Meet the Program Director: Brian Humphreys
Brian Humphreys directs and teaches for the Master of Arts in International Community Development and the Master of Arts in Community Economic Development, which are housed in Northwest University's School of Global Studies. His 20-year career pathway and the ways he has adapted to understand and meet needs in the community reflect the changes that have been occurring in the community development sector.
Brian started out in Bible college, intending to be an aviation missionary. Over time, he began to sense that while the world had become more physically accessible to development workers and missionaries than it had been in centuries past, there were still cultural barriers and trust issues that would need to be overcome if development professionals were to have any chance to meet core needs. Brian enrolled in the very first cohort of the International Community Development (MAICD) program and graduated in 2009.
After earning his MAICD degree, he and his wife, Kristy, joined the Peace Corps and served in the Dominican Republic for three years. Brian was an economic development specialist, working with local nonprofits and training people in the community to start and run small businesses. He became the national director for the youth entrepreneurship initiative, raising funds in Santo Domingo to fund businesses, and partnering with Kraft Foods to support farmers working in the cacao industry.
In 2013, Brian and Kristy returned to Washington State, motivated by a sense that their development skills were needed at home. Brian then spent 10 years doing grassroots community development and economic development projects in Pierce County, Washington. He joined the faculty at NU as an adjunct professor in 2015 and subsequently joined the MAICD advisory board to help inform the direction of the program.
His U.S. nonprofit experience began with Catholic Charities in refugee resettlement. He moved into workforce development prior to and during the first years of the Great Recession, providing case management and retraining services for laid-off workers who were attempting to change sectors and for youth who were trying to attain jobs in a tough environment. As the strategic initiatives manager for Pierce County’s workforce development council, he built pilot initiatives to connect people from low-income communities with local living wage jobs. One example was a summer-long certificate program for credit-deficient high school students. Created in collaboration with a local technical college and with employers from the Port of Tacoma, the Tacoma Tideflats Certification Program still trains youth today.
The observation that wage increases alone do not consistently bring about sustainable outcomes for community members inspired Brian to pioneer various local initiatives. Convinced of the value of financial coaching alongside job training, Brian worked with a local nonprofit to build a financial coaching initiative that embedded coaches in existing community organizations. He also worked with a local credit union to build five unique financial products only for community members who were working with an embedded financial coach. Brian also helped the regional United Way build a network of locations throughout Pierce County that would co-locate financial coaches, workforce development professionals, and community organizations that offered other wraparound social services.
In his spare time, Brian helped create a nonprofit organization with other fathers to build community among at-risk dads and provide them the services they needed in a high-trust environment. He has also done extensive contract work with various organizations in early childhood development, international education, and collective impact initiatives.
Prior to committing full-time to the School of Global Studies, Brian managed the human services department for the City of Lakewood in Pierce County. He managed the process for making recommendations to the city council for how to invest the city’s human services funds, wrote and managed contracts for funded agencies, and was responsible for various initiatives and committees. During the pandemic and resulting lockdown, he was responsible for maintaining communication with community leaders and organizations with the goals of understanding and responding to needs in the community.
As a continual active learner, Brian is currently in the process of earning two doctoral degrees. He is finishing up a doctoral program through George Fox in Semiotics, Church, and Culture, where he is researching the intersection of missiology, peacemaking, and best practices in economic development. He is also earning a PhD in Organizational Leadership and researching how servant leaders attain positions of authority.
Brian and his wife are raising three children and attend Trinity Presbyterian Church in downtown Tacoma. Brian is passionate about trying new and venturesome ways to amplify the voices of communities and provide the resources needed to achieve their own visions for thriving families and for safe and healthy neighborhoods. He is particularly passionate about equipping development professionals to be high-impact leaders and innovators in this field and with their own career pathways.
As a professor, he especially loves teaching the community development and social entrepreneurship classes. However, his absolute favorite class to teach is Thesis, where he gets to push and encourage every student to dream big and take concrete steps toward an ambitious goal.