Christy Norwood

Director of Community Development

Christy Norwood grew up as an Army BRAT, moving every 1 1/2 years. She spent the summer of her 8th grade year on a mission trip into urban Atlanta, where she and her youth group stayed in the Carver Homes Projects and worked with Atlanta Youth Project on various sites throughout the city. It was on the trip that she met a little toddler who would forever change her life. God used the images of the little girl’s tear-filled eyes to fill her heart with a passion and love for the inner city. She volunteered with an inner-city ministry in Mobile, Alabama, in high school before choosing to study urban community development at Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After graduation, she met Bob Lupton in Memphis and agreed to join Charis Community Housing to help start its community development. After raising support for 6 months, she joined the staff of Charis the week before Thanksgiving 2003. She now resides in the South Atlanta Neighborhood in a basement apartment, a short 30-second walk from the property on which the Carver Homes Projects once sat. God has brought her full-circle and finally given her a place to call home and plant some roots.