Vanessa Williams has intentionally dedicated her personal and professional journey to serving the community and her family. Growing up her family instilled in her that  “you need to be the change you want to see “ and that ” if you are not some part of the solution, that you become part of the problem!  As a result she has focused on working to do what she can to contribute to improving the quality of life in the community.

For over forty years she has worked in volunteer and paid service and leadership roles in over a dozen not-for-profit human service organizations. Concurrently, for the last 15 fifteen years of that time she served as a Regional Director for IDD and Autism Services in Pennsylvania’s Southeast Region for a Philadelphia based not-for- profit.

In all her experiences there she has built relationships with a long list of  collaborators/friends who have provided her with a never-ending resource of resiliency, creativity, hope, differing perspectives, coaching, counseling, understanding, listening ears, patience, and love. These are the things she hopes to continue to accrue and share in this her newest role with The Community of Care Councils, as a Family Facilitator with Philadelphia System of Care/DBHIDS.