As of November 2nd, I am stepping down as CEO of Hearth. It has been the most satisfying professional experience of my life, and please indulge me if I look back a little at where this little organization has arrived in the last seventeen years. But what I’m truly excited about is what lies ahead for Hearth.
First, the backward glance – we’ve grown to have 228 units of housing, including our two largest projects, Hearth at Olmsted Green and Hearth at Four Corners. Our Outreach team has housed nearly 3,000 formerly homeless or at-risk seniors, and preserved tenancies for hundreds more. We created and inspired the development of the National Leadership Initiative to End Elder Homelessness, which focused our national partners on the too often neglected needs of homeless older adults. With four national convening’s and a National Advisory Panel, NLI participants were inspired to develop thousands of units of permanent supportive housing across the country, from LA to Chicago to Dallas to Columbus to Philadelphia.
Seniors still sleep in shelters or on the street, and I know the folks in this room understand that, while we have made real and important progress, the challenges have continued and require our continued focus on ending the shameful reality of old people living without housing, insecure, at risk, and often frail. So, Hearth will continue to work on its strategy to finish the job. We will develop a robust real estate development department to speed up the process of developing new housing. We will continue to work on the expansion of our Outreach efforts. We are bolstering our Research and Advocacy efforts to spread the word that the Hearth model works, and ultimately that we will succeed in ending elder homelessness. Thank you for staying the course!
