3 Questions With Dawn Godshall, Executive Director of Community Action Lehigh Valley

By: January 2023, Voices of the Valley, Bethlehem

Dawn Godshall

Executive Director, Community Action Lehigh Valley

Community Action is “fighting for good.” What does that mean to you?

We do so much in this community. The mission of Community Action Lehigh Valley is to improve the quality of life by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunity, the ability to pursue that opportunity and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. We help people to purchase their first homes and start new businesses. We distribute about 10 million pounds of food a year to people experiencing food insecurity. We help high school students who are low-income, first-generation or minority students to get into college. We help people experiencing foreclosure to stay in their homes by going to court with them and doing diversion work. There are so many things, I certainly can't name them all. We do really good stuff!

What are you most proud of about the work that you do?

I used to be a producer for ABC News. Every day, I had to write stories of people who were murdered, hurt, abused and many other tragic stories. Now, I get to see really good things get done every single day.

I get to smile and report to our funders on those things that we do to help so many people in our community.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned in your career?

The biggest lesson that I've learned is not to ever judge anyone else's circumstances. Having grown up in foster homes, I have gone through quite a bit in my life. I have been blessed to learn through the many circumstances I've been through. When people come to me and share their stories of homelessness, hunger, poverty, abuse, etc., I can say that I wholeheartedly listen to their stories and, most of the time, I can truly tell them that I understand what they've been through. I listen with my heart and my life experiences.