Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Casanova.
Hi Mark, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, raised by kind-hearted, accepting parents who taught me empathy, compassion, and care. I discovered at an early age the intrinsic and lasting value of doing something for others each day and the importance of giving back to the community to help it thrive. In college, while I did eventually graduate from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American history, I also made sure to rabble-rouse quite a bit and demonstrate for affirmative action and other social causes that matter to me. I spent my early years doing different jobs – towing cars, driving taxis, delivering eggs and produce, painting houses – but in the back of my mind, I remember dreaming about doing something of service on a larger scale. My passion to make a difference and make the world a better place drove me to start a career in marriage and family therapy and ultimately work at a non-profit. That idea came to me while sitting on a therapist’s couch, dealing with post-divorce issues; I saw what my therapist was doing and the benefits it was affording me, and I knew I wanted to offer the same service to folks that could not afford it.
I went and got my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and in 1985, I started as a counselor and case manager at a Salvation Army Family Shelter in Downtown Los Angeles. I had answered an ad that read, “help people find housing”. That seemed easy enough. The task was a bit more complicated after arriving at my job in the family shelter. Two years later, with my Master’s degree and thousands of hours of therapy and case management experience, I joined Homeless Health Care Los Angeles (HHCLA) as a case manager and trainer and seven years later, I became the Executive Director. I’ve seen HHCLA grow from 5 staff and a few hundred thousand dollar budget to 170 staff and a 19 million dollar budget. HHCLA has helped thousands
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think I sort of expect life to have its obstacles and ups and downs. That’s what makes it interesting! I just always found a way to work with those things. During my career in social services and at HHCLA, there have always been people who misunderstood our mission. Although we had people who were against it, opening a syringe services program in Skid Row added a judgement-free, and compassionate system of care for a population whose public health was overlooked. Similarly now, Los Angeles is heading towards the development of overdose prevention sites. We want to create LA’s first safe space for people to use drugs. A place that helps to prevent overdose deaths, provides disease prevention strategies and delivers public health necessities to the underserved. And even though HHCLA has the capacity to operate this type of programming, there are still a lot of barriers and hurdles along the way. We will get through that; we always do. But encountering those struggles has always been a part of the work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Homeless Health Care Los Angeles?
When I think of HHCLA’s success, it really is about the people and their stories. I believe our success is predicated on our long-lasting relationships with the folks we have helped. Our philosophical runs deep, believing all people deserve access to compassionate, nonjudgmental care, and this comes from the top at the level of our Board of Directors, to the Executive Director and leadership team, to the funders, stakeholders, and donors too. Client stories matter and, at the end of the day, the agency exists in order to support that one person and their story, who we met twenty years ago and continue to think about and have a relationship with today. Our philosophical has not changed all these years, so that thread of compassion is perhaps the thing that has been connected the most to our success.
Contact Info:
- Website: hhcla.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hhcla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomelessHealthCareLosAngeles/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FTheHHCLA
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@homelesshealthcarelosangel295/videos
