Research Report: Local Homelessness

In 1993, while working as a National Director of Sales and disheartened by the lack of other minorities in the technology field, André Chapman founded The Unity Care Group, Inc. to develop educational and social programs designed to enrich the lives of disadvantaged at-risk youth. Unity Care is a multi-service culturally proficient youth and family development agency serving families through its Mental Health, Residential and Community Base programs with special emphasis on Foster Care Youth. Today its programs stretch throughout California with sites in Orange, Monterey, Placer and Santa Clara Counties. Mr. Chapman has worked vigorously to address the over-representation of minorities in the Juvenile Justice and Foster Care Systems. Mr. Chapman is a national presenter on creating effective and efficient culturally proficient services for communities of color and has received both local and national acclaim for his dedication and innovative programs. His recognitions have included: “Award for Excellence” by Wells Fargo; “Grand Hero Award” by Bob Dole, “From Whence They Came” Award by Allstate Insurance Company, to name a few. Mr. Chapman earned a BS in Business and a Masters in Organization Management.

Beth Rittenhouse is Director of Community Services at the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, a network of 10 non-profit community clinics providing primary health care services to 75,000 uninsured and underserved people annually. She has served in this position for 5 years, where she manages all aspects of the Street Outreach Services (SOS) Healthcare for the Homeless mobile medical clinic. She oversees the Veterinary Street Outreach Services (VET SOS), a unique project serving the companion animals of homeless people. She supervises medical and outreach staff, students, and over 100 volunteers per year. She facilitates an 11-member Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP) consisting of homeless and HIV+ patients of SFCCC clinics. She develops federal grant proposals. She serves on 2 Board committees to support workforce development and quality improvement activities across 10 clinics. And she provides training and technical support to partner health centers. Beth has worked in non-profit community health services for over 15 years. Beth holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University, New York, NY.

Carla is the President of REDF. She sets REDF's strategy with the Board of Directors and oversees its operations. Under her leadership, REDF helps to create and grow ‘double bottom line’ enterprises that earn income while employing people with high barriers. She also oversees REDF's efforts to build the field by broadly sharing the results of its extensive, multi-year effort to measure outcomes that demonstrate the effectiveness of social enterprise in helping people with difficulties. Carla is on the Board of Directors for The Philanthropic Initiative (since 2006), the Northern California Grantmakers (since March 2008), and the Youth Council of the San Francisco Workforce Investment (since March 2009). She is on the advisory panel for the American Human Development Project, and is a member of the Alliance for Effective Social Investing, and Enterprise Community’s Northern California Leadership Council. Prior to joining REDF, Carla was with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) for 15 years, leading it for the last 6. By the end of her tenure, CSH had committed nearly $124 million in loans and grants to support the development of more than 26,000 units of permanent supportive housing. She has also worked as a policy and budget analyst for the State of California and as Director of Policy and Planning for the San Francisco Department of Social Services.

Cate Steane has been the Family Emergency Shelter Coalition’s Executive Director since January, 2008. FESCO helps homeless families in Alameda County move toward self-sufficiency. It provides emergency shelter, transitional housing, intensive case management, mental health services, nutrition, budgeting and savings programs, life skills classes, housing placement assistance, and alumni support. She has served in various volunteer roles for EveryOne Home, Alameda County’s coordinating organization for ending homelessness. Before coming to FESCO, Cate served as Director of Operations for various Bay Area nonprofits for 11 years, where her duties included property management and asset management of hundreds of units of affordable housing. Nonprofit administration is Cate’s second career, which she took on after 15 years in the legal profession. Her legal career included five years as a tenants rights advocate. She also served for two years as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Rent Arbitration and Stabilization Board and as a board member of San Francisco's Housing Rights Committee. Cate is a graduate of Yale Law School and Boston College.

