The Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Santa Barbara County, a.k.a. Bringing Our Community Home (BOCH), has a new executive director and they are Mike Foley, Executive Director of Casa Esperanza, and Sylvia Barnard, Executive Director of Good Samaritan Shelter in Santa Maria. Actually, the two are co-executive directors of BOCH only through July 31st. But if they get the okay from their respective boards of directors, they’ll be spearheading the plan together until June 30th, 2011.
BOCH’s board has been looking for a replacement for outgoing chief John Buttny since he announced his retirement plans in April. Though quite a few people applied for the job, according to board chairperson Terri Allison, of Storyteller Childcare Center, at the end of the day, the duo of Foley and Barnard emerged as the best and simplest choice given the plan’s finances and the complexities of the homeless crisis countywide. To read more, see homelessinsb.org.