NeighborWorks is excited to announce that Katherine Kearney has joined the team as our new Director of Community Development.
Katherine brings years of experience in community engagement, volunteer coordination, program management and partnership development to NeighborWorks. Most recently, she served as a Program Manager with the Alzheimer’s Association, where she worked with community partners, recruited and supported volunteers, developed programs and helped expand services to communities across the region.
Before that, Katherine served as the Elm Street Manager with United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, where she managed a neighborhood revitalization initiative in South Scranton. Her work included coordinating community events, building partnerships with government and private-sector organizations, supporting volunteers and communicating about neighborhood projects. That experience gave her a firsthand understanding of the importance of bringing residents, organizations and community partners together around the future of a neighborhood.
That local connection is what ultimately brought Katherine to NeighborWorks. After years of focusing on regional outreach, volunteer mobilization and program management, she was looking for an opportunity to return to the kind of community-centered work that has always been meaningful to her.
“What drew me to NeighborWorks is its deep, tangible impact on the neighborhoods right here in our community,” Katherine said. “NeighborWorks has a stellar reputation for empowering residents, strengthening housing stability, and building sustainable, vibrant neighborhoods from the ground up, which aligns perfectly with my passion for community-centered work.”
In her new role, Katherine will focus on building relationships with residents, local leaders and community organizations across Northeastern Pennsylvania. She is especially excited to build authentic, lasting partnerships and help expand the work NeighborWorks is doing to strengthen neighborhoods. With experience coordinating volunteers, managing community programs and bringing different groups together around shared goals, she sees an opportunity to build on the momentum already happening throughout the region.
Katherine also brings a strong connection to local history and community preservation. She serves as a board member and historian for the Scranton Historic Architectural Review Board and is a Regional Leader with the Associates Sisters of the IHM. Her background in history, combined with her experience in community development, has shaped her appreciation for the people, places and stories that make a community unique.
Katherine holds a bachelor’s degree in U.S. History from Wilkes University and an associate degree in History/Secondary Education from Lackawanna College.
Please join us in welcoming Katherine to the team!
