Affordable Housing

Jessie Figuora

Jessie Figueroa loves to meet and help people. Growing up a military brat and moving every few years, she quickly learned how to turn a stranger into a friend. Upon graduating from the University of Central Florida, Jessie served in the AmeriCorps VISTA program as a public speaker and community organizer for homeless services.

After dedicating years to building relationships and making a difference as a nonprofit program manager in Orlando, FL, she moved to Asheville in 2015 to apply her skills in B2B Sales. Jessie has served as Senior Sales Manager, Sales Director, and Director of Business Development for a few local Asheville businesses. At the start of 2021, she combined her interest of addressing homelessness with her sales and interpersonal skills by joining the Homeward Bound of WNC Team as Housing Placement Director. In this role, partnerships with property owners and managers are nurtured to keep units filled and landlord partners supported with tenant management.

Jessie enjoys music, hiking, traveling, and spending quality time with her husband, friends, and family. She is passionate about the development of her community and working collaboratively with partners to address affordable housing gaps with plans that are mutually beneficial to all.

Kate Pett

Kate Pett is the Executive Director of Thrive Asheville. Kate and Thrive partners have catalyzed community support to create collaborative leadership on community challenges, especially affordable housing, and to establish priorities that steer growth for the benefit of all of Asheville's residents - like sustainable tourism. Our mission is to convene diverse groups from our community to learn about our challenges, and to act on solutions together.

Kate has worked at the intersection of community development, education, and equity throughout her career. Kate led the Asheville City Schools Foundation for eleven years, during which time she greatly expanded the financial, human, and programmatic resources available to teachers and students in the Asheville City Schools. Kate utilized a collective-impact approach to align more than 50 after-school providers and vastly increased the number of middle school students actively engaged in healthy, educational activities after school. Kate was also the Educational Director of a wilderness program for adjudicated youth, and a classroom teacher in inner-city Detroit and the Asheville City Schools. Kate was a community organizer in Seattle, Washington where she developed a school-based resource center for vulnerable children and families. Kate served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines and Mali, supporting community education projects related to natural resources and public health. Much of what Kate knows about how to build community she learned from the villagers who generously hosted her.

Kate earned a B.A. in International Relations, with a focus on African Studies, at American University, in Washington, D.C. She also completed a Masters in Education, with a concentration in Urban Issues at the University of Michigan, where she was a Fellow.

Kate laughs often with her funny, musical husband Vince, who is a teacher and former Peace Corps Volunteer. Her children, Gabe and Juliana, are her greatest joys.