Dear Friends in the Movement,
I write to you today in thankfulness, admiration, and enthusiasm for a new phase in A Way Home Washington’s future.
As many of you know, A Way Home WA Strategic Communications Director Ben Sung Henry has served as Interim Executive Director during Julie Patiño’s continuing leave. Since the beginning of his service in this role in October, Ben has shown a rare level of compassion, strategic acumen, and dedication to both staff wellness and momentum of the mission that have been comforting and galvanizing to us all. It is with deep respect and esteem that the Advisory Board receives Ben’s desire to pass the baton and reprise his role as Strategic Communications Director.
It is our honor and pleasure to introduce to you the person who will receive that baton and carry A Way Home WA forward through this next phase. Meriça Whitehall has accepted the position of A Way Home WA Interim Executive Director, and has assumed the role effective Feb. 26.
Meriça is an experienced and human-centered leader who will partner with us to stabilize and sustain our growth, increase our visibility, strengthen our work, and further build our team. She brings more than 25 years of experience empowering teams, strengthening organizational operations, improving financial performance, and planning and implementing long-term strategy.
Most recently, Meriça served as YouthCare’s Interim COO and Hugo House’s Interim COO and Interim Executive Director. She also previously served as the Executive Director of Fontenelle Forest in Bellevue, Nebraska, where she spearheaded the creation of a 20-year master plan and completed development of new revenue streams, capital projects, and acquisitions.
Meriça earned an Executive Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University, where she taught frameworks for community engagement as a faculty member following completion of her degree.
We look forward to inviting you to meet Meriça in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we are thankful to each of you for your continued support during this period of transition.
Times of change may come and go, but the unshakeable soul of A Way Home WA is its north-star constant, the fixed point our eyes never waver from — the moment when we’ll see safety and housing stability for every young person in this state. We are inspired to look around our community and see that light burning in your eyes too. Thank you for the passion and strength you all share with us and with each other.
In community,
Nwando Obele, Paula Carvalho, Sheila Babb Anderson, Chelsea Talbert
A Way Home WA Advisory Board