On April 1, 2019 Katie Hong will be stepping away from her role as the Raikes Foundation’s Director of Youth Homelessness and into her new role as Director of Special Initiatives. The foundation believes it’s important to engage more deeply in our region’s worsening homelessness, and nobody is better suited to lead our work in that area than Katie (you can read more about Katie’s new role and strategy here). But despite a change in leadership, our deep dedication to end youth homelessness remains unchanged.
I’m proud to be carrying on our foundation’s longstanding commitment to young people experiencing homelessness as the new director of our youth homelessness strategy.
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Last year, McKinsey and Co. released a report on homelessness that spelled out in stark detail what many of us who live in and around Seattle already knew—despite everything we have done to stem the tide, homelessness is getting worse.
The report cited the region’s painful lack of affordable housing as a chief culprit among an array of compounding factors, including loss of job and substance abuse. It also, counterintuitively, showed how much our homelessness crisis response system has improved over the years. From 2016 to 2017 alone, our government partners moved 35 percent more households into permanent housing, and yet the number of people on streets has continued to rise. There’s no doubt we’re getting better at helping people move from homelessness to housing—but as it stands the system simply can’t keep pace with the number of people falling into homelessness.
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As we reflect on Blake Nordstrom’s incredible life, we can’t help but be filled with memories of his warm spirit, passion for community and unique ability to bring people together.
He modeled what it means to be an effective, inclusive business leader and a generous, engaged member of our community. Our families bonded over our shared desire to support the city and state we love. We were particularly passionate about ending homelessness in our region. With Blake’s death we lose a real champion and leader for that cause, but we can think of no better way to honor his life than by holding steadfast to that goal.
We will keep his memory close as we work toward the future he envisioned for his hometown. We send our deepest condolences to his wife Molly and all of his loved ones. May Blake rest in peace.
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To the world, Paul Allen was a brilliant visionary who revolutionized the way we learn, communicate and interact with the people and technology around us. He never settled for less, never took the easy road and never missed an opportunity to strive for the extraordinary. The force of his vision and leadership has left the world an immeasurably better place.
But behind his larger-than-life persona, to us, Paul Allen was a dear friend and colleague. His quick wit kept us on our toes, his generosity continually inspired and his friendship was a gift and comfort that we will always treasure.
We are heartbroken by his death, but we are comforted by the incredible legacy that he leaves behind. The world lost a luminary today, but his light shines on.
Our deepest condolences go out to his family, who are in our thoughts and prayers.
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