguson and the hiring of Marques Giles.

Dee Sanders officially retired as director of the Affordable Housing and Stability program on Feb. 26.

“Dee has been a compassionate and stalwart advocate for access to affordable housing for the past 18 years, building relationships – and friendships – with numerous people across social service and government agencies. With her experience and natural leadership, I always knew she would excel in her job, where she opened the doors of homes to thousands of families and individuals right here in Clark County. It wasn’t just her ability to rise to the challenge of the daily tasks of the job, but the heart and compassion she brought each and every day,” said Diane McWithey, executive director.

Sanders was hired at Share in 2003 as a part-time shelter staff member. She was promoted in 2004 to a full-time case manager with the ASPIRE program (now called the Affordable Housing and Stability program) and again in 2006 to the program director, where she served until her retirement in February 2021.

Under Dee’s leadership, what is now called Share’s Affordable Housing & Stability program experienced more than a decade of tremendous and continuous growth: from three staff members to 10, from serving 30 households each month to 400+ households each month, from a budget of $862,800 to $6.9 million in 2020 (more than half of which were funds for COVID eviction prevention). The program is a coordinated system for providing case management, housing and connection to a vast resource education for employment training, family counseling, debt reduction, budgeting, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, counseling, mental health, education, parenting, life skills, childcare referral and transportation.

Last August, when the federally funded Emergency Rent Assistance Program (ERAP) was launched, Share stepped up to help local households with the application process for rent assistance for up to three months of past, present or future rent. Sanders and her staff oversaw this challenge, quickly hiring, training and supporting additional qualified and competent staff, and distributing $3.25 million dollars in just four months. Those funds helped 853 households to stay in their homes -- single mothers and fathers with children, senior citizens, veterans, multi-generational families, and more.

Katie Louis was promoted to replace Sanders as the director of the Affordable Housing and Stability program.  Louis has worked at Share for the past seven years, beginning as a part-time case manager at Share Homestead, then promoted twice, first to assistant supervising director of Family Shelters, and then to director of Share House (now called director of Collaborative Housing program), a position she held for the past five years, where she oversaw the daily operations of Share House, in addition to supervising the Hot Meals program, as well as both the family and single men shelters through the Winter Hospitality Overflow program.

Marques Giles was hired to replace Louis as the director of the Collaborative Housing program. Giles recently moved back to the Portland area from Arizona, where he managed a 400-bed shelter. Previous employment also included Morrison Child and Family Services, Black Culture Competency Access, Human Solutions in Portland and MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility.

Nicky Ferguson was promoted as the director of Family Pathways program where she will oversee the daily operations of Share Homestead and Share Orchards Inn, both of which are shelters for families and single women. Ferguson was promoted from her role as Lead Engagement Specialist for Share’s family shelters, a position she held since 2020.

About Share

Founded in 1979, Share’s mission is: Share believes every person counts. Together we pursue a stronger community by building relationships, advocating for equitable access to housing and food stability while empowering every individual to grow and thrive.

Share operates four shelters for those experiencing homelessness, an Affordable Housing and Stability program, Lincoln Place (a 30-unit Housing First model apartment complex), a street outreach program, a Housing & Essential Needs (HEN) program, Rent Well (a tenant education program), and Hot Meals, a daily meal program (breakfast, lunch and dinner) which is free and open to the community. Share also operates a Summer Meals program that provides free meals to children 18 and under, and a Backpack program in partnership with 94 locals schools to provide weekly food bags to 650+ children and their families, as well as to distribute 500 weekly pantry boxes and operate 12 fresh food pantries. For more information, visit sharevancouver.org or facebook.com/ShareVancouver.

###