We are pleased to welcome Caitlin Buro as the new senior development officer for our Southeast and Gulf Coast markets. Caitlin will work with our donors and philanthropic partners in supporting programs that advance racial equity, resilience, upward mobility, and housing preservation and production.
Tell us how you first got involved with affordable housing?
What excited me most about the team at Enterprise was supporting programming and a mission that closely aligns with my personal advocacy. My background at Georgia Tech enabled me to see brilliant scientific advances made possible through donor and philanthropic support. At Enterprise, I am thrilled to begin learning more about the affordable housing landscape and to support housing, racial equity, upward mobility, and resilience.
What have you been working on at Enterprise so far?
I have met with programming staff for both the Southeast and the Gulf Coast markets, as well as our programming directors at the national level, and have had the opportunity to meet with many current and future funders and our Southeast advisory board. I am continually learning about the incredible work that Enterprise is doing in the affordable housing space and our work in community development for Miami, Atlanta and New Orleans. I have also been able to visit some of the active development sites in New Orleans, participate in community engagement, and attend Enterprise Community Partner's 40th Anniversary national conference in October. I am passionate about our work and am excited to leverage my skills for it.
What do you wish other people knew about the importance of the role you play in creating affordable housing?
Development is not convincing funders of the value of their support for abstract reasons. Development very much is about relationship building and communicating an organization's mission and its proven success to current and future funders. In the case of Enterprise, funders are encouraged to support programming that builds strong, vibrant communities. Here, I am an advocate for the work we are accomplishing and an educator for the importance of this work.
What might someone be surprised to know about you?
In 2021, my husband and I outfitted and converted our 4Runner and turned it into a micro camper. We spent six weeks and traveled through 30 states, visited six national parks and met an unforgettable array of our neighbors across the country. Coyote howls kept us awake in the New Mexico heat, and snow fell around the edges of our fire on a mountain in Wyoming. It was an adventure we will never forget.
What do you do when you aren't working?
I love to spend as much time as I can outdoors. During the Covid-19 lockdown, my husband and I turned our empty backyard into a garden sanctuary in the city. When my husband and our dogs – Karl, a 10-year-old pug, and Leon, a 2-year-old border collie – are not gardening at home, we spend as much time as we can hiking and camping in North Georgia. When I am not outside, I enjoy building miniatures, watching scary movies and working on puzzles.