Cathe Dykstra

Biography: As the Chief Possibility Officer, President and CEO of Family Scholar House, Cathe is committed to promoting the importance of education as an asset that appreciates over time and provides long-term self-sufficiency through career-track employment. Cathe sees her role as changing the paradigm for work with families and foster alumni in poverty from short-term support to long-term solutions. Under her leadership, the organization was born from Project Women, with a bigger, broader mission, and comprehensive, holistic services and programs that now serve over 30,000 families annually. Cathe led FSH’s geographic expansion to serve other communities in our region; developed and launched the affiliate program to replicate the Family Scholar House model; added the Foster Alumni residential pre-parent residential program; and completed over $59 million in construction of five campuses in Louisville and $78 million for Kentucky, all of which provide affordable housing for low-income families. Cathe also led the development of Family Scholar House US, FSH’s affiliate program that now boasts 15 affiliates, implementing the FSH program model, from coast to coast. In July 2020, Family Scholar House was awarded a national Rise Prize, one of only five programs in the mature stage category chosen to receive $200,000 in recognition of its work with student parents. In 2019, Family Scholar House was designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as an EnVision Center and honored by the American Planning Association with the 2019 HUD Secretary’s Opportunity and Empowerment Award. In 2014, Cathe received a Doctor of Public Service honoris causa from Spalding University. In 2019, Cathe was selected for the Ascend National Advisors cohort and chosen for Governor Beshear’s Transition Team. She also co-chaired Louisville Metro’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan for Mayor Fischer. In July 2020, Cathe was selected as a co-chair for the built and nat