Marty Hartman
Executive director of Mary’s Place. “Marty Hartman has led Mary’s Place since its inception in 1999. She is a strong and convincing advocate for women, children and families experiencing homelessness. A creative problem solver, she has, together with partners and donors, secured funding and loaned properties to open and operate six emergency family shelters in King County that provide warmth and safety for over 700 family members each night and offer housing and employment resources to hundreds more each day.”
Why are you so passionate about family homelessness? At Mary’s Place, we believe that no one’s child should sleep outside. As a mom myself, I feel it deeply when I see children experiencing the trauma of homelessness. Worse, I know that we could ensure that no child sleeps outside. We were so close to achieving that goal before the pandemic – we had room for every family nearly every night. But when COVID hit, we had to close four smaller shelters to keep our guests and staff safe – a loss of 300 beds for families in our community. The silver lining of this pandemic was the federal funding that provided rental assistance to keep families in their hard-won homes, but that funding has been spent and the eviction moratoriums are ending. We know that hundreds of families with children will face homelessness in the coming months, and it breaks my heart. We must prioritize families with children who are losing their homes and sleeping outside.
How is Mary’s Place addressing family homelessness? Mary’s Place stands in the gap from a time a family fears the loss of their home until they find their way back to stable housing. We help families to stay housed with rental assistance; our mobile outreach team works with families in cars and tents to help them move back into housing quickly with flexible funding; and our five 24/7 emergency family centers provide safe shelter and resources for families with children. Beyond funding, shelter and services, Mary’s Place is advocating with elected officials and stakeholders to prioritize families with children in our homelessness response.
If someone is new to nonprofit or volunteer work, how do you recommend they get started? We would love for you to volunteer at Mary’s Place! We have both remote and in-person opportunities to help, including helping to serve meals, clean and organize, sort donations, and more!
How can readers support Mary’s Place? Beyond volunteering or financial contributions, providing in-kind donations from our Wish List or ordering items we need from our Amazon Charity List. We always need diapers, wipes and twin sheet and blanket sets (new or gently used).