She started with a single classroom. Now she's helping change the system.
How Vanessa Howard scaled her impact from classroom to county
When Vanessa reached out to share her story of going from elementary school teacher to non-profit executive, I thought, well, naturally the through-line here is that she’s a helper. A do-gooder. Someone whose genetic kindness or upbringing propelled her to prioritize service instead of consumerism in her career. That may be true, I don’t know. But it’s not the whole story behind Vanessa’s reignition.
A childhood calling
Vanessa Howard had wanted to be a teacher her entire life. Or at least since the first grade.
“I had a wonderful first grade teacher. I wanted to give scratch and sniff stickers like she did. My whole life, I worked towards that. It was what I was called to do.”
She spent 21 years as a teacher across kindergarten, first, and second grade. But her passion for education became overshadowed by the pain her students and their families faced.
“I taught in an underserved community where families were really struggling. These students came from households that didn't get to eat breakfast. Some had five families living under one roof. Parents were barely making it. And here I was pushing for test scores and homework. It just started to eat away at my soul.”
Vanessa had a deep empathy for the families in her district. What most of them didn’t know was that she had struggled herself.
A life-changing knock at the door
“Twenty-two years ago, my daughter was five months old. My son was four. I was home nursing and I heard bang, bang, bang on the front door. I look over, I see this figure climbing over my fence, wearing all black. The FBI had my house surrounded.”
Her husband – a high school teacher – had been viewing and distributing child pornography online. He ended up going to prison.
“We had just bought a house. And now I'm a single mom. How on Earth am I going to pay this mortgage on just my income and raise these kids by myself?”
Neighbors and a church group helped, delivering food, gift cards and clothes to her door.
“I was able to do Christmas for my kids because somebody dropped off Target gift cards. I had my babysitter giving me laundry detergent because I couldn't afford it!”
Vanessa was also lucky to have support from nearby family.
“My dad would take us out to dinner once a week, and I spent another day every week at their house for dinner. And, I had a good job. I had an education. My heart just went out to these families that don’t have all these things. How are they going to do it? That really changed me.”
“My heart just went out to these families that don’t have all these things. How are they going to do it? That really changed me.”
From burnout to breakthrough
The pressure to raise test scores when students’ home lives were unstable wore on Vanessa.
She started secretly organizing Christmas gifts for her students and their families. It started with toys and games and grew to include food bags with fresh produce. The idea: give families one less thing to worry about.
“That was my first real taste of being on the other side, trying to help families. And then I just knew, I need to do more of this in my life.”
Vanessa took a six-month sabbatical and began volunteering at her church’s community resource center. That volunteer role turned into a leadership position, and she built programs in food security, career training, and family services. She was later promoted to run the organization’s main campus, reaching hundreds of families. Exactly what she’d set out to do.
Then the pandemic hit.
“Food insecurity was a massive issue,” Vanessa explained. “Shelves were empty, people were being laid off and furloughed, and the smaller food pantries were under-resourced to operate outdoors.”
Vanessa partnered with local leaders to organize mass grocery distributions - at schools, malls, even parking lots - serving up to 1,500 families at a time. They didn’t stop there.
Drawing on her experience at the community center, she brought in case managers, ensuring families could connect to longer-term resources.
“Every family has a different story. But they all had one thing in common. They were all isolated and alone and afraid.”
A deeper way to nourish
Her work eventually caught the attention of another nonprofit looking to upgrade its food pantry. Vanessa helped implement a client’s choice model—letting families select their own groceries instead of receiving pre-packed bags. This approach preserves dignity, ensures families receive what they’ll actually eat, and requires major operational shifts. It’s not a small undertaking.
But for Vanessa, food is just the start.
“Food insecurity is never just about food. There’s always a deeper story. If we take the time to get to know these families and figure out what they need, we can help break the cycle.”
Vanessa just started a new role as Chief Operating Officer of South County Outreach, a California non-profit organization helping individuals and families in crisis. Her role is to develop wrap-around services that go beyond emergency support, and help families build the skills and resources they need for long-term stability. Through initiatives like resource coaching, job readiness support, and financial literacy classes, her work focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty and reducing the need for emergency food services over time.
It’s the kind of system she wished for her classroom families years ago.
What reignition really looks like
Often when people talk about “second acts”, the word “reinvention” gets thrown around. So many of us don’t want to reinvent ourselves, exactly; we want to put our lived experience towards something greater. Vanessa didn’t need to reinvent herself. She just put her superpowers toward a bigger purpose.
You may not be starting from scratch. You may be starting from experience. And that can be your greatest asset.
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Oh, Vanessa! You are an inspiring super hero. Thank you!
I thoroughly enjoyed this