1993

Meet Ret. Colonel Richard Conn, Partners in Housing's first Executive Director

In 1993, as Partners in Housing and Catholic Community Services continued to grow, the decision was made to hire an Executive Director to lead the organization while keeping close ties.

Richard Conn, retired USAF Colonel, was brought in to lead the small staff and tight budget. Dick remained the ED of Partners in Housing until his retirement (again!) in 2007. Under his leadership, the agency began many strong collaborations, which still exist today, and acquired properties throughout Colorado Springs.

Pictured: Ret. Colonel Richard Conn (right) and his longtime Executive Assistant, Louise Bagala (left).

We caught up with Richard in 2021 to reminisce and reflect on Partners in Housing's beginnings and you can listen to his thoughts in the video below!

"From a lot of 1993, 1994, our effort was in expanding our agency so that we could serve more folks, but we wanted to own everything. We wanted the community to know that we were there for the long haul, not the short run. And the way to that I felt was to show that we were investing in the community on a full-time, long-range basis."

"It made the community better because we had successful families that went through some very challenging times, but wound up being extremely productive members of the community...one of the great thrills I had was when one of our family graduates actually became my boss at one time. She became President of the Board of Directors and was originally a Partner family at Partners in Housing."

Our First Office!

Partners in Housing employees moved into the first office space separate from Catholic Charities in 1993, on the grounds of the old Marian House Soup Kitchen.

Our First Logo

Partners in Housing developed its first logo in 1993! However, the logo was soon updated after we received feedback that the house appeared to be on fire and that the house also looked like a spooky, haunted house in a movie. :) Our current logo is pictured below as well.

Our logo today:

Our 35th Anniversary Sponsors

Keep an eye out for our weekly emails as we travel back in time to celebrate our 35th Anniversary!

To learn more about how you can help families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, please email cmckinley@partnersinhousing.org. You can give the gift of time, items, or money.

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