2025 Annual Awards Ceremony
2025 Annual Award Winners
We are proud to announce the individuals and organization recognized at this year’s VHA Annual Awards. These awardees have shown leadership, innovation, and dedication in advancing housing affordability and ending homelessness across Virginia.
William Stowe
Dr. Mike West Award
William Stowe
Dr. Mike West Award
Housing Alexandria
William Stowe is a former VISTA from the 2022 to 2023 Virginia Housing Alliance cohort. William joined VISTA after graduating from VCU with a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning and a B.A. in Political Science. He spent his VISTA year serving at Housing Alexandria and supporting their still-new Resident Services program. Specifically, William supported stability-building programs and led the Resident Survey project. After finishing his VISTA term, William stayed with Housing Alexandria, where he now works as a Homeownership Specialist. While at Housing Alexandria, William created and implemented Housing Alexandria’s homeownership program, leading to 31 low-income first-time homeowners being paired with a newly built affordable home in Alexandria, Virginia. William has been drawn to affordable housing due to his passion for sustainable solutions to urban planning challenges. Beyond affordable housing, William is also passionate about increasing access to transportation and progressing equitable economic opportunities. He hopes to one day be involved in advancing more regional collaboration on urban challenges in Virginia.
Laura Dobbs
Emerging Leader
Laura Dobbs
Emerging Leader
Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia
Laura Dobbs is the Director of Policy at Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia (HOME), where she initiates HOME’s state and local legislative advocacy. Rooted in HOME’s commitment to eradicating housing discrimination, Laura engages in a systems change approach to advocacy. Since joining HOME in 2023, Laura has advanced policies to ensure everyone has equal access to quality, safe, and stable housing in opportunity-rich communities. Prior to joining HOME, Laura served as the Deputy Director of the Center for Housing Advocacy at the Virginia Poverty Law Center. There, she advocated for the rights of low-income renters through policy advocacy and litigation. Laura started her career as a voting rights attorney in Durham, North Carolina where she connected with voting advocates and communities across the south to preserve and advance equal access to the ballot and fair maps. She earned her J.D. from William & Mary Law School and B.A. in Industrial Design from North Carolina State University College of Design.
Shelby Carney
Emerging Leader
Shelby Carney
Emerging Leader
Partnership for Housing Affordability
Shelby Carney serves as the Special Projects Director for the Partnership for Housing Affordability, a nonprofit committed to expanding access to quality housing through policy, research, and collaboration. In this role, she partners with local governments, developers, and community stakeholders to design and manage investment initiatives that increase housing opportunity in the Richmond region. Ms. Carney currently leads administration of Henrico County’s $60 million Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which in its inaugural year supported the creation of more than 90 homes for first-time buyers. The Fund is set to advance the county’s goal to deliver 750 new construction affordable homes across all Henrico magisterial districts by 2030. She has also played a key role in attracting new grant resources—securing a competitive award through the Regional Housing Development Program to expand cross-sector collaboration and deliver critical gap funding for affordable rental and homeownership projects. Over the next two years, PHA will administer this grant allocation to help produce 120 affordable housing units in multiple localities across the Richmond region.
Kamilah McAfee
Game Changer
Kamilah McAfee
Game Changer
Wesley Housing
As President and CEO of Wesley Housing, McAfee provides strategic direction and general executive leadership to Wesley Housing. McAfee has held progressive leadership roles for the award-winning organization since 2008. Most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development, she led Wesley’s real estate development team through an unprecedented five-year period of growth, initiated by the successful award of four competitive funding projects in 2018 and capped by the 2022 construction completion of seven communities (571 units), representing $231 million in total development costs. These efforts led the organization to be named 2022 “Nonprofit Developer of the Year” by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND) for the third time (previously in 2017 and 2006). Further, Affordable Housing Finance named Wesley Housing in its “Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2020” and was one of only nine nonprofits nationwide to make the list. In addition to her 17 years of service at Wesley Housing, McAfee brings public sector and private sector experience, previously serving as Director of Public Finance for the DC Housing Finance Agency and a Development Associate for Forest City Washington. McAfee was a Fellow at the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence (CUREx) at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a B.S. in finance and new and small business development from Georgetown University and a master’s in business administration from American University.
Donna Scott
Outstanding Service Provider
Donna Scott
Outstanding Service Provider
CSB
Donna was born and raised in Albemarle County, where they still remain. They are married and have two beautiful daughters and five grandchildren. Donna has worked at Region Ten for 38+ years. It has been the most rewarding opportunity to have had the resources to make a difference in the lives of those they serve that they would not have been able to do on their own.
Community Housing Partners
Housing Champion
Community Housing Partners
Housing Champion
Bob Newman
Hall of Fame
Bob Newman
Hall of Fame
Former President/ CEO
Bob Newman began his career in housing in 1981 with the Charlottesville Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) where he eventually became Executive Director. He has also held senior and executive leadership positions at Charlottesville Housing Foundation, Better Housing Coalition and VCDC in addition to a brief role at Virginia DHCD. He was on the Boards of AHIP, Vice-Chair of Community Energy Conservation Program, Vice President and then President of Virginia Housing Coalition where he led the merger with the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness to form the Virginia Housing Alliance, was Treasurer of Housing Families First, and was the president of the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds (NASLEF). While President and CEO of VCDC, he created and implemented an organizational capacity building program called Mission Elevation, which has guided over 40 non-profit housing and community development organizations in Virginia through significant performance challenges to achieve outstanding mission outcomes and enhancing organizational sustainability. He has two adult daughters and since retiring in April of 2025 lives with his wife of 43 years (Lee Ann) at Lake Gaston.
The Annual Awards ceremony will take place following the final day of the Housing Credit Conference and the day before Housing Virginia’s Most Vulnerable, at the Marriott Downtown Richmond.
Become a Sponsor
Sponsoring this special event is a great way to support the heroes of affordable housing while gaining visibility for your organization. Explore sponsorship opportunities and join us in celebrating the individuals and organizations making a difference across Virginia.
Awards Categories
Emerging Leader
The Emerging Leader Award recognizes a young or up-and-coming professional who has demonstrated the potential for leadership and continuing service as well as demonstrated dedication and ability to engage and impact their community.
Game Changer
The “Game Changer” Award recognizes Virginia’s housing leaders for major breakthroughs or outstanding achievements in the homeless services or affordable housing fields.
Outstanding Service Provider
The “Outstanding Service Provider” Award recognizes an individual whose dedication has made a significant impact on their clients or program in homeless, affordable housing, or direct tenant services in the Commonwealth.
Housing Champion (Distinguished Philanthropist)
The “Housing Champion” award recognizes individuals or organizations whose philanthropic achievements have made a significant impact in housing or homeless-services advocacy and/or education work throughout the Commonwealth and whose generosity inspires others to philanthropic action
Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame recognizes Virginia’s housing leaders who have demonstrated outstanding career performance in the homeless services or affordable housing fields in the Commonwealth.
Dr. Mike West Service Award
This award recognizes the exceptional efforts of VHA VISTAs who have demonstrated a dedication to advancing affordable housing initiatives.
2025 Annual Awards Ceremony Sponsors
Signature
Platinum
Bronze
Date
- Oct 21 2025
- Expired!
Time
- 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
More Info
Location
- Richmond Marriott Hotel
- 500 E Broad Street; Richmond, VA 23219