Cape Fear Collective (CFC) recently announced the hiring of Cara Stretch, former executive director of Feast Down East, as director of programs and lead on CFC’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) team.

CFC is also adding Catrecia McCoy Bowman and Terri Burhans to the Housing Team to better serve residents in its over 100-unit housing portfolio.

Stretch brings to the team an extensive background in housing and food systems and is well-positioned to help support Human Service Organizations providing services, according to a news release.

The HOP team is part of a subcontract with Community Care of Lower Cape Fear. The pilot invests in nonmedical interventions that will improve health outcomes and lower health care costs by making 29 services in food, transportation, housing and interpersonal safety reimbursable through NC Medicaid.

Meaghan Dennison, interim CEO, said in the release, “Transitioning Catrecia from the Pilot is bittersweet because she has been such a critical partner in building capacity for HSOs; however, the value and connection she’ll be adding to the individuals and families within CFC’s housing platform is unmatched.”

Bowman, who started with CFC on Aug. 2 as the Housing Program Manager for the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, is moving over to the Housing team. She brings extensive knowledge of housing services and resources to the CFC team and worked as an individual assistance crew lead for FEMA supporting individuals and families during disaster response and recovery. She started her career serving in various roles with the Wilmington Housing Authority.

She will focus on resident relations and connecting residents to self-sufficiency programs ranging from financial literacy to first time home buyers. 

Bowman is joined on the housing team by Terri Burhans, a community development professional with a passion for placemaking. Her career in community development spans over 15 years and includes extensive work in real estate, affordable housing, and parks and recreation.

Most recently, Burhans worked as a community development analyst for the city of Wilmington.

Cape Fear Collective’s housing team is part of the broader Cape Fear Collective Ventures initiative, a social impact investment platform aimed at raising capital to scale solutions in affordable housing. The goal of Cape Fear Collective Ventures is to deploy capital in communities with significant barriers to resources.

"Catrecia and Terri bring a wealth of skills and experience to the Housing team," said Eileen O’Malley, CFC director of operations. “They will ensure CFC continues to put residents first and create programs that better serve our community. We are lucky to have them.”