Dear Friends,
Bobby Watts, CEO of the National HCH Council
I’m looking forward to and excited about the year ahead. In 2019, the Council will build and expand upon the many accomplishments detailed in our new FY18 Annual Report. We will continue to support the HCH community’s delivery of high-quality, consumer-driven services by providing superb webinars, training, and technical assistance, as well as crucial research, policy work, learning collaboratives, and advocacy.
Early in 2019, our Board will consider a new Strategic Plan outlining directions and approaches to enhance the impact of our training, technical assistance, research, policy analysis, and advocacy over the course of the next 3-5 years.
While some of the approaches in the plan may be new, our work will continue to spring from our belief that Health Care and Housing Are Human Rights. We will work to help secure these rights for all of our neighbors—until mass homelessness in America is but a memory. Until that day, we will continue to work with our members to ensure that our neighbors experiencing homelessness receive the accessible, culturally competent, and trauma-informed care necessary to help meet their unique needs.
This commitment is reflected in the theme of our 2019 National HCH Conference and Policy Symposium: “Working Together for Justice. I’m thrilled that Catherine Lhamon, chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights, will serve as one of our keynote speakers. I’m equally excited that the Council’s work to advance justice will go far beyond the Conference this year, not only through relevant webinars but also a new Learning Collaborative on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
I cannot wait to work with each of you in this new year to build a more humane and just world in which housing and health care are available to all—and homelessness is no more. 2019, here we come!
In Solidarity,
Bobby Watts
Chief Executive Officer
National Health Care for the Homeless Council