Insecure Housing, Homelessness, and Health

Rosanne Haggerty is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions. She is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. Community Solutions assists communities throughout the U.S and internationally in solving the complex housing problems facing their most vulnerable residents. Their large scale change initiatives include the 100,000 Homes and Built for Zero Campaigns to end chronic and veteran homelessness, and neighborhood partnerships that bring together local residents and institutions to change the conditions that produce homelessness. Earlier, she founded Common Ground Community, a pioneer in the design and development of supportive housing and research-based practices that end homelessness.

Ms. Haggerty was a Japan Society Public Policy Fellow, and is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ashoka Senior Fellow, Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and the recipient of honors including the Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism from the Rockefeller Foundation, Social Entrepreneur of the year from the Schwab Foundation, Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award and Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Ann Oliva is CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education, advocacy, and capacity building organization dedicated to ending homelessness in the United States. A career veteran of homelessness and housing policy, she is recognized as one of the foremost experts on homelessness in the nation. In her role, Ms. Oliva works closely with members of Congress and the Administration, as well as with officials and advocates at the state and local levels. As part of that role, she also collaborates closely with Alliance partners to educate the public on the real nature of homelessness and its solutions, and to advance known best practices within the homeless services sector.

Ms. Oliva previously served as Vice President for Housing Policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Her distinguished career is also marked by a decade of federal service at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

During her 10-year tenure at HUD, Ms. Oliva successfully designed and implemented a variety of initiatives and programs, including homelessness prevention, supportive housing, and rapid re-housing programs, as well as a demonstration to end youth homelessness.

In 2015, Ms. Oliva was named one of the 50 Most Influential Leaders in the department’s first 50 years, and was honored with the True Colors Fund’s True Leader Award. She was a finalist for a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammie) in management excellence in 2011, and was part of an inter-agency team that won a Sammie for the team’s work on reducing Veteran homelessness in 2012.

Donald Whitehead is one of the country’s leading experts on Homelessness. Donald serves as the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless and is also one of the co-founders of Racial Equity Partners. Donald’s career includes 28 years of service that has spanned every facet of homeless service from outreach to Executive Director. Donald has served on many organizational boards, including two terms as President of the board of Directors for the National Coalition for the Homeless, two on the Board of Directors for Faces and Voices of Recovery, and two on the Georgetown Center for Cultural Competency.

Donald served two terms on The State of Maryland Drug and Alcohol Policy Council, The Baltimore Ten-Year Planning Committee to end Homelessness and The Cincinnati Continuum of Care Board. Donald was one of only 100 advocates invited to the first National Symposium on Homeless Research. Donald testified before committees in the 107th and 108th Congress. Donald, along with members of the staffs of the offices of Representatives John Conyers, Julie Carson, and Barbara Lee and the staff of the National Coalition, directed the creation and introduction of the “Bringing America Home Act, the most comprehensive legislation to date to address Homelessness in America. Donald provided policy advice to Presidents Bush, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and Biden.

In 2005, Donald received a distinguished service award for his work on Homelessness from the Congressional Black Caucus. Donald received a second award of Special Recognition from Congress in 2008. In 2011 Donald completed the prestigious American Express Leadership Academy. Donald has provided written and verbal testimony to the United States Congress and the United Nations,

Donald has recently appeared on the Dr. Phil show and has been interviewed on numerous occasions in the printed media, radio, and television. Donald has been featured on CBS News, ABC News, FOX TV, CNN, MSNBC, and many local stations. Radio appearances have included CBS Radio, NPR, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show and local stations throughout the US along with stations in Great Britain, Germany, Canada and Mexico. Donald has been a dinner guest of former President and Senator Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Donald majored in Communications at the City College of Chicago, The University of Cincinnati, and Union College and University in Ohio. Donald served as a Journalist in the United States Navy. On a personal note, Donald is a stand-up comedian and actor. Donald has performed in six movies, multiple commercials, stage plays, and network television shows and has received a regional Emmy for a role in the movie “Open the Sky”. Donald lives with his beautiful wife, Tracy Whitehead, in Laurel, Maryland

Marisol Bello has spent a career championing the stories and voices of people with lived experience, so they lead in creating the solutions that help every family thrive. First as a career journalist – most recently at USA TODAY – telling the stories of families working to make ends meet, and then in the nonprofit world, where she led narrative strategies to change hearts and minds about those living on the brink and move people to action. A first generation American from a Caribbean family full of colorful storytellers, Marisol is originally from the Bronx and yes, she is a Yankees fan. She’s still on the East Coast, where she lives with her family and a pandemic puppy named Chloe.