About Ashley Pharr-Godbee
A Florida native, Ashley Pharr-Godbee came to North Carolina to attend UNC-Charlotte in 2000 and has made it her home ever since. A dual major in criminal justice and psychology, a supervisor recommended that she consider social work, landing Pharr-Godbee at the Salvation Army in 2004. By 2006, she realized this path was her calling and she started on her Master's in Social Work at the University of South Carolina. She began her tenure at the Salvation Army in the role of a transitional housing case manager, was quickly promoted to a supervisorial role, then undertook the critical assignment of helping over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees find housing and reconnect with their families. It was at a community meeting that she first heard Darren Ash make a presentation about the Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (W.I.S.H.). Inspired by Ash's ideas, Pharr-Godbee joined W.I.S.H. as a Clinical Family Social Worker in 2009.
In 2011, W.I.S.H. joined forces with Charlotte Emergency Housing and Family Promise of Charlotte to create the agency we know today as Charlotte Family Housing (CFH). By 2012, Pharr-Godbee was overseeing CFH's shelter operations and in 2015, she was named Chief Program Officer. In her leadership role with the social work team, she has attended national conferences and visited the White House to speak to staffers working on community issues that affect families. She considers herself a connoisseur of information, especially details on best practices and data analysis. She enjoys talking to others about what is working elsewhere that might also benefit citizens of Mecklenburg County. Pharr-Godbee considers Charlotte a "little big city," meaning it is still small enough to have genuine, impactful conversations about the most effective approaches to serve the needs of the community. What she appreciates most about Charlotte is its commitment to trying to provide resources to fulfill the needs of its citizens. Pharr-Godbee believes that if the city itself had a voice, Charlotte would say, "You're not alone and we're not going to see you fail without trying to help."
In 2011, W.I.S.H. joined forces with Charlotte Emergency Housing and Family Promise of Charlotte to create the agency we know today as Charlotte Family Housing (CFH). By 2012, Pharr-Godbee was overseeing CFH's shelter operations and in 2015, she was named Chief Program Officer. In her leadership role with the social work team, she has attended national conferences and visited the White House to speak to staffers working on community issues that affect families. She considers herself a connoisseur of information, especially details on best practices and data analysis. She enjoys talking to others about what is working elsewhere that might also benefit citizens of Mecklenburg County. Pharr-Godbee considers Charlotte a "little big city," meaning it is still small enough to have genuine, impactful conversations about the most effective approaches to serve the needs of the community. What she appreciates most about Charlotte is its commitment to trying to provide resources to fulfill the needs of its citizens. Pharr-Godbee believes that if the city itself had a voice, Charlotte would say, "You're not alone and we're not going to see you fail without trying to help."