Community Impact: Danielle, a Community Leader

How Danielle Is Helping Greenpoint Cats and Strengthening Community-Based Animal Welfare in Brooklyn

Danielle Olverd, a Compliance Officer at Citadel, serves on the leadership team of Greenpoint Cats, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and caring for sick, injured and homeless cats and kittens and supporting the “community cats” (unowned, stray and feral free-roaming cats) of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Through hands-on rescue work and organizational leadership, she has come to view animal welfare as a crucial component of public health, neighborhood stability and relief for people with limited resources.

When Danielle began volunteering with Greenpoint Cats in 2023, she did not have a background in animal rescue or experience caring for cats. She would have insisted she was a “dog person.” What she did have was a willingness to help her community, which grew into a deep commitment to its human and feline residents.

For Danielle, this work goes beyond rescuing animals. She sees firsthand how broader challenges (e.g., limited access to affordable veterinary care, housing insecurity and gaps in social services) often force people to make heartbreaking decisions about their pets. “This isn’t just about animals,” she explains. “It’s about access, resources and supporting communities in a sustainable way. If a parent can’t put food on the table for their child, they’re not going to be able to provide food to their pets.”

Founded by Becky Wisdom in 2019, Greenpoint Cats emerged from a simple but urgent reality: free-roaming cats were visible throughout the neighborhood, injured, sick, and reproducing at unsustainable rates. The organization responds with practical, community-based and humane solutions to stabilize feral cat populations by neutering/spaying, vaccinating and returning cats to their managed colonies, while improving quality of life for animals and residents.

Since Danielle began volunteering, she has fostered more than 40 kittens, guiding them through medical care, socialization and ultimately, adoption. “You see how quickly their lives change,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of that journey.” While well-cared-for indoor house cats often live 12-17 years, outdoor community cats in urban neighborhoods typically survive only 2-5 years, facing animal attacks, traffic, inconsistent access to food and shelter and little to no medical care.

As part of the leadership team, Danielle supports governance and strategy, while continuing to help wherever she’s needed, including coordinating volunteers, transporting cats, supporting adoption events, attending vet appointments, facilitating donations and assisting with daily operations.

Through Citadel’s Community Leaders program, Danielle helps Greenpoint Cats strengthen its foundation and expand its reach. For a small, volunteer-run organization, financial and governance support can mean the difference between reacting to emergencies and planning for long-term impact. “At this scale, funding like this is transformative,” she says. “It allows the organization to focus on saving lives rather than managing constant crises.”

She also values how the program opens the door for others to get involved, making community engagement more accessible and showing how even small contributions of time or resources can have a meaningful, lasting impact.

Through fostering, volunteer coordination and board-level support, Danielle works to ensure that an organization rooted in one Brooklyn neighborhood can continue protecting animals and supporting the people who care for them across the city.

To learn more about how you can support community-driven impact like this, visit our Civic Leadership page and explore Citadel Securities’ Community Leaders program.