Christina Egan is the Executive Director of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen in San Jose, CA and brings a wealth of experience in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. She is well known throughout Santa Clara County as an advocate for the needs of the low-income populations. She speaks Spanish and this helps her to communicate with the people in the community. Her volunteer work includes acting as a Board member of EHC LifeBuilders and as a member of Downtown San Jose Rotary. Christina Egan was a Board member for Loaves & Fishes while serving as the Financial Development Director at The Salvation Army. She was also the Assistant Development Director overseeing direct mail and events.She has also volunteered at Big Brothers/Big Sisters, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Red Cross, NERT Neighborhood Emergency Relief Trained, Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Co-chair Marketing Committee of National Philanthropy Day 2005. A graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.A. in International Relations, she spent most of her time on Latin American studies. She received a certificate in Fundraising Management from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Deborah De Santis became President and CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) in January 2007. As President and CEO, Ms. De Santis has guided the development of initiatives that bring the benefits of supportive housing to more people at risk of chronic homelessness. Her efforts have lead to the creation of an internal CSH Innovations Team, placing a continuing effort on better programs, and CSH Consulting Group, a flexible and mobile group of experts who travel the country assisting communities with supportive housing development. She has also stressed more accountability in the supportive housing industry, the creation of Dimensions of Quality, and independent benchmarks to measure successful supportive housing projects. Ms. DeSantis has been a strong advocate for incorporating the proven cost saving methods found in supportive housing to healthcare reform. During her tenure, CSH surpassed the halfway mark in its goal to create 150,000 new units of supportive housing throughout the US. Ms. De Santis joined CSH in 2003 as Director of CSH’s New Jersey program. During this time, she tripled the state program’s lending portfolio, successfully advocated for the creation of New Jersey’s $200 million Special Needs Housing Trust Fund, and helped launch a statewide grassroots organization to advance the development of 100,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years. Prior to CSH, Ms. De Santis oversaw the business operations of a real estate development company, International Senior Development, LLC.

Ms. Richardson took the helm of the Downtown Streets Team (DST) within weeks of its kickoff in May 2005. She is responsible for overall leadership and strategic direction for the agency, including managing national growth, organizational activities, fundraising, and recruitment. Under her leadership, DST’s budget has grown 100% annually and the organization uses a creative mix of revenue streams which have proved critical for viability and continued growth in these tough economic times. Eileen believes new, fresh approach can be applied to homelessness and draws from her business background to ‘think outside of the box’. Today, that approach is considered one of the “Top 50 Innovations in American Government” by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Ash Institute and nearly 100 formerly homeless people now have a place to call home and/or a job and purpose to wake up to each morning. She is a member of Santa Clara County Steering Committee’s 10-Yr Plan to End Homelessness, the County’s Nonprofit CEO Group, and Founding Member of Palo Alto Alternative Services (PAAS) and Palo Alto Police Department. Previously, Ms. Richardson held varied roles in the Venture Capital industry from 1989 to 1999. As Founding Partner of a high-technology venture firm, she has a long track record of successful IPO’s, mergers, marketing and branding successes. She also served as Interim CEO and CEO of 2 high-technology Silicon Valley companies.

Jeff Kositsky has been working in the non-profit sector since 1989. He brings extensive expertise in the field of affordable housing, including housing development, tenant services and program development.He also serves as a board member for the Coalition on Homelessness and for the San Francisco Information Clearinghouse. Jeff has worked on community development projects both in the United States as well as internationally. Jeff holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas and a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from American University.

Jim Illig is Director of Government Relations at Project Open Hand, responsible for advocacy and contract management to maintain over $3 million in government revenue to feed people with HIV/AIDS and seniors in San Francisco and Alameda counties. Jim was appointed to the San Francisco Health Commission in 2004, and is currently President of this governing body responsible for $1.5 billion in public health services, including $400 million in contracts with nonprofits. He also serves as Vice Chair of both the St. Mary’s Medical Center Community Board of Directors and the Governing Board of the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority. Before coming to Project Open Hand 16 years ago, Jim was an executive director for 10 years at two nonprofit agencies with community mental health, substance abuse and AIDS service programs. As a longtime advocate for services to San Francisco’s poor, sick and elderly residents, he has founded and led local nonprofit contractor associations such as the HIV/AIDS Provider Network, the Coalition of Agencies Serving the Elderly, and the Human Services Network.

