Pam Dorr
Executive Director
Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization, Inc. (HERO)
As a designer and entreprenuer in rural Alabama, Pam Dorr runs two non-profits and several small businesses. Her efforts create affordable housing and economic development. Dorr is the executive director of the Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization, Inc. (HERO), which builds affordable housing to help families achieve their dream of homeownership and provides economic development to create jobs and job training. She also runs Habitat for Humanity, Hale County, Inc., which creates homeownership opportunities for very low income families.
Door enjoyed an 18-year career in the apparel industry before dedicating herself to community development work. Joining Auburn University’s Rural Studio in 2003, she studied innovations in architecture as an Outreach Fellow.
Bamboo Blitz
CBS News hails Pam Dorr as a “one-woman stimulus package.” Fast Company says she “supports the idea that design thinking from the outside can drive change.” And a 2016 Associated Press article finds Dorr trying to “kickstart a resurgence.”
Dorr turns trash into treasure, and along the way, helps communities get back on their feet. Now, in Bamboo Blitz, the former retail designer will provide insight into how she weaves design and social entrepreneurship, using locally-sourced materials, and in the process, helps provide housing, job training and small business growth to those in need.
