New Chair of Calgary Homeless Foundation Plans to Broaden Collective Leadership

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - June 29, 2015) - At the Annual General Meeting held June 16^th, 2015, the Board of Directors of the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) appointed its 2015/16 Board of Directors along with a new Chair. Cameron Bailey, retired Director of McKinsey & Company takes on the role held for 4 years by Alan Norris, President & CEO of Brookfield Residential Properties.

"I am very excited to be stepping into the Chair role when the Foundation is sharpening its focus as the backbone organization in support of Calgary's collective vision to end homelessness," says Bailey. "Since the updated Calgary Plan to End Homelessness (the Plan) was released in March of this year, I have been working closely with Diana Krecsy (President & CEO, CHF) and Alan to strengthen and broaden CHF's connectivity in community."

CHF's objective is to create an environment of collective community leadership, where collaboration amongst agencies and with stakeholders will lead to greater collective impact in transforming lives and accelerating the journey to end homelessness. "There are more and more examples of collaboration in the homeless serving sector, including the RESOLVE campaign, the SORCe's one stop access to the services of close to 15 agencies, and the recently launched Homeless Charter of Rights which included the involvement of the Alberta Human Rights Commission along with people with lived experience of homelessness and agencies," says Bailey. "Collaboration is also occurring on a significant scale between agencies who are partnering together to have even greater impact. Working together as a community is the fundamental requirement in ending homelessness."

Since 2008 when the original community Plan was launched, over 6,000 vulnerable people in our city have been housed with the necessary social or service supports needed to maintain housing. CHF has worked collaboratively with government partners and sector agencies to enhance efficiencies and effectiveness throughout the system of care and to develop evidence-based best-practices based on Calgary-centric homeless research and data. Since 2008, service agencies, private and public along with other key partners in ending homelessness, have implemented the Housing First model of care (housing plus supports) and have actualized the plans success by delivering a 15% reduction in homelessness per 100,000 population in Calgary, despite record in-migration, lack of affordable housing and low rental vacancy rates.

"Over the past 7 years the focus of the Plan has been to innovate, enhance and mobilize best practices within the homeless system of care to meet the needs of individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, to access housing, supports and services necessary to prevent and exit homelessness," says Krecsy. "As a community leader, Alan's contributions to ending homelessness in our city have been significant, are deeply valued and are tangible in our community. Alan's leadership and passion in creating and spearheading the innovative RESOLVE Campaign, a partnership of nine not for profits working collectively to raise $120M to house 3,000 of Calgary's most vulnerable, has drawn national attention and has galvanized local business leaders and philanthropists to step-in and be a part of ending homelessness. Alan's continued leadership of RESOLVE as Cabinet Chair is a testament to his ongoing commitment to ending homelessness in Calgary. Cameron's impressive leadership experience as well as his involvement on the CHF Board over the past 5 years, including serving as Vice Chair, is a natural and seamless transition that will facilitate the continuous and forward momentum on achieving our goal. We are excited about our future and welcome Cameron's excellent guidance."

The Board of Director's of the Calgary Homeless Foundation consists of 15 members representing a broad diversity of stakeholders; all of whom are committed to ending homelessness and to supporting the community of Calgary to be the best it can be.

"I am inspired by the progress already achieved by community on ending homelessness and by the collective commitment to do more," says Bailey. "I look forward to working with CHF leadership and the leadership of our partner organizations and across the broader community to collaboratively bring an end to chronic homelessness in our city".

About CHF

The Calgary Homeless Foundation acts as a catalyst and enabler for Service Agencies and systems to optimize client success. Through mobilization of collective impact, CHF is committed to moving forward in partnership with the many homeless-serving agencies, and stakeholders across government, faith communities, corporate Calgary and all Calgarians to end chronic homelessness in Calgary and to add value through collective leadership. Visit www.calgaryhomeless.com.

Bio: Cameron Bailey

Cameron Bailey has served on our Board since 2010. He is active with other boards including the Telus Spark Calgary Science Center, the Alberta Energy Regulator, the UBC Sauder Business School, and Westside King's Church, where he serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Cam retired from McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm in 2013. Cam and his wife Gelaine spent 15 years living in emerging markets. They have a passion for supporting the poor in Africa, and have traveled with World Vision to Ethiopia and Tanzania. Cam has a B. Commerce degree from UBC (1983) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1988).