On Nov. 1, 2022, WHA Foundation Executive Director Leigh Ann Larson travelled to Janesville to meet with the staff of House of Mercy Homeless Center, as well as Mercyhealth, and present them with the WHA Foundation’s 2022 Global Vision Partnership Award.
The House of Mercy Homeless Center is a 25-bed homeless center which provides up to 60-day, short-term emergency shelter and programming to help single women and families access housing, find job placements, improve health and secure needed childcare and parenting resources. The ultimate goal is to help clients transition to stable, permanent housing and decrease overall recidivism. After beginning its services in 1996, the program continues to fulfill its purpose, including diverting hundreds of people from entering the homeless response system while working with community partners to educate and uplift clients, helping to address the root causes of their homelessness and find stable housing.
Pictured, L to R: Jennifer Johns, Director of Community Development; Leigh Ann Larson, Executive Director of the WHA Foundation and WHA Vice President of Education and Marketing; Ladd Udy, Vice President, Value-Based Care & Population Health, Mercyhealth; Jackie Lee, Development Coordinator, Mercyhealth Foundation; Chad Salmon, Manager, House of Mercy
Established in 1993, the Global Vision Community Partnership Award provides recognition, financial support and public awareness of a community health initiative or project, created in partnership with a WHA member, that successfully addresses a documented community health need. Partnerships must reach across the community or population served and the program must be an active, ongoing enterprise at the time of the nomination.
Congratulations to the House of Mercy Homeless Center and Mercyhealth in Janesville.