Staffing Structure
As a new organization, all of supportive housing WORKS’s staff has been hired within the past three years.
- supportive housing WORKS's Executive Director, David B. Rich, was hired in January 2006. David’s most recent housing experience was as Executive Director of the Mutual Housing Association (MHA) of South Central Connecticut. In this capacity, David was responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive and aggressive five-year strategic plan of constructing 300 units of affordable housing with over $50 million in financing. He worked developing local and community owned businesses within MHA targeted communities. He expanded staff from 3 to 18 and operating budget from $200,000 to $1.6 million in three years and secured $10 million in development funds.
- supportive housing WORKS's Program Development Director, Kathy Hunter was hired in January, 2009. Kathy has had over twenty-five years of experience working with the City of Bridgeport, where she served as the Deputy Director of Housing. In that position, she administered housing programs funded under HUD that included the HOME Partnership Investment Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), and the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program. She served as Co-Chair of the Greater Bridgeport Continuum of Care, participated in the statewide HMIS Collaborative and was the City’s Liaison for spearheading the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in the Bridgeport Region.
It is important to note that supportive housing WORKS also works with member nonprofit staff on the development of the projects they sponsor. Member Organizations by agreement provide 10% of their Executive Director and 20% FTE of senior staff to supportive housing WORKS projects. In fact, supportive housing WORKS receives far more in staff resources from all our member organizations. The most critical role these staff play are to:
- Work with local community stakeholders to build support for a project;
- Coordinate planning and zoning approvals;
- Coordinate the supportive services for the project and develop the project services budget;
- Handle project accounting (the project is on the member nonprofit’s balance sheet);
- Assist in tenant screening and lease-up; and
- Assist in fundraising, public relations and administration.