Board members of the Blaine County Housing Authority were introduced to Ketchum-based ARCH Community Housing Trust's new executive director, Michelle Griffith, at a public meeting on Wednesday.
The housing authority and ARCH work in partnership to bring affordable community housing to qualified buyers in Blaine County.
"My hopes for ARCH are to get as many members of the community as possible into housing they can afford so they can keep living and working in this community," Griffith told the Mountain Express on Thursday.
Griffith brings 20 years of nonprofit and corporate leadership experience to her post. She spent the last 15 years living abroad and working in the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Russia as a key contributor to several international nonprofit community development organizations.
Griffith earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Wittenberg University in Ohio and helped establish the Friends Organization at the Cleveland Children's Museum. She then spent years in leadership positions with BP Oil in the United States and United Kingdom, where she traded oil derivatives and managed the U.S. national C-Store product lines.
In Russia, where Griffith's husband, Harry, worked for BP Oil, she raised funds for the Diema's Dream Foundation, an innovative program to build housing, educational and rehabilitative facilities for handicapped Russian youth.
"My most unique qualification for directing ARCH comes from straddling two worlds," Griffith said. "I can bring an outside perspective, and perhaps try new things that have not been tried before. I'd like to broaden the community awareness of ARCH."
ARCH is a nonprofit organization that buys property with private grants and other means and provides community outreach and advocacy on the topic of community housing.
"Michelle brings a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of skills to ARCH," said ARCH founder and outgoing Executive Director Rebekah Helzel. "We are very excited to have her join us."
Helzel said ARCH hopes to take advantage of lower real estate prices to acquire more community housing.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
ARCH Community Housing Trust’s new executive director, Michelle Gritffith, will take the reigns of the organization on April 1. Photo by