Louis Chicoine, MSW, Executive Director, Abode Services formerly Tri-City Homeless Coalition and its housing development subsidiary, Allied Housing. Louis has been with Abode Services for 18 years. Under Louis’s leadership Abode Services continues expand strategies to end local homelessness by creating new housing opportunities for homeless families and individuals. Mr. Chicoine is the President of the EBHO, East Bay Housing Organizations Board of Directors where he proudly represents our community and its efforts to created affordable housing. He is sits on the Redevelopment Advisory Committee’s in the cities of San Leandro and Fremont as well as serves as Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s appointee to Measure A Oversight Committee. Louis is currently leading Allied Housing's Main Street Village Affordable Housing Development Project in Irvington in Fremont which when completed in fall 2011 will create 64 new supportive Housing homes for the most vulnerable. More recently, he has positioned Abode Services as the county-wide provider of Rapid Re-housing utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to re-house over 500 homeless households by 2012.

Michele Jackson has been serving as Executive Director at Shelter Network since 2001. She serves on the Housing Endowment and Trust Board of San Mateo County, the Local Emergency Food and Shelter FEMA/EHAP Board, and is the Chair of the Executive Committee for the San Mateo County Continuum of Care. She also serves on the Interagency Council for HOPE, San Mateo County's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. She began working at the agency in 1994, and previously served as Program Director, Director of Programs and Services, and Associate Executive Director. She has over 27 years of experience in the development and management of programs serving low-income families and individuals. In 2003, she was awarded the Heart of Social Work Award from the National Council on Social Work Education for excellence in field instruction. Michele has both a Bachelors of Social Work and a Masters of Social Work from San Francisco State University.

Paul Boden is the Executive Director of WRAP. He became homeless at the age of 16 after the death of his mother. He began volunteering at a drop-in shelter in San Francisco in 1983, eventually becoming a program director there. He then worked as a case manager in a supportive hotel program for mentally ill people. Most notably, Paul served as Executive Director of San Francisco's Coalition on Homelessness for 16 years. He was one of the founders of the Community Housing Partnership, a nationally recognized permanent housing corporation with optional supportive services, and served as president of its Board for 10 years. Paul was also a Board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless and co-chair of its civil rights and grassroots organizing workgroup. He has received dozens of community awards during the last twenty-five years as well as recognition from the city and county of San Francisco, the State of California, and the Congress of the United States. Paul regularly writes articles and op-eds and does public speaking and panels throughout the country.

BFHP’s Executive Director, Terrie Light, has spent the past 9 years easing and ending the crisis of homelessness through her work at the Berkeley Food & Housing Project. Her early clinical training was at Project Eden in South Hayward, working with low-income, drug addicted and/or alcoholic addicted families, as well as people who suffer from mental illness. In 1994, Terrie began public advocacy work to create change in the Roman Catholic Church providing safe environments for children. She has had the opportunity to speak abroad about her work in both Belgium and Italy. In recognition of her outstanding service in this area, she has won several awards, including the Recognition of Outstanding Service presented by the Voice of the Faithful. She has also been acknowledged by Episcopal Charities as Caregiver of the Year. Berkeley Food & Housing Project was fortunate to obtain Terrie's services as Transitional House Supervisor in 1998. She was then promoted to Director of Women’s Services in 1999, Associate Director in 2001, Associate Executive Director in 2005 and since May 2006, proudly serves as our Executive Director. She has brought operational stability and standardization of services to BFHP, and has created a hard working, loyal team of managers. She is committed to quality professional services for low income consumers and combines this with extensive experience in monitoring multiple government grants and other funding. She possesses a Master’s Degree, a Marriage and Family Therapist license, a teaching credential from California State Hayward and a Bachelor's Degree from UC Berkeley.