Since June of 2010, Barbara Garlock has served as Interfaith Works’ Executive Director, but has been with the community assistance organization since 2005. Patch sat down with Garlock to find out a bit about her passion for community service and how the industry is changing for the better.

Patch: Your background is based in the retail sector, how did you get involved with the non-profit world?

Barbara Garlock:  I was in a management consultant in different sectors for a number of years. When I moved to the Washington, DC area, a friend asked me to join the board of a non-profit hospice, based on my business background and found that what I really liked doing was social change.  The hospice was interesting from a business and policy point of view, and I fell in love with the non-profit world at that point.

Patch: How did you become associated with Interfaith Works?

B.G: After working with the hospice, I was asked to come in as a grant writer for another non-profit. What I quickly found out is that grant writing is much like consulting – you have to take a strategic approach and help the organization focus its thoughts on its true needs. Interfaith first brought me on as a grant writer and strategic consultant. I later became the development director, and then when Becky Wagner took her leave of absence, I stepped in as interim executive director.

Patch: What does Community Vision do?

B.G: Our location at Progress Place off Georgia Avenue serves over 400 street homeless adults each year. We serve more than 30,000 meals, offer vocational services, job training, and therapeutic programs and get people into housing that had been on the street. Just last year, more than 50 folks found paid jobs, with annualized wages of more than one million dollars. The homeless have no voice in our area, and I believe that this day program is absolutely essential to the continued revitalization of Silver Spring. We are really engaged in making sure that folks can move up and move on – and encourage everyone to help us make it happen!

Patch: How do you like the Silver Spring community?

B.G: While Silver Spring is great, what is really interesting is that people here tend to think more in terms our county. Everyone looks at the county’s affluence, and while we are affluent, we are rich in diversity and people who want to do the right thing. That always humbles me. We are also a county that is not homogenous, and there is extraordinary poverty. Because we function as a bedroom community, that poverty is somewhat invisible. Folks get in their cars and head to work, but don’t realize what their tax money is going to help.

Patch: Will the “Interim” tag be removed from your “Interim Executive Director” title anytime soon?

B.G: Actually, I am not interested in continuing in an administrative role. It is a wonderful opportunity for someone else to take Interfaith Works to the next level. We have a good and valuable brand in this community and we’ve done a great job of training the next generation about the importance of community service, and I know one of those people from the arts and economic development community who has a lot of energy will make it more robust.

Patch: What will you do next?

B.G: Oh, I’ll be staying on board. I will stay a stakeholder in this agency but give my time more as a volunteer than an administrator.

To learn more about Community Vision, or other Interfaith Works programs, visit their website.