Q&A with Malcolm Williams, LCSW-C

After five positions and nearly 20 years at the agency, we celebrate the promotion of Malcolm Williams, LCSW-C from Senior Client Relations Manager to Director of Community Relations & Engagement. Malcolm earned his Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Aside from a short stint at Alliance Inc, he has dedicated his time here to improving client experience as a Case Manager, Behavioral Health Therapist for Youth and, starting in 2018, Client Relations Coordinator. Malcolm is a fierce advocate for systems change and client voice, he's a friend and collaborator to almost everyone he meets and is a talented spoken word poet, performing at public events including our annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. In this new role, Malcolm will continue the work of centering client perspective and leadership at Health Care for the Homeless as well as leading important work toward racial equity and inclusion and strengthening community partnerships across our service areas. Get to know more about him and the new position below.

You’ve worked in different positions at Health Care for the Homeless for nearly 20 years. What has kept you engaged and dedicated to the work?

I’m motivated by the fight to rid this society of our oppressive system of homelessness and the opportunity to help elevate the voices of those this society has tried to silence. I also appreciate the colleagues I work with. Everyone is extremely dedicated to making a change in Baltimore and across this country—and that’s refreshing to see and be a part of. The clients who come in regardless of where they slept the night before, ready to roll up their sleeves and fight is amazing. Their unwavering dedication to the work is inspiring and pushes me to do the work not just as a job but as part of my lifelong work.

How has client engagement evolved in your time here? And has your understanding of client engagement changed?

The way we engage clients has evolved tremendously—moving away from a check-in-the-box approach to allowing clients’ expertise to lead the work in multiple facets within the agency. Clients are now often at the table doing the work from the beginning as opposed to staff creating something and asking them for feedback. There’s more space for clients to initiate their own ideas for change, too, including successful proposals in the last two years for a Client Compensation Policy and a proposal to increase the home starter kit budget, which had not changed to keep up with inflation over the years.

My perspective has evolved, too. As a therapist, I was focused on clients as experts on their own experience. In the client engagement space, I’ve seen how important client voices and leadership are to driving improvement on the agency level. Today, clients are helping to guide performance improvement and internal policy changes and are more integrated in the work we do.

As Director of Community Relations and Engagement, what are some of your new responsibilities?

We are still fleshing out exactly what some of these responsibilities will look like, but I’ll be overseeing a number of new areas:

• Developing, planning, tracking and evaluating progress toward agency REI goals and priorities
• Managing the volunteer space, focused on non-clinical volunteers and continuing to work with client volunteers
• Incorporating more community engagement. I’ll be working closely with our Outreach Services teams and client leadership to understand what other services we should connect with or build strategic partnerships with to benefit clients.
• Facilitating the Conduct Action Plan (CAP) committee. The goal is to bring in more trainings and structure to these meetings and ensure that decisions about client behavior are more standardized and approached with empathy.
• And importantly, one of my first tasks will be recruiting a Community Engagement and Relations teammate, who I will supervise.

Are there any upcoming projects or initiatives that you’re particularly excited to dive into?

I’m excited to extend our footprint in the community engagement space. I’m truly big on creating partnerships and leveraging them to make things better for the agency and the clients who come through those doors. We do a lot at Health Care for the Homeless, but we don’t do everything, so creating partnerships is key in filling those gaps as well as seeing how we can collaborate in the community.

One of my first initiatives in this space is hosting a Resource Fair in June on the third floor of Fallsway. This will be an opportunity to invite 19 different organizations to table and talk about the work they do with clients. I’ll be reaching out to banks, law centers, food pantries and workforce development programs. If you have other recommendations, please let me know!

What are a few ways you ensure that clients and community voices are centered in our work? How do you ensure our engagement approach is inclusive?

I'm proud of the initiatives I've helped build and support—such as the Client Policy and Procedure Review Committee, the Advocacy 101 space (where client-led discussions shape our advocacy efforts), Consumer Relations Committee and involving clients in the design phase of our affordable housing projects. Clients participate in focus groups and performance improvement initiatives. I believe equity in client relations begins with recognizing and compensating them for their expertise. That’s why I’m committed to upholding our client compensation policy and ensuring there is true equity in the exchange between clients and the agency.

An important area of client leadership is our Board of Directors. We just recruited a client from Baltimore County, and I’m hopeful to encourage someone with young kids or who is Spanish-speaking to join the Board, too. Having a wide range of client voices is central to this work, and I’m particularly interested in engaging more youth experiencing homelessness.

What brings you joy or balance outside of work?

My wife Chelsea and son Stokely bring me plenty of joy, laughter and excitement. My son is eight years old and plays soccer and baseball, so watching him learn, grow and smile in that space makes me extremely proud and happy.

I enjoy hiking and camping with friends. I’m also an avid cyclist and a member of multiple social groups that ride multiple times a week. Catch me on my bike, talking about bikes, recruiting people to bike. I truly enjoy it, and it allows me space to challenge myself mentally and physically and provides me with a much-needed opportunity to recenter myself.

Congratulate Malcolm when you see him next!