Loaves & Fishes leader, consensus builder, to leave.

Loaves & Fishes leader, consensus builder, to leave.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14037455p-14869345c.html

By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B2

Tim Brown, a vocal advocate for the homeless who helped Loaves & Fishes make peace with business leaders and city officials, is stepping down as the organization's executive director.

During six years as the head of the homeless services complex on 12th and North C streets, Brown said he has discovered "a huge reservoir of compassion" in the Sacramento community. As a result, he says he is more hopeful - and less cynical - than ever.
  
Brown, 49, said he is leaving to spend a year "recharging" and traveling the Americas with his wife, who is retiring as assistant director of government affairs for the California Energy Commission. He intends to be involved with the Loaves & Fishes board upon his return.

Sister Libby Fernandez, 45, who has worked with Loaves & Fishes for 20 years - as a volunteer, board member, and co-director of the Genesis mental health clinic - will take over for Brown this May. She is the first woman, and the first religious leader, to head the organization.

Fernandez said she intends to carry on Brown's commitment to open communication with people at all levels - from the guests at Loaves & Fishes, to law enforcement, to local officials and business leaders.

"Tim always had an open door, and I'll continue that," she said.

Brown arrived in early 2000. At the time, Loaves & Fishes was frequently in battles with city and neighborhood leaders about the impacts of homeless on the neighborhood. The politics didn't surprise him. "I knew I was coming into a fairly controversial position," he said.

County Supervisor Roger Dickinson said Brown began collaborating with city officials and neighborhood groups who previously had adversarial relationships with Loaves & Fishes. He regularly attended meetings of the Capitol Station District and sat on multiple committees with other local officials. His opinions were well-researched, "not doctrinaire or dogmatic," Dickinson said. And he listened.

"He brought this other dimension that no business or non-profit or church is an island unto itself," said city Councilman Ray Tretheway.

After local businesses and residents complained that homeless people were going to the bathroom in the neighborhood, Brown had a portable toilet installed near the light-rail station at Loaves & Fishes' expense. If business owners complained that a homeless person had defecated in their doorway, he would ask a staff member to go clean up. On a half dozen occasions, Brown did the cleanup himself.

But while Brown knows how to listen and compromise, those who work with him say he has been unwavering in his advocacy for the poor. He helped lead the charge for the city and county's still-developing 10-year-plan to end chronic homelessness. He publicly pressured neighboring counties to care for their own homeless populations, and advised them on how to do so.

Under Brown's watch, Loaves & Fishes has planned a facility redesign, added more showers and bathrooms, and expanded services to help the mentally ill. Several programs that started as part of Loaves & Fishes have since spun off to become their own organizations.

In 2004, Loaves & Fishes fell on hard times. Then, and at other critical junctures, Brown saw the community come to the rescue.

"I guess the biggest change is I'm less cynical about these things than I used to be," he said. "I used to feel that people didn't care, but I don't feel that way anymore."


About the writer:
The Bee's Jocelyn Wiener can be reached at (916) 321-1967 or jwiener@sacbee.com .
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Loaves &  Fishes Contact Information:
http://www.sacramentoloavesandfishes.org/
Email: info@sacramentoloavesandfishes.org

Site Location:
1321 North ‘C’ Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 2161
Sacramento, CA 95812
Office: (916) 446-0874
Fax: (916) 446-0875
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Comment: I was glad to hear about Brother Tim taking a well deserved leave and we should all help Sister Libby all we can in his absence. He has been a strong strident voice for domestic homeless refugees in Sacramento for a long time and is a true humane being and a great man.

Have A Heart, Help the Homeless!
Peta de Aztlan
Sacra, Califas

Related Links:
Sacramento Housing Organizing Committee Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHOC/
Email: SHOC@yahoogroups.com
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National Alliance to End Homelessnesshttp://www.endhomelessness.org/index.htm
National Coalition for the Homelesshttp://www.nationalhomeless.org/
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