In early 2020, John saw people experiencing homelessness and the challenges will providing shelter at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He started to volunteer, and ended up managing the biggest shelter in the state of Virginia. During the peak of the crisis, we hosted up to  800 people for a total of 502 days. It was urgent, and it was successful. He helped us develop policies and procedures and empowered staff to deploy sustainable structural and programmatic changes to best meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness. His ability to positively develop systems, quickly, at a time of dire need for humanity, amazed me.

HSI has been integral to my leadership development and all the challenges that come with my role. How and why decisions are made, governance, how I navigate complex relationships across stakeholders (i.e. medical directors, director of behavioral health, state commissioners). HSI has been a lifeline for me.

HSI is known for having a passion for leadership development, which includes board development, and the focus is on capacity building at a systems and personnel level.

Authenticity is a key ingredient to what you will get with HSI. In my past work with HSI and Lift Up, I would see HSI take a complex problem, break it down quickly, analyze it, and recommend the top 3 actions needed to solve it. This happens without making stakeholders feel inferior and it instills confidence in people’s ability to tackle big problems.

For us, as the Virginia Department of Health, understanding the health needs across our state and identifying the trends to develop a significant strategic plan for our federal partners, Health Resources and Services Administration, is complicated work. HSI has been able to convene diverse groups of people, facilitate thoughtful conversation, and bring synthesis to a broad range of ideas. The acumen applied to keep varying perspectives moving forward, removing limiting beliefs, and developing a cohesive plan is unbeatable. There is an ethic of care and strategic partnership required for social work, and in the long-game of public health, it’s what we need. HSI has been invaluable.

This is where John thrives: he helps people think big and beyond their boundaries. He “dissolves the tendency to limit our beliefs.” We are further along in the journey than if he had not been involved.

Mature agencies understand the pain of inefficiencies and failures to connect and execute with their staffs, boards and communities, but they may not know that a fix even exists. Enter HSI. John is an itinerant specialist who builds strong, focused boards, effective executive teams and staff who get the work done. People are left smiling, and asking, “ Who was that masked man?”