During the course of 25 years, Rhonda Buckley went from a volunteer at Good Shepherd Ministries to founder of the Good Shepherd music program—which was run out of the basement of Jubilee’s Ontario Court building—to founder of the Sitar Arts Center to Jubilee’s interim vice president of Institutional Advancement. She’s now co-chair of the Jubilee board’s development committee. There was a seven-year detour back to her home state of Michigan to be closer to family. But returning to D.C. and to Jubilee last year brought Buckley full circle.
“The Sitar Center’s mission continues to be tied deeply with the work of Jubilee Housing, and now they are both partners in the new Planform of Hope” (see story in this newsletter), she said.
As for herself, Buckley said, “The transition from working with Jubilee on the outside to having the privilege of being inside the organization was a profound experience. The dedication of Jubilee’s leadership, staff, and board is inspiring.”
Buckley served in her interim role at Jubilee from September to mid-December 2017. She started as head of Campuses and Strategic Development at Levine Music in mid-November 2017, while working to help her replacement at Jubilee make a smooth transition. Only a few weeks later, Jubilee Executive Director Jim Knight and new VP of Institutional Advancement Rebecca Ely invited Buckley to co-chair the development committee.
“Jubilee’s commitment to a vision of justice housing, which I understand to be very different from low-income housing and a non-negotiable element of this movement, is extremely attractive to me,” she said. “The insistence on bringing deeply affordable homes to neighborhoods with resources and access to programs that can help people succeed, I believe will be attractive to donors, to city officials, and, certainly, to those who need housing.”
In her new Jubilee capacity, Buckley hopes to re-engage people who have been involved with Jubilee over the years but who may have lost contact more recently. She and the committee are identifying opportunities for individuals to experience Jubilee’s mission in action. Jubilee will roll out those opportunities soon.