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COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA
Covenant House California provides sanctuary and support for young people overcoming homelessness by addressing it when it begins, when hope and possibility are still strong. CHC empowers young people to harness their strengths, so that they may leave homelessness behind for good. As an affiliate of Covenant House International (CHI) - the largest, primarily privately funded charity in North and Central America with sites in more than 30 cities across the United States, Canada, and Latin America that has provided immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking for over 50 years - CHC is part of a proven model that believes that no young person deserves to be homeless; that every young person in California deserves shelter, food, clothing, education…and most importantly, to be loved. CHC ensures shelter, love, and opportunity for California’s homeless youth through:

Immediacy
Covenant House immediately meets the basic needs of youth experiencing homelessness through a nourishing meal, a shower, clean clothes, medical attention, and a safe place to sleep.

Sanctuary
Covenant House provides a safe haven from the hardships of homelessness. We recognize the fundamental worth of every human being and create a safe setting where all youth – regardless of life experience or identity – are served without judgement

Value Communication
Covenant House leads by example to demonstrate that caring relationships are based on love,

Structure
Covenant House provides the stability and structure necessary to build a positive future trust, respect, and honesty

Choice
Covenant House fosters confidence; encouraging young people to believe in themselves and make informed choices for their lives.

THE OPPORTUNITY
Reporting to CHC’s 19-member Board of Directors and in close collaboration with CHI’s CEO, CHC’s CEO will steward CHC’s mission, providing strategic and empathetic leadership and programmatic and facility oversight across the organization’s five sites in Northern and Southern California. The CEO will champion a culture of excellence, equity, and care as they helm CHC’s eight-member Executive Leadership team and serve as the face of CHC’s efforts to ensure every young person in California has a home. This is a rare and powerful opportunity to lead a new strategy and cultivate new funding opportunities to support bold ambitions in the next phase of innovation, growth, and impact.

CHC is well-positioned, with a bold vision and a holistic approach, to continue to provide youth with quality services and support while expanding impact. CHC has experienced steady program growth in the last few years, quadrupling the number of youth served, and yet homelessness continues to rise among young people statewide. To ensure CHC becomes an even more effective organization amidst a tumultuous political environment threatening nonprofit funding, the Fiscal Year 2026 Strategic Plan identifies the need to strengthen administrative infrastructure, expand private funding, and continue to build the operating reserve fund to guard against unexpected drops in funding. The next CEO will expand organizational capacity and revenue diversification while opening additional housing in Hayward, Oakland, and Hollywood and influencing the systems and laws that create homelessness across California.

CHC seeks an adaptive, mission-driven leader to serve, protect, and safeguard youth experiencing homelessness across the state of California while leading, mentoring, and motivating a strong and committed team across programs, operations, and development. The CEO must be equally visionary, capable of seeing multiple pathways for achievement of CHC’s long-term goals, and pragmatic, capable of focusing on realistic and sustainable strategies and building organizational capacity in a rapidly changing environment.  The CEO will build and foster trusted stakeholder relationships across California with ease inspiring young people, staff, partners, funders, donors, government officials, community members, and more.

Key Responsibilities
The full role description can be found here:  https://walkeraac.com/covenant-house-california-chief-executive-officer-apply-by-july-11-2025/

THE APPLICATION PROCESS
CHC is partnering with Oakland-based Walker & Associates Consulting – a Black- and woman-owned strategic management consulting and executive search firm promoting equitable community impact – to facilitate this search. To apply, email a cover letter, resume, and list of three references (references will not be contacted without advance notice) to covenanthousecalifornia@walkeraac.com by Friday, July 11, 2025 at 5:00 pm PT. Use the subject line: CEO Application. Please submit PDF or Microsoft Word files only, preferably with all materials in one combined file. Resume review begins immediately. Questions or Nominations? Contact Jeannine N. Walker at jwalker@walkeraac.com.

Covenant House California (CHC) - a non-profit agency serving young people (ages 18-24) overcoming homelessness and human trafficking with sanctuary and supportive services - seeks a compassionate, joyful, and inspiring leader as its next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The CEO will lead with courage, emotional intelligence, and resilience developing a committed team of 170 across five sites. Close to 1/3 of young people facing homelessness in the U.S. are in California with 12,000 youth experiencing homelessness each night. This is an exciting opportunity to lead a dynamic organization that is well-positioned to help solve California’s homelessness crisis with a bold vision and holistic approach. Centering the needs of a diverse population of young people and influencing statewide systems and laws, the CEO will ensure CHC continues to provide quality services and support while leading expansion that makes a significant difference in the lives of youth experiencing homelessness and trafficking across the state.