Meagan Dunn has a vision for the future of supportive housing

A self-described “Detroit girl,” Meagan Dunn, executive director of Covenant House Michigan, grew up as one of seven children, learning life skills at home from her father, an auto worker, and her mother, a homemaker who later got into retail sales at Jacobson’s and used her negotiating skills to secure sponsorships from local grocery stores to enable Dunn to take dance and later, compete nationally in synchronized gure skating.

At Covenant House, Dunn is leading the organization in providing a support system for homeless and at-risk youth. As an extension of its workforce development e orts, she is starting conversations with employers to ensure formerly homeless young adults moving into jobs are supported and with peer organizations to strengthen advocacy. The mother of three young boys is also developing a vision for the nonpro t to move into permanent supportive and a ordable housing. Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.

 You changed jobs and moved from Detroit to the west side of the state during the height of the pandemic, right?

Yes, I made that move in 2020. It was a really great opportunity to get into more of a strategic planning leadership from a nonpro t perspective. I loved the work at the YWCA. And in fact, I actually really fell in love with the west side of the state. I was the vice president of programs, so I provided strategic direction to ve programs. The biggest one I love to hang my hat on is that I helped develop a 24/7 child care organization. There’s only a handful in the state. So that is something that I’m probably most proud of, just because it’s something that’s not happening as much as it should for working parents that really need that critical child care for that third shift.

 You also worked with homeless populations in Kalamazoo, right?

Absolutely. I helped oversee the YWCA’s domestic violence and human tra cking shelters.

 What drew you back to Detroit and Covenant House, a much smaller organization than YWCA?

Many years ago, when I was thinking about where I wanted to take my career, I always wanted to be rooted in Detroit and I wanted to have a nonpro t leadership position. And so when the opportunity for Covenant House came up, and I heard about our mission of serving 18-to 24-year olds, I felt, this will give me the opportunity to really pour into this age group that really needs so much help. This age group can be particularly challenged because they’re not necessarily considered children because they’re over the age of 18, and they’re not necessarily adults. And when I came to our campus in Detroit, and

Rumblings

I saw this beautiful jewel of ve acres just outside of Corktown, I immediately felt this is the right move. This is what I should be doing. And this is worth relocating our family back from the west side of the state to Detroit.

 What kinds of failed systems?

For example, access to a ordable housing, which is a huge barrier to those experiencing homelessness, and that’s here in Detroit and also on the west side of the state. We could go on and on and on. Access to quality public education is a big piece. And that’s not a hit or a dig at Detroit public schools or even Grand Rapids Public Schools. It’s just the access piece to it. So if someone is experiencing homelessness, getting to school, staying at school, being focused in school becomes less and less of a priority. So how from a system standpoint, how can our leaders — and these are the types of conversations I would like to have — of our schools and leaders of even workforce training programs really think about how we can better serve these populations that are experiencing homelessness?

 Are you bringing new strategies to Covenant House?

We’ve always had workforce training, and we’ve always done a really great job at putting young people into jobs. But now we’re starting the conversation with employers to educate them on some of the issues that come with someone that’s facing homelessness like transportation and trauma and hoping that the employer then has a di erent level of understanding and is extending di erent levels of grace, and we’re working together to gure out OK, how can we help eliminate barriers for young people to successfully keep their jobs?

 Any other new strategies?

So on our campus in Detroit, we have an emergency shelter. We also have a transitional housing program. The data is suggesting to us that the longer youth are with us, the better their success rates are. I envision Covenant House 2.0 as getting more into permanent supportive and a ordable housing. And so in that way, we’ll be able to transition our young people into a permanent supportive housing situation where we can also provide aftercare for those 12 months after they leave us, making sure they’re getting to work, making sure they understand how to go grocery shopping and making sure they are working or working towards education. I’d be open to creative partnerships, either working with developers or identifying properties parcels of land that are near us in Detroit and also in Grand Rapids. This is not just a Detroit issue.

 What’s something people don’t know about you?

I ran my rst marathon last year. I did the Free Press. I registered for that on New Year’s Eve going into 2022. I had COVID, and I was like COVID is not going to be my story. So I’m going to run a full marathon.

Most people also don’t know I’m a dancer by trade. I was formally trained in ballet and tap. And I used to be a synchronized gure skater. I competed on a national level with the Dearborn Figure

Meagan Dunn is executive director at Covenant House Michigan

BY | SHERRI WELCH

Skating Club. And I did that through college. That meant 5 a.m. practices because ice time is expensive. Even as a young gure skater, and when I began competing, this was very expensive. My mom went out and got creative. She would go to the local grocery stores and seek sponsorships for me to help cover some of the costs of gure skating.