Press Releases

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org September 26, 2022 Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas announced Mike Sheedy’s hire as Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Neighborhood Development Corporation (MANDC). The Mid-Atlantic Neighborhood Development Corp. is a joint venture partnership between Volunteers of America National Services and Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas to continue developing affordable housing opportunities for those who are most in need. Sheedy is an architect and 20-year commercial real estate veteran. In this new role, Sheedy will establish MANDC as a regional affordable housing developer in the Mid-Atlantic and formulate and implement the MANDC affordable housing development strategy in…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org August 16, 2022 Lanham, MD Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas Announces Partnership with Lawson Properties to Offer Integrated Supportive Housing Services VOACC has a goal of ending and preventing homelessness. Collaboration, innovation, and a learning culture increases the impact of our mission. Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas (VOACC) has been awarded the opportunity to provide Integrated Supportive Housing Services in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developments (LIHTC) by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) through June 30, 2024 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This two-year contract allocates approximately $1,300,000 in funding which will…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org August 11, 2022 Recently, the non-profit Community Knights handed out $24,000 in grants to local non-profits, schools, and other organizations through its Grant Initiative Fundraising Team or GIFT.  Community Knights is a 501(c)(3) non-profit created to address deep budget cuts that hit our public schools and non-profits with the 2008 recession. Their work began with supporting public schools and the non-profit community on the Virginia Peninsula experiencing funding shortages. Through regular local fundraising they have united individuals and organizations to work collaboratively to invest in our community. Their mission is to identify the needs of small local non-profit and public school…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org August 9, 2022 Newport News, VA Currently VOACC’s YouthBuild program, in cooperation with the city of Newport News, VA. and The Department of Labor helps young people acquire the skills they need to obtain a great job and keep it. YouthBuild participants earn money while they get valuable hands-on experience building quality houses. They gain work-based education including vocational and basic academic skills training that leads to industry-recognized credentials, employment placement, or apprenticeships, and prepare them for post-secondary education programs. The program lasts six months with follow-up supportive services for the period of one year. On August…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org August 9, 2022 Newport News, VA Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas is proud to announce that Candace Vanderwater has assumed an increased leadership role with the organization. She will be taking on the role of Executive Vice President, adding to her current title of Chief Operating Officer. “In the Executive Vice President & COO role, Candace will expand her areas of responsibilities to lead external affairs, ministry outreach, new business development and more business oversight.” Candace is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has been in the field of health and human services for almost…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org July 5, 2022 In response to the need for more comprehensive Medicaid services that address all aspects of health, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created HOP, the nation’s first comprehensive pilot program to test and evaluate the impact of providing nonmedical interventions related to food, housing, transportation, and toxic stress (specifically Intimate Partner Violence) to those insured under Medicaid who also have the greatest needs. Through our arm of Healthy Opportunities, we will be providing housing services to Medicaid beneficiaries at risk of homelessness in Bladen, Pender, and Columbus counties. Our staff will help…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org July 4, 2022 Jules Christian is a Pastor, Chaplain, Writer, and Counselor, providing spiritual care for over twenty-five years. After a supernatural encounter with the Lord, Jules accepted the call to ministry. She has a Master’s Degree in Theology and is ordained in the Non-Denominational Christian tradition. Jules served as Associate Pastor of Youth for nine years, at which time God opened the door to chaplaincy. Jules completed her first year of Clinical Pastoral Education in her home state of North Carolina and moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked and trained as a Psychiatric Chaplain. Jules…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org July 1, 2022 In 2010, our CEO & President, Russ Snyder says he was led by God to find VOACC’s first Chaplain to help build our church without walls, and that the Lord was leading him right to Reverend Sandra Trice Gray. It was predetermined by God to have me check into my LinkedIn account and I connected with Reverend Gray who had just left where she had pastored for many years,” Says Russ. After Russ met with Rev. Gray and spent some time with her in our programs, she came on as our first Chaplain on…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org June 20, 2022 Please join the entire VOACC family in welcoming Dr. Sheryl Neverson to her new role as Senior Vice President of Clinical Strategy. Dr. Sheryl Neverson has been with our Chesapeake and Carolinas affiliate for approximately 4 years, serving as our Vice President for Maryland. Sheryl has a Ph.D. in Social Work from Howard University with over 27 years of experience in the field. She is an outstanding clinical leader who is licensed as an independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW), licensed as a Certified Social Worker (LCSW-C) and has served in several adjunct faculty positions…

Contact: Nicholle Grangerngranger@voaches.org June 20, 2022 Lanham, MD Please join our entire VOACC family in welcoming Ms. Tiana Joyner in her new role as our Senior Vice President of Operations. Tiana Joyner has been with Volunteers of America since 2013 when she joined the VOA Carolinas team. She came to us with a background in Health and Gender studies, her BA from Monmouth University in New Jersey and significant experience in Veterans and Housing and Homeless Services. In 2017, she was a critical leader in the merging of the two affiliates which officially came together in 2019. Tiana has served…