Shane Young joins The Housing Alliance as first-ever Development Director

The Housing Alliance, a non-profit organization formed in 2024 to provide information, education and advocacy for accessing and developing attainable housing solutions in Collier County, named experienced fundraiser and award-winning, non-profit leader Shane Young its first-ever Development Director. As a former non-profit Executive Director, Shane brings more than 12 years of experience in organizational leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, marketing, event planning and volunteer recruitment to his new position.

In 2012, Shane earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Florida Gulf Coast University. After college, he joined ‘Teach for America’ in Tennessee as an urban educator where he spent 7 years teaching English as a second language to elementary and high school students. In his first semester teaching, Shane founded Memphis Inner City Rugby (MICR) to help his students grow outside the classroom through the sport. Over the next 12 years under his leadership, MICR served 3,500 students through more than 80 volunteer mentors and tutors and become an industry leader in leveraging sport to disrupt youth poverty. In 2022, Shane co-founded Urban Rugby America to help scale the historic success of MICR in cities across the country. Throughout his non-profit work, Shane has successfully raised more than $4 million for grassroots charity since 2022.

Shane’s hard work and leadership has been recognized throughout his career through numerous awards including: being named a Top 40 Under 40 by Memphis Business Journal and receiving the Change Maker Award from Leadership Memphis, the Visionary Award from the Tennessee Department of Public Health, Reducing Racial Inequalities Through Sport Award from Beyond Sport, and the Athletes in Excellence Award from Foundation for Global Sports Development.

“We are excited to welcome Shane to the Housing Alliance team,” said Michael Puchalla The Housing Alliance Chief Executive Officer. “In his short time with the organization, Shane has demonstrated tremendous passion for the cause to match his skill and experience in organizational development. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to help drive funding to help us reach our ambitious goals to create more attainable housing solutions for our community.”

This position was funded in part through a grant from Collier Community Foundation which has been a key investor in The Housing Alliance’s mission having provided start-up funding for its launch including operations, strategic planning, marketing and development as it works towards sustainability.