Fighting to end homelessness

FROM HOMELESS TO HOMES: Crossroads Rhode Island Chief Operating Officer Michelle Wilcox, second from left, is charged with managing the new "housing first" approach the nonprofit takes to serving its clientele. With her are, from left, Jennifer Schanck-Bolwell, vice president of housing assets; John MacDonald, vice president of adult services; and Cicely Dove, vice president of family services. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
FROM HOMELESS TO HOMES: Crossroads Rhode Island Chief Operating Officer Michelle Wilcox, second from left, is charged with managing the new "housing first" approach the nonprofit takes to serving its clientele. With her are, from left, Jennifer Schanck-Bolwell, vice president of housing assets; John MacDonald, vice president of adult services; and Cicely Dove, vice president of family services. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Over the past three years the board and staff of Crossroads Rhode Island have engineered a massive overhaul of the organization’s mission and methods, and in the process, created permanent housing for some of the state’s most needy people.

One major driver of the process is Michelle Wilcox, chief operating officer and a 23-year veteran of the organization’s efforts to make sure no one ever has to use a sidewalk for a bed in the Ocean State.

In 1993 Wilcox started working at Crossroads, the state’s biggest nonprofit serving the homeless, and she has been COO since 2007. She said the organization’s recent change to a revolutionary “housing first” model was the outcome of work she did shoulder-to-shoulder with Karen Santilli, the president and CEO, and a supportive board of directors.

Asked what makes her effective – winning praise from many co-workers and outsiders – Wilcox warned that her reply may sound a little corny.

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“I am one of the relatively few people who go to work to do what I love,” Wilcox said. Then, she touched on the goals of the job. “I believe homelessness is unacceptable. … and I feel lucky that I can do this work.”

Santilli said Wilcox has demonstrated “a passion for breaking new ground to lead social change in order to improve the lives of others.”

Wilcox is responsible for administering all Crossroads services. She manages a budget of $12 million and 139 employees, overseeing the management of 400 housing units that serve 3,000 people. The operation does crisis intervention and case management, and operates seven programs for emergency, transitional and supportive housing. It conducts street outreach and offers job training, employment programs and health care.

Wilcox is lauded by co-workers and outside professionals for her work in 2004 co-managing the $26 million project that converted an old YMCA into Crossroads’ headquarters on Broad Street in Providence. Another complicated beast of a task was the construction of the 104-unit Kings Crossing affordable housing community. Its two phases opened in 2010 and 2011 in North Kingstown.

That project was a grind for several reasons, including a chase for financing. Christine Malecki West, co-owner of KITE Architects in Providence, said everyone involved “credited Michelle with the vision, drive and patience needed to overcome a cascading series of obstacles and disappointments.”

The story of Wilcox’s and Crossroads’ work took an exciting turn in 2012, when she and Santilli went to a conference in Washington, D.C., and learned of a new, international trend that was turning the world of homeless-services providers on its head.

Championed by Iain DeJong, a Canadian social-change expert, Crossroads and similar organizations turned toward an approach known as “housing first.” Historically, organizations like Crossroads try to help homeless people solve problems like unemployment and mental illness before moving them into homes. But the housing-first model asserts that people need to be in permanent homes before the issues of poverty and illness can be tackled.

“We are moving from a system that manages homelessness to one that ends homelessness,” Wilcox said.

During 2012 and 2013, Wilcox co-led Crossroads through a planning process that redefined the mission and transformed the organization. It began using fresh assessment tools that placed the people in greatest need into housing first.

Crossroads staff had to learn new ways of working. For instance, case workers shifted from the close familiarity of their offices into clients’ new apartments to hold face-to-face meetings.

Steve Berg, vice president of programs and planning for the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington, D.C., said that Crossroads is, as it asserts, a nationally recognized success in implementing housing first.

“Against all odds, we have managed in the United States to make progress on homelessness,” Berg said. “That happens because people are working like crazy to put these ideas into place locally. Rhode Island is one place where this is happening.”

Cindy Butler, a human resources consultant who has worked with Crossroads, noted that Wilcox started at Crossroads as an education and employment case manager, so she is deeply familiar with the daily struggles of the homeless.

Wilcox “listens to what the clients need,” Butler said. “She has a strong sense of fairness. She helps people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.” And, Butler added, “She is one of the smartest women you are ever going to meet.” •

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