Over the last year, the National Coalition for the Homeless(NCH) has made tremendous strides in the fight to end NCH has adjusted to the limitations created by the Pandemic. If you supported NCH, you help save countless lives by allowing us to partner with the Ford Fund to deliver life-saving masks all across the country to people experiencing homeless. The partnership distributed over 2.8 million masks. Your contribution helped NCH create a Technical Assistance Project for people with lived experience. The TA providers provided valuable insight to HUD, The CDC, and other federal agencies.
The support thsat NCH received has helped to launch LETA. LETA is the first of its kind training academy for formerly homeless individuals. The training is designed to assist people experiencing homelessness with the skills necessary fo to have meaningful participation in the planning processes and meaningful behavior, T
Nch was able to launch and staff the Bring Americas Home Now Campaign. The Bring America Home Campaign is a comprehensive campaign that will mobilize individuals across the country to create structural changes. NCH hired Joel Segal as a one-time congressional aide and advocate. Joel Segal is an amazing leader in the homeless movent nationally.
In the early part of next year, NCH will begin a landmark universal guaranteed income program. NCH hopes to enroll 400 individuals,
The National Coalition just completed our 2021 fiscal year. The fiscal Year 2021 has been a momentous year for the NCH. Our year started with a partnership with HUD to listen to the voices of people with lived experience when designing programs the affect their lives. NCH has now developed a collaboration with the CDC, the State of California, and a pending partnership with DOJ. Each of the projects is designed to ensure that people with lived expertise are included in decision-making processes. Our mission has always been to lift the voices of those experiencing homelessness, and after 40 years, we are finally able to see and experience the effectiveness of the approach. The partnerships also provide income opportunities for all participants.
NCH also partnered with the Ford Fund to distribute over 2 million masks to protect people experiencing homelessness all across the country to prevent the spread of COVID-19. NCH also distributed non-traditional items to people living on the streets in the D.C. metro area. NCH was also able to continue our role as the voice of people experiencing homelessness on Capitol Hill.
Finally, NCH launched the Bring America Home Now, a comprehensive campaign to end homelessness in the U.S. We have enlisted a growing list of partners, including NOW, LULAC, The National Low Income Housing Coalition, The National Healthcare for the Homeless Council, The National Housing Law Center and others. Our year has been the most impactful in our 40-year history.
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For Immediate Release
July 29, 2020
Contact:
Donald Whitehead, New Executive Director – 301.275.7341, dhwhitehead@msn.com
Sue Watlov Phillips, NCH Board President - 612-845-9287, sue@micah.org
John Parvensky, Outgoing Executive Director - 720-660-6453, jp@coloradocoalition.org
National Coalition for the Homeless Announces Donald H. Whitehead Jr. as
New Executive Director
Washington, DC --- The Board of Directors of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) announced today that it has hired Donald H. Whitehead Jr. as its new Executive Director. Mr. Whitehead brings more than 20 years of experience in serving and advocating for persons experiencing homelessness to NCH, including five years experiencing homelessness himself.
“At a time that our nation is experiencing record homelessness, a rise of COVID-19 infection among those experiencing homelessness, and a rising movement for racial and economic justice that calls to account decades of institutional racism that contributes to the disproportionate overrepresentation of people of color on our streets, we are extremely proud that the oldest national organization focused on ending homelessness in our country is now being led by Black man who has himself experienced and overcame homelessness and addiction,” said John Parvensky, outgoing NCH Director.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to help elevate the voices of those experiencing homelessness so that our country can address the intersection of racial justice and housing justice, and finally completes the unfinished business of the civil rights movement”, said Donald H. Whitehead Jr.”
Whitehead, who has served as the NCH Board President for the past year, will give up that role to devote his full-time effort as Executive Director. Previously, Whitehead has directed several programs serving people experiencing homeless including outreach and case management, health care, emergency shelter, and permanent supportive housing. He has also served as a national advocate and an Organizational Management Consultant focused on homelessness and racial equity. He brings a unique combination of direct service to those experiencing homelessness as well as years of advocacy for systemic change to end homelessness through increased federal investment in housing and services as well as an end to policies that criminalize homelessness. Whitehead is also a veteran who served three years in the U.S. Navy.
The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), founded in 1981, is the oldest national organization focused on ending homelessness in America. It is a national network of people currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to their mission of: To end and prevent homelessness while ensuring the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness are met and their civil rights protected. Over the last 38 years through advocacy efforts addressing the root causes of homelessness including lack of affordable housing, and partnering to write landmark legislation including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987.
The hiring of Whitehead to lead NCH was made possible by an anonymous two-year capacity-building grant.
