CHAMPAIGN — A former city administrator and Habitat for Humanity volunteer has decided to make home-building work her full-time job.

Sheila Dodd, a city of Champaign employee for 20 years, left her position as a grant compliance administrator on Nov. 1 to become the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County.

Dodd worked with federal grants that supported affordable housing programs and also volunteered with Habitat for six years.

"This is just a way to continue what I love," Dodd said last week.

Dodd replaces Beverly Huffman, who was hired in 2009 but left in August to take a position with Habitat's headquarters in Atlanta. Habitat chapters across the country build affordable housing in partnership with income-qualified families, who repay the no-interest mortgages over time.

Dodd is the fourth director in eight years for the Champaign affiliate. The board wanted a candidate who "at least voiced a desire to work long-term," said President Jerry Zachary.

Dodd has lived in Champaign County since she was 3, and her husband, Greg Dodd, is a Homer native. They have one daughter, Kaylah, 25.

Zachary said Huffman and her two predecessors each brought strong skills to the organization. But he said Dodd combines the best of all three plus her own skills, with strong experience and a "positive face" for the organization. She also had built good relationships with the Habitat staff as a volunteer, he said.

"She is extremely articulate, yet chooses her words wisely," he said. "We hope that she's a long-termer, and she's already gotten off to a great start."

The job drew 52 applicants, and the board interviewed three, Zachary said.

Habitat board member Maurice Bouslog said Dodd's experience helping people find affordable homes through Habitat and the city's housing program made her the perfect choice. She is also a certified credit counselor and knows the community, he added.

"She just brings so much to Habitat," said Bouslog, branch manager of Hickory Point Bank and Trust in Champaign. "We're just excited about her knowledge, her passion for Habitat."

Dodd started out as a receptionist for the city but moved quickly into the neighborhood services department, first as a secretary and than a grant coordinator.

She also served on Habitat's family selection and mentoring committee and taught financial education classes for Habitat families.

Dodd said the Champaign County affiliate is in good financial shape, with its budget up 18 percent over the past two years to $1.7 million. It also recently created the Neighborhood Alliance for Habitat, a separate nonprofit that qualifies as a Community Housing Development Organization and can bring in more federal funds. The plan is to roughly double the number of homes built in Champaign County to six a year.

"If we get staff in place and continue to have the wonderful support of the community we have, I think it's very doable," Dodd said.

She hopes to increase partnerships with local builders and perhaps expand the staff. Habitat will fill the vacant development director's position and may add an administrative assistant to help with fundraising and work with families on an ongoing basis, she said.

As Habitat expands its home-building, "we need to have families lined up and ready to go," Dodd said. It can take six to eight months for them to go through the qualification process and get their finances in order, she said. And some families initially turned down for the program could qualify if they had more mentoring, she said.

"We have depended on volunteers to do that, and that's a lot to ask," Dodd said.

Dodd also would like to continue Habitat's connection to the families once the homes are built. She has applied for a United Way grant to offer families a $500 gift card to a home-improvement store if they take a home-maintenance workshop and a budgeting class.

Dodd said she loves the sense of empowerment that Habitat families gain after they realize their dream of home-ownership.

She recalled the dedication of a Habitat home last June for Towanda Frazier, which was built with help from federal grant funds through the city. Throughout her financial education classes Frazier asked all the right questions about mortgages, budgeting and finances, Dodd said.

"If you've not owned a home, and nobody in your family has owned a home, you don't even know what you don't know," she said. "You could just see her getting it.

"When I saw her at the dedication ceremony — at each stage throughout the house — it was like Christmas. She would get this sense of awe, and she would tear up, knowing she was making a difference in her family and her own life."