If you want to know anything about the inner workings of Anawim Housing, ask Cynthia Latcham. Latcham, who was named the agency’s executive director in July, has worked her way up from an entry-level program manager to being the agency’s leader. She’s done pretty much every job at Anawim since she started working there eight years ago, which she says helps her onboard and train new employees. Latcham also believes her background in social work guides her work and helps instill in the staff of about 40 a belief system that is core to their work and their mission of helping people who are experiencing homelessness, mental illness or substance abuse disorders or are fleeing domestic violence.

Tell us about your background and how it helped prepare you for your role as executive director at Anawim Housing.
I started in child protection services at the Department of Human Services, but then I took time off to be a stay-at-home mom. I returned to the workforce eight years ago, joining Anawim as an entry-level program manager. I literally worked my way up through the positions, so when I am teaching or onboarding or staffing new employees, I can tell them I’m not asking them to do anything I haven’t done myself. I was director of programming and services for three years, where I was in charge of grant management and renewals for our permanent housing program. I believe having the mindset of a social worker and a belief system of person-centered case management and self-determination, and the dignity of the individual, is absolutely core to my belief system, so that sits very well with the type of work we do at Anawim and serving people who are experiencing homelessness.


What is your management style or philosophy?
It all starts with casting a wide vision of what we are trying to accomplish. We are focused on that mission, and as long as things fall under that umbrella … I am open to anything that would further the mission. I really encourage people to find their passion projects and nurture those projects. We all have the scope of the tasks we need to complete, but when you give people an opportunity to be creative, be flexible, be collaborative – that’s when magic happens, in my opinion. And we’ve seen that time and time again at Anawim when I’ve given people that freedom to say here is a problem and we need to figure out an answer to this problem.


What special challenges has the coronavirus pandemic created for Anawim?
We got very practical right at the beginning, looking at what are the essential needs our program participants would have. We knew right away we would be their ticket to just maintaining basic needs. We undertook drop-and-go, or knock-and-drop programs, delivering things for essential needs for tenants who we determined were probably not able to get those services met. So we met those needs immediately. We also were able to write a mini grant and be funded for technology, so we purchased phones for any tenant we knew did not have a phone to be able to maintain connectivity with individuals through this time. As we’ve gotten a better understanding of how COVID spreads, we’ve been careful to watch the true science that’s coming in because essentially we are a service-based industry and need to be face-to-face with folks. They have severe mental illness almost 100% of the time, so we need to be working to support people through this very difficult time, regardless if it’s easy. Once we realized masks were the answer to moving forward, we mask up and go about our work. We’ve also switched to a new property management software system that helps us do some things remotely with folks. A lot of adapting, but what made the adaptations easy was having hired and supported an existing, highly dedicated team.


What are some of the goals you have for Anawim under your leadership?
We are looking at ways we can support, create and partner with other organizations to further the idea of low- to no-barrier services. We’re looking at what else do we need to do internally and within our community to foster low- or no-barrier services for the population we serve. So if that means working on mental health services or substance abuse disorder services, we’re wading into that. That would be a lofty goal of ours, but I think it’s really important.


Tell us something about yourself that people may not know.
I love to travel by myself. There is something about wandering the world by yourself that is incredibly empowering.


What is the current book you’re reading?
I just bought the most recent biography on Eleanor Roosevelt by David Michaelis, and I’m looking forward to opening that and diving into that. She’s a person I have admired forever, and I haven’t taken the time to read a good biography about her.