Wildolfo Arvelo
Shelter Provider Stakeholder
Co-Chair, State and Federal Advocacy Workgroup
Executive Director, Cross Roads House
Dr. Arvelo is Executive Director of Cross Roads House, the second largest homeless shelter in New Hampshire. Cross Roads House is a low-barrier emergency shelter and transitional housing organization serving the Seacoast of New Hampshire and Southern Maine.
Prior to Cross Roads House, Dr. Arvelo served as Director of the Division of Economic Development for New Hampshire. In this role he worked on state-wide community and economic development strategies; business recruitment, expansion, and retention; and workforce training and development.
From 1984-2017, Dr. Arvelo held leadership positions at two and four-year public and private colleges in Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire. From 2007-2017, he served as President of Great Bay Community College, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Dr. Arvelo has served on numerous regional and state-wide education, business development, and non-profit boards, and was a founding member of the Business Alliance for People of Color, where he served as Chair from 2021-2024. In 2012, the City of Portsmouth Business Chamber selected him the Citizen of the Year, citing his strong support for business and education. In 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Granite State College for his work in the areas of education, workforce, and economic development. In 2024, Dr. Arvelo was selected for the NH Business Review New Hampshire 200 and the Business NH Magazine 40 Influential Leaders.
Dr. Arvelo has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Massachusetts/Boston.
Where did you grow up and how did that experience shape you or influence the path you followed in life?
I grew up in Puerto Rico and NYC where I lived in and saw the impact of poverty, drug misuse, and homelessness as a child. Those experiences shaped my desire to help individuals and communities improve and my career trajectory in public education, community and economic development, and working with the most vulnerable in our society.
Why do you think affordable housing is important now?
Housing is a human right. Humans need a permanent place to lay their heads to rest and feel safe. This is critical to their ability to thrive and contribute back into the community. Affordable and deeply affordable housing is of critical importance to allow those on limited incomes and the working poor to maintain a place in their community of choice. As a society, we stopped investing in affordable housing decades ago. We are now seeing the results of this shortsighted policy decision. We cannot build housing for just the wealthy in our society.