2026 Cabell Brand Hope Award Winner: Renee Brown
This year’s Cabell Brand Hope Award winner, Renee Brown, is a visionary leader, advocate, and changemaker who has led a career dedicated to strengthening children, families, and communities through innovative, community-based care. As President and CEO of DePaul Community Resources, she has led the organization’s growth into one of Virginia’s most respected human services providers. Grounded in the organization’s values of fairness, integrity, respect, safety, and trust, Renee has built a leadership legacy around dignity, accountability, meaningful outcomes, and a deep belief in the power of collaboration.
Renee’s dedication to service is life-long, beginning well before her career with DePaul Community Resources. A Virginia Tech alum with a master’s degree, Renee spent 20 years at Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, where she earned her credentials as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC). During this time, she also became a foster parent, opening her home to children in need of stability, support, and healing, all while raising two sons who graduated from William Fleming High School.
Throughout her career, Renee has shown a unique ability to see community needs and turn them into opportunities. One of Renee’s brightest accomplishments is advancing kinship care in Virginia. After recognizing a growing need among relatives raising children, she championed the creation of a comprehensive Kinship Care Program to support relatives and fictive-kin caregivers who step up to care for children. Working alongside committed DePaul staff, community partners, and local leaders, she helped secure a partnership with the City of Roanoke and public funding to help children remain connected to family. These services have expanded beyond Roanoke, allowing more families across Virginia to access critical resources. Today, the program provides caregiver training, supportive services, placement stabilization, and family search and engagement, reflecting Renee’s belief that children thrive when connected to family, community, and culture.
Renee’s commitment to innovation is also shown in her leadership of DePaul’s Agency-Directed Services program. Launched in 2024 with a single family in the Roanoke Valley, the program has grown to serve more than 400 families across 15 counties and 5 cities. The model empowers individuals and families to direct their own care helping to increase flexibility, choice, and access to services. Its rapid growth has improved quality of life, strengthened family stability, created employment opportunities, and expanded workforce participation across communities. The program’s success reflects not only Renee’s vision, but also the dedication, creativity, and commitment of the DePaul team members who helped bring the model to families across Virginia.
Beyond organizational leadership, Renee has become an influential voice in public policy and systems reform. Through her service on the Virginia Commission on Youth, she helped shape recommendations for relief of custody petitions that informed bipartisan legislation passed by the 2025 General Assembly. Her work reflects a belief that effective public policy must be informed by families’ lived experiences and focused on prevention whenever possible.
Renee has also served on the planning committee for Roanoke’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s and on the board of Project Discovery, helping expand access to education for first-generation college students.
Renee is known as a gatherer who brings together community leaders, policymakers, service providers, and advocates to address challenges and build solutions. Through initiatives such as the Star City Summit, she has advanced conversations around child welfare, disability services, and family support. She recently worked with Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb and other community leaders to explore ways to expand kinship care and reduce barriers facing youth with disabilities and their families. She has also shared her expertise through appearances on Buzz4Good and The Appalachian Podcast, highlighting critical issues facing children and families in Southwest Virginia.
TAP is not the first to recognize Renee’s impactful leadership. In 2025, Renee received the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce’s ATHENA Leadership Award, honoring women who demonstrate excellence in leadership, professional achievement, and community service.
Perhaps Renee’s greatest achievement is the culture she and her team have built together, one where people feel seen, families feel supported, and communities are strengthened. Renee is quick to credit DePaul’s employees, leadership team, board members, and community partners for the organization’s success, recognizing that meaningful and lasting change is possible only through collaboration and shared commitment. Through innovation, advocacy, and an unwavering commitment to service, Renee Brown continues to work alongside others to shape the future of human services in Virginia while creating lasting change for generations of children and families.
TAP is honored to recognize Renee Brown as this year’s Cabell Brand Hope Award winner!