Sue Watlov Phillips will become Board President of NCH. Watlov Phillips has worked together with people experiencing homelessness by addressing both the immediate needs and structural causes of homelessness for over 52 years and currently serves as Executive Director of MICAH - Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing in Minnesota.
Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown serves as Board Secretary of NCH. Shankar-Brown is an internationally renowned scholar-educator and social justice activist in education, is a leading expert on child and family homelessness, diversity and transformative leadership, community engagement and human rights. Dr. Shankar-Brown is a professor and the Jessie Ball duPont Endowed Chair of Social Justice Education at Stetson University, as well as the Founder and Executive Director of the Poverty and Homelessness Conference.
Barbara Anderson serves as Board Treasurer of NCH. Anderson served for 24 years as Executive Director of Haven House, an emergency shelter and service center for families and individuals experiencing homelessness in rural Indiana. She is currently devoting her time full time to advocacy and organizing on behalf of those experiencing homelessness in rural communities.
In 2019, NCH entered into a strategic alliance with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) to leverage the strengths of each organization towards a renewed focus on elevating the crisis of homelessness being experienced in communities across America and increasing organizing and advocacy for immediate action at the Federal level to end homelessness and reduce its trauma on the millions of individuals and families experiencing homelessness and those at imminent risk of losing their homes. The agreement allowed NCH to build its capacity to focus on its strength of bringing together those experiencing homelessness to share their experiences with our nation’s leaders in a call for immediate action to end homelessness. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless will continue to provide its administrative, financial, and policy capacity to support NCH’s renewed efforts as Whitehead assumes his new position.
About National Coalition for the Homeless
The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission: To prevent and end homelessness while ensuring the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness are met and their civil rights protected. We envision a world where everyone has a safe, decent, affordable, and accessible home.
We are committed to creating the systemic and attitudinal changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness. We take as our first principle of practice that people who are currently experiencing homelessness or have formerly experienced homelessness must be actively involved in all of our work. Our programs are centered around public education, policy advocacy, and grassroots organizing, and are focused on the issues of housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights. Learn more at www.nationalhomeless.org.
About Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
The mission of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is to work collaboratively toward the prevention of homelessness and the creation of lasting solutions for people experiencing and at-risk of homelessness homeless throughout Colorado. The Coalition advocates for and provides a continuum of housing and a variety of services to improve the health, well-being, and stability of those it serves. Since its founding in 1984, the organization has earned state and national recognition for its integrated healthcare, housing and service programs. The Coalition’s comprehensive approach addresses the causes of homelessness, as well as the consequences, offering critical assistance to over 20,000 individuals and families each year. Learn more at www.coloradocoalition.org.
The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has been extremely busy over the past seven months. NCH has partnered with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD) to hire people with Lived Experience to provide direct Technical Experience on HUD projects and programs affecting people experiencing homelessness. Our partnership has helped provide meaningful input on the COVID Relief Bills, Vaccine Distribution, Logistics, and Policy. NCH is also developing a Peer Support Certification for people with lived experience. NCH will also be providing Technical Assistance to CDC and DOJ.
In January, NCH hired a Director of Grassroots Organizing. Brian Davis, former Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, joined the team and has hit the ground running. NCH also partnered with Progressive Insurance to homelessness. NCH also partnered with the Ford Fund and delivered 1.5 Million life-saving COVID Masks to shelters and community-based organizations across the country, saving countless lives in the process. NCH has also added several amazing new member organizations and Board Members highlighted by Christian Nunes of NOW. NCH staff has met with Marsha Fudge, incoming HUD Secretary, and Anthony Love, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council On Homelessness. NCH staff will be meeting shortly with additional cabinet members. NCH has joined the National Racial Equity Workgroup to address the overrepresentation of people of color experiencing homelessness.
Finally, NCH is working on Comprehensive Legislation to End Homelessness.
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The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has had an eventful last few months. In addition to the hiring of Donald Whitehead as Executive Director, NCH has adopted new by-laws to energize its membership. NCH has adopted by-laws that bring coalitions and individual members across the country into the organization's decision-making process. The new structure has already resulted in greater participation in the decision-making process and significant involvement on committees and town hall meetings.
NCH has created a partnership to provide Technical Assistance in several communities. Individuals are providing technical assistance with lived experience who are paid fair market wages for their work.
Currently, NCH has 14 consultants with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) NCH is also awaiting word on three additional partnerships that will increase the number of consultants with Lived Experience. NCH has also expanded its speaker's bureau online and expanded the geographical footprint by enlisting speakers from across the country. Nch also partnered with the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness to sponsor "Hunger And Homeless Awareness Week."
NCH will prepare to release the Homeless Hate Crimes Report in early December.
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