Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness Names New Chief Executive Officer

11/1/18 – After an extensive national search, we’re pleased to share that Dr. Richard Cho has been selected as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH), effective November 26, 2018. Richard brings 20 years of experience in the housing and homelessness sector, most recently serving as Division Director, Behavioral Health at the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Previously, Richard served as the Deputy Director at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and as Director of Innovations and Research at the Corporation for Supportive Housing. He brings a breadth of national and regional experience to the role.

For the last two and half years, Richard has been helping to lead national efforts to improve police interactions with people with mental health needs, and to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails, including helping to increase connections to stable housing. He currently serves on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force, as well as the Kings County/Brooklyn (NY) District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s Justice 2020 Committee, Mental Health Subcommittee. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Chicago; a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Doctor of Philosophy from New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

During the course of his career, Richard has led federal policy initiatives to end homelessness among veterans and chronic homelessness, and has contributed to national policy efforts to address housing as a social determinant of health, including developing policy to encourage states to cover housing and tenancy supports under Medicaid programs. He has designed and tested interventions combining care management and affordable housing to improve health outcomes and reduce hospitalizations, incarceration, and costs among high need/cost Medicaid beneficiaries, people involved in the criminal justice system, and families involved in the child welfare system. Richard lives with his wife and two children in Hamden, Connecticut.

“I am thrilled and honored to join the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness as its new leader, and to work with its members and partners to end the tragedy of homelessness in our state,” said Richard. “It is especially meaningful to me that when we succeed, the families, children, and individuals who will have homes will be my own neighbors, here in the state I have called home for more than a decade.”

The search was conducted with support from NPAG, a national firm that partners with mission-driven clients in the nonprofit and public sectors to deliver deep and successful senior and executive-level searches.