Dual-degree alum develops award-winning affordable housing

Before Kelly Sharkey began her dual Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health (MSW/MPH), she was supporting housing recovery efforts in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That experience, she says, was foundational to her understanding of the systems that connect health, housing, and opportunity.

“I wanted to be part of changing those systems, and Tulane’s dual MSW/MPH program felt like the right place to develop the tools I needed,” Sharkey said. “The program allowed me to pair a systems-level view of public health with the values and people-centered practice of social work, which remains the foundation of how I lead today.”

Now, Sharkey serves as the Director of Programs and Communications at Humanities Foundation, a South Carolina-based nonprofit affordable housing developer that provides sustainable resident and community services throughout their Southeast housing portfolio. Day-to-day, she oversees multi-state rental assistance programs, designs trauma-informed resident services, and supports holistic, community-based affordable housing development.

The program allowed me to pair a systems-level view of public health with the values and people-centered practice of social work, which remains the foundation of how I lead today.

In her free time, Sharkey is an advocate for reproductive justice. After having to leave her home state when she was denied a medically necessary abortion due to restrictive laws, she began sharing her story with the media. She hopes her efforts will protect others and shift the politically polarizing narrative around reproductive healthcare. “I see it as an extension of my social work practice,” she said.

“I want my son and daughter to see that leadership can be both bold and compassionate, that change can be driven from within systems, and that it’s possible to build a meaningful career in service while also showing up fully as a parent.”

Sharkey’s work is difficult and sometimes draining, but it’s also intensely rewarding. The opening of Archer School Apartments in 2024, for example, made up for the days spent navigating bureaucracy and under-resourced systems. For years, Sharkey worked alongside the Humanities Foundation team to redevelop Henry P. Archer Elementary School – a segregation-era school for Black children in Charleston, SC. Now a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) case study, the project transformed the abandoned school into affordable senior housing.

Sharkey received the 2025 Tulane School of Social Work Alumni Association Do Work That Matters Recent Graduate Award for her commitment to justice and dignity in both the housing and healthcare systems. For Sharkey, the award didn’t just affirm that all her hard work is making a difference – it gave her a chance to reflect on how much she has learned and grown since graduating in 2018.

“The work is often messy, nonlinear, and personal,” said Sharkey. “I wish I had known that your story – your grief, your advocacy, your identity – can be part of your leadership, not separate from it. I’ve also learned that being a mother has made me a stronger social worker. It’s given me sharper instincts, deeper empathy, and a clearer sense of what matters most.”