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By Erika Anderson, Staff Writer
ATLANTA—Sandra Hollett has settled nicely into her new role
as executive director of Catholic Social Services and has found the transition
from her former home in Maine to her new one in Atlanta to be a smooth one.
“I think I’ve witnessed and tasted that Southern
hospitality, particularly here at Catholic Social Services,” she said.
“They’ve given me a very warm welcome.”
Hollett, who began her job at CSS on May 4, said that the move to
Atlanta has been “very positive.”
“Atlanta feels very cosmopolitan to me and quite
international,” she said. “The people have been great.”
Born in Melrose, Mass., Hollett grew up in Newport, R.I., and
moved to Maine in high school.
Hollett holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration
from the University of Maine in Portland, and a master’s degree in
business administration from Husson College in Bangor, Maine.
Hollett began her career in banking, but soon entered the health
care field, where she served as a buyer, a director of materials management,
and eventually as an assistant vice president of support services at the
Brighton Medical Center in Portland.
It was while working in the health care field that Hollett got her
first taste of combining her business knowledge with her desire to help others.
In 1994, she became the director of operations of Catholic Charities Maine,
where she was able to further utilize her skills and sense of mission. She said
that the move from health care to Catholic Charities was a simple one.
“I’ve always been drawn to nonprofit,” she said.
“Working (in the health care field) allowed me to use my business skills
in a setting where I could see that what we were doing was affecting
people’s lives.”
Hollett’s position at Catholic Charities gave her the
opportunity to work in the only refugee resettlement program in the state of
Maine.
The October 2000 refugee crisis in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, in
which refugees placed by Catholic Social Services were found to be living in
deplorable conditions, is a potential situation for all refugee resettlement
programs, Hollett said.
“Finding a safe, secure environment—housing is an issue
that every refugee resettlement program faces,” she said. “Finding
affordable, safe, clean housing is an issue in urban areas that affects the low
income as well as the vulnerable population. It’s a bigger issue than just
the refugee population.”
Hollett, the daughter of a Protestant Nazarean minister who
converted to Catholicism at the age of 19, said that she hopes to bring a
“fresh perspective and a new enthusiasm to help strengthen all the
positives” of the agency.
“The positives include a competent, committed staff and real
areas of excellence such as the immigration program, the Pregnancy, Parenting
and Adoption (program) and Hispanic outreach services,” she said.
“These are really incredible programs that show the breadth of services
and the number of clients in whose lives we’re really making a
difference.”
Now a parishioner at Holy Family Church, Marietta, she said that
she feels she has an “ability to set a course and follow it,” and
that she believes that the agency is “on the threshold of whatever we want
it to be.” Her goals include a focus on strengthening Migration and
Refugee Services, and possibly starting a refugee advisory council, where
refugees can assist with feedback in the agency. She also hopes to recruit new
members to the CSS board of directors.
Hollett wants people to know about all the services CSS has to
offer.
“I think we really need to be working toward marketing the
agency in a more proactive manner to the community,” she said.
Since 1997, Hollett has served as a Council on Accreditation peer
reviewer. The accreditation process for social services agencies is a goal that
Hollett wants for CSS.
“We will have to go through all of the programs . . .
It’s a kind of self-check and you have to work to meet particular
standards,” she said. “(Accreditation) proves that the agency has a
skilled staff that provides the highest level of services.”
She hopes to also develop a strategic vision of where the agency
should be in a year, three years and so on, adding that 2003 will mark the 50th
anniversary of CSS.
“I want us to be a vibrant presence in the community—for
us to be leaders in advocacy for the vulnerable population and leaders in
giving excellent, quality services that are client-focused,” she said.
“I want this to be a place for people to come for information about the
vulnerable population and what their needs and resources are.”
“Most importantly, I want us to be witnesses of the
mission—just as in Matthew 25, where it says, “Lord when did we see
you hungry and feed you . . .”
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