Lisa Tepper Bates to Leave CT Coalition to End Homelessness – Search for New Leadership Soon Underway
Julia Minchew
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Julia Minchew
Program Development Coordinator
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
Photo of Lisa Tepper Bates attached.
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May 4, 2018
Lisa Tepper Bates to Leave CT Coalition to End Homelessness –
Search for New Leadership Soon Underway
Hartford – The Board of directors of the Hartford-based Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) announced today that Lisa Tepper Bates will be leaving the position of Chief Executive Officer, which she has held since 2013. “We are extremely grateful to Lisa for her vision, innovation, and leadership, and we wish her well as she moves on to new endeavors,” said Cathy Zeiner, CCEH Board President and Chief Operating Officer of the YWCA of Hartford. The CCEH Board of Directors plans a nationwide search for a successor.
“I am privileged to have led this fantastic organization, and to have worked in close partnership with the Administration of Governor Dannel Malloy, state legislators, local elected leaders, and CCEH’s members and partners in Connecticut’s Reaching Home Campaign to end homelessness,” Bates said. “Ending homelessness saves lives, and saves our communities resources wasted when homelessness persists on our streets and in our shelters. Working to address the needs of Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents has been a great honor, and I am grateful to have been part of such a remarkable Coalition.”
Connecticut’s success in driving down homelessness – the state has seen a 34% drop in annual homelessness in the past five years – has made Connecticut a leader in this area of work nationally. Commissioner of the State Department of Housing Evonne Klein said of Bates’ work, “Lisa has left a lasting legacy in Connecticut. Her trailblazing leadership style was exactly what we needed to transform Connecticut’s homeless response system, and because of that, today, here in Connecticut we have made real progress in ending homelessness. Lisa has been a valued and supportive partner for the Department of Housing and we wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Under Bates’ leadership, CCEH has played a leading role in transforming Connecticut’s homeless response system from a large range of nonprofit and government-funded programs working separately in siloes to a coordinated system of teams working together in communities across the state. This coordination of effort allows for more efficient use of available resources. The state has achieved other noteworthy milestones in the battle against homelessness through this coordinated response system: Connecticut was the first state in the nation to end chronic homelessness (the long-term homelessness of people with severe disabling conditions) among veterans (2015); one of the first two states to end all homelessness among veterans (2016); and the first state in the nation to match all chronically homeless people to a housing resource (2017).
Bates and CCEH staff are regularly asked to present on Connecticut’s work before national audiences. Bates has led CCEH’s work to promote “shelter diversion” – helping people facing homelessness to problem-solve and identify housing solutions – which has drawn specific national attention. CCEH leads a private fundraising campaign, the be homeful project, which has garnered more than $500,000 in private donations in the past three years to help prevent the homelessness of more than 200 families including nearly 450 children. CCEH trainers have worked across the United States, helping to bring to other communities this effective approach to preventing family homelessness.
For questions, please contact Julia Minchew, (806) 721-7876 x101, jmin...@cceh.org.
