Combating Homelessness in America’s Richest County One woman’s tenacious fight for the forgotten youth Story and photos by Laticia Headings
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lthough Loudoun County is the wealthiest county in America, it battles many of the same socio-economic problems as the rest of the country. But these struggles are often invisible to the average resident. “There are a significant [number] of homeless individuals in Loudoun,” Donna Fortier, the CEO and founder of Mobile Hope, says. “It’s like any other county, we’ve got drugs, we’ve got abuse and we’ve got human trafficking and homelessness. I think with Loudoun
and any affluent county, if you don’t see it, you don’t think it exists.” Mobile Hope is a non-profit that provides support and emergency shelter to at-risk youth (up to age 24) who have been precariously housed or homeless and empowers them to become self-sufficient. Fortier first saw homelessness in Loudoun for herself when she was working for INOVA Hospital as the director of community affairs and mobile health services in 2011. She was in disbelief when a parent liaison in Purcell-
Founder and CEO, Donna Fortier, and Allyson Ruscitella, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement.
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ville asked the hospital to help with dozens of homeless youth in the area. “I said there’s no way in hell that the richest county in the country has homeless kids!” Fortier says. That same year, Fortier helped develop a successful INOVA program, but quickly realized that the need for services outgrew her capacity at the hospital. Three years later, she branched out on her own and officially made Mobile Hope a 501c3 organization. Youth | Page 37