Total Action for Progress (TAP) is proud to announce Renee Brown, President and CEO of DePaul Community Resources, as the recipient of the 2026 Cabell Brand Hope Award. Brown was selected for her visionary leadership and longstanding commitment to strengthening children, families, and communities through innovative, community-based care. The award will be presented at TAP’s annual Bringing Hope Home event on October 29 at Melrose Plaza at 11:00 a.m.
As President and CEO of DePaul Community Resources, Renee Brown has helped expand the organization into a respected Virginia human services provider serving children, families, and individuals through child welfare, developmental disability, behavioral health, kinship care, and family-directed services. During her 20 years with Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, Brown advanced into leadership and became a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor.
Brown has been a leading advocate for kinship care and innovative family support across Virginia. She championed DePaul’s comprehensive Kinship Care Program, supporting relatives and fictive-kin caregivers raising children, and led the launch of its Agency-Directed Services program, which grew from one family in 2024 to more than 400 families across 15 counties and five cities. Known as a community convener, Brown brings together leaders, advocates, and service providers to address challenges facing children and families. Her leadership has earned recognition including the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 ATHENA Leadership Award.
After receiving news of the recognition, Ms. Brown said, “Being recognized by my community is deeply meaningful to me. Roanoke City is where my kids went to school and where I grew professionally. I am grateful to lead the amazing work at DePaul Community Resources, where we see lives change in quiet but powerful ways. Lives change when a child finds safety in a nurturing foster home, a teen discovers hope through adoption, a young adult builds confidence in our independent living program, a family stays connected through kinship care, or an individual with a disability experiences belonging in our day support and sponsored residential services. Receiving the Cabell Brand Hope Award honors the compassion of the people who stand with me and the work we do at DePaul. I’m grateful to accept it on behalf of our staff, our families, and supporters who make hope and belonging possible.”
Angela Penn, TAP president & CEO, says, “Renee Brown is a true champion for children, families, and individuals across our community and throughout Virginia. Through her leadership at DePaul Community Resources, she has demonstrated what it means to turn compassion into action and challenges into opportunities. Renee brings people together, inspires collaboration, and continually seeks innovative ways to ensure that families have the support they need to thrive. Her commitment to kinship care and family-directed services is especially meaningful because she understands that hope is not simply something we talk about; it is something we create through advocacy, opportunity, and action. We are honored to recognize Renee with the Cabell Brand Hope Award and celebrate her extraordinary commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.”
To learn more about this award and the legacy of Cabell Brand, visit tapintohope.org/hopeaward. For those interested in attending the event, please contact Stacy Simms at 540-283-4890.
