It’s been a month since Marc Alexander abruptly resigned as the Governor’s Homeless Coordinator.
And today, the Institute for Human Services announced it’s hiring Alexander.
Marc Alexander will start on Monday as Director of Development, a newly created position.
IHS is currently housing about 300 men, women, and children in its emergency shelters in Iwilei.
"I think IHS has long been known as the agency that helps people who are chronically homeless," says Connie Mitchell, IHS Executive Director.
But this service provider helps in more ways than that — such as though its homeless prevention, urban farming, and civic engagement programs.
And Marc Alexander will lead the team that spreads the word.
"We basically hired him to lead our development team to help us with strengthening our ties with the community and also to develop new relationships with people so we can garner more support for the many things we’re doing," said Mitchell.
Alexander resigned last month from his appointed position as the Governor’s Homeless Coordinator, after spending a year on the job tackling the State’s homeless problem.
The Governor’s office says Alexander resigned to attend to personal matters.
"Marc’s private affairs are his own issues and stuff and that has nothing to do with his employment here. When he was the homeless coordinator, he learned a lot about homelessness so that’s part of why we thought he was a good fit for us," said Mitchell.
In a statement today, Alexander said: "IHS is a top-notch agency (that) follows best practices in helping both the homeless and those who are at-risk … I’m very happy to be joining their team."
IHS has a lot of work to do.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Hawaii has the third-highest ratio of homeless people to residents of any state — better only than Nevada and Oregon.
"We’ve had some funding cut by the State or by other entities and so we really want people to know about what we’re doing and hoping they will support us," said Mitchell.
IHS helped about 4,700 people in Hawaii last year.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
