Dana Jenkins "Reach"-ing to end homelessness in Washington County

Dana Jenkins, the new executive director of Reach of Washington County, said she looks forward to her role in helping others in the county find a permanent place to live.

“Everybody deserves a place to sleep and food on the table,” Jenkins said, who has called Hagerstown her home since 1999.

Her focus is on getting to know the staff, board and the clients, as well as “getting up to speed” on Reach and its many programs to prevent and resolve homelessness.

“It’s been amazing. The transition has been very smooth. I owe it to the board and staff on welcoming me,” Jenkins said, who started her new job on May 29.

“We’re thrilled ... Dana, she has the skill set,” said Richard Willson, secretary of the Reach board of directors and a member of the Personnel Committee.

He noted the organization received 91 applications, all with college degrees. They narrowed the field down to 15 and had them answer written questions, before inviting five applicants to interview for the job.

Willson said the board was looking for a leader who was focused on what the organization could do, rather than what it couldn’t do.

“It’s like building an airplane as you’re flying it,” Willson said.

Jenkins, 44, is from Pittsburgh, where she earned a bachelor’s degree from Carlow University. She has an MBA from the University of Phoenix and holds a medical marketing certificate from UCLA and multiple leadership and digital marketing certifications.

After 16 years in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry, Jenkins has been CEO of her own consulting business for the past few years.

In that capacity, she helped entrepreneurs, small business and nonprofit organizations with strategic planning, leadership, marketing and social media marketing.

Jenkins serves on two local nonprofit boards as vice president, as well as chairing several committees. Her goal is to use the leadership skills she had learned to lead a local nonprofit.

The Reach job “fit all the criteria,” which included serving a nonprofit that provided compassionate services.

“It doesn’t get any better for me,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins is the third director of Reach, a faith-based nonprofit. She follows Jodie Ostoich, who was executive director for 10 years, before becoming chief executive officer of Interfaith Housing Alliance in Frederick, Md. on April 2. Terri Baker was the first director.

“I felt very lucky to be in this opportunity ... Strategy is probably my wheelhouse. I’m doing a lot of observing. Once I see how things are flowing, I can see the paths before me. The ultimate goal is to end homelessness, but before that to move people toward self-sufficiency,” Jenkins said.

She’s finding her business skills transferable to the work of Reach.

Last year, 213 individuals between the ages of 18 and 75 stayed overnight at Reach’s cold weather shelter, for a total of 6,664 bed nights.

And 51 of those individuals were supported by case management services and 26 have found permanent housing, a more than 50-percent success rate they expect to increase.

People connect Reach with the cold weather shelter run with local churches from October to April, but there is so much more.

There are crisis services, utility deposits, day services where people can get birth certificates and IDs and services to prevent people from becoming homeless, as well as helping them become re-housed.

Financial literacy programs and the Open Table program are designed to help Reach clients become self-sufficient.

“I’m really looking forward to the future here,” Jenkins said.

“We don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be exciting,” Willson said.

Jenkins and her husband, Matt, have two children, ages 9 and 6. They live in Hagerstown.