Q & A with
Kelly Sweeney McShane

Executive Director, Community of Hope

Third in a series on the 2009 Exponent Award recipients

Q: Tell us about Community of Hope.

A:  Community of Hope serves homeless and low-income families in Washington, DC, providing housing with support services and primary medical, dental, and mental health care. 

Q: How many people are served through Community of Hope?

A:  Last year we served more than 4,000 people. Our housing programs serve close to 100 families, including more than 300 children. Our health services program provided about 10,000 medical visits, 3,000 dental visits, and 1,000 mental health visits in 2009.

Q: What kind of housing services do you provide?

A:  We offer temporary housing for those in crisis, transitional housing for families in recovery from substance abuse, and permanent housing for families who need long-term rental subsidies and ongoing support. 89 percent of the families in temporary and transitional housing we served moved into permanent housing, and all of the families in permanent housing remained remained stably housed after the first year. In December 2009 we received new stimulus money to provide short-term financial assistance to prevent people from becoming homeless and to help people move out of shelters more quickly.

Q: How have you been forced to do business differently given the economic downturn?

A:  Community of Hope has seen a greater need than ever in our programs for homeless families as well as in our health center. More people are homeless or on the verge of homelessness, have lost jobs and health insurance, and are struggling to afford health care. Almost half of the new patients we have seen in 2009 do not have health insurance, compared to about 18% in the past.

As funding tightens, we need to use every dollar wisely and demonstrate that programs work. We have seen about a 10% reduction in District funding for some of our core housing programs, and have reduced staff positions carefully to cut costs while maintaining quality. At the same time, we have to ramp up very quickly and build infrastructure in other areas to take advantage of new funding from the American Recovery and Investment Act to meet increased demand. We have also increased hours in our health center.

Q: What have you learned from having to be the press point person as an advocate for the homeless?

A: My hope is that I can help the people we serve get their voices heard through the media. In the last six months I have been so impressed by the strength and bravery of many Community of Hope families who have shared their stories in order to help others understand what their lives are like. Too often the public has stereotypes about families who are homeless. You cannot help but be moved and impressed by women like Ebony and Diane who opened up windows into their lives with Fox 5 News. Learn more.

They--and many others--are the reason we need to use the media as a tool to advocate for solutions that end homelessness and ensure that everyone has quality, accessible health care.

Q: What would you say to fellow MBAS who may not have considered nonprofit work as a career path?

A:  I encourage MBAs or those in the business field to get involved in nonprofits and to seriously consider it as a career path. I have known too many nonprofits that have great missions but have failed because there was no one to make sure they ran like strong businesses. I use my MBA skills every day, including strategic planning, financial management, accounting, organizational development and human resources development.

Q: What does 2010 look like for Community of Hope?

A: 2010 is going to be a challenging and busy year. There will continue to be a lot of people in need of housing and health care. In two weeks in December alone, we got more than 200 phone calls from people in need of assistance to prevent them from becoming homeless. This year we will be moving forward with purchasing and renovating property in Ward 8 for a second health center, piloting a homelessness prevention program, transitioning to electronic medical records, and adding more permanent housing units for families--all on a tight budget! We welcome more hands to help in these ambitious goals to meet the need!

Learning Opportunities

Thursday, February 11, 2010

CEO Leadership Series: Journey to a Sustainable Organization

Center for Nonprofit Advancement

The CEO Leadership Series is a special, four-part series that focuses on helping nonprofits survive this financial downturn and face a “new normal” as the organization moves forward. Learn more.

Webinar: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Successfully Use Facebook Pages and YouTube

DIOSA Communications

This webinar will demonstrate how to successfully set up and design a Facebook Page for your nonprofit organization that will drive traffic to your organization's website, recruit new e-mail newsletter subscribers, and engage potential new donors on Facebook. Learn more.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Doing the Difficult Work: Effectively Making Changes in Your Organization

Center for Nonprofit Advancement

This workshop, for executive directors, board chairs, and other senior staff will explore fundamental principles of managing change, such as: developing a vision and setting clear goals, increasing buy-in from staff and other stakeholders, recognizing resistance to change, and managing that resistance. Learn more.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Webinar: Maximizing Your Google Grant To Meet Your Organization's Goals

NTEN

This series is targeted to current Google Grants organizations who are more engaged in their accounts and better educated about the Google Grants program and AdWords in general. This series will explore evaluating account performance, using Google Analytics, more advanced optimization techniques, the importance of goals and active account management, and more. Learn more.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Project LEAP: Leaders Emerging through Ability and Potential

Center for Nonprofit Advancement

Project LEAP is an opportunity for senior staff of area nonprofits to strengthen their leadership skills. Participants engage in individual and group activities to examine and assess their leadership skills and how those skills impact their current organization. Learn more.

See more learning opportunities.