Our Team
Executive Director
Latoyka Priester, BS (she/her)
Latoyka was born and raised in inner city Cleveland. She attended the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and graduated from Kent State.
She utilizes her Bachelor degree in Human Development and Family Studies by dedicating herself and being in service to our most vulnerable neighbors. She has worked in direct care and administrative positions with the homeless, at-risk youth and the mentally impaired. It is her passion and purpose in life to continue being an advocate for those who are voiceless and vulnerable; by educating, empowering and providing resources to those in need.
A mother of three, she also cofounded and coaches the Reality Check Dance Team, where she elevates youths ages 8-17 through creativity and movement.
Latoyka enjoys helping others and is a light in the darkest of places.
She sits as our proxy on the Advisory Board of the Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services.
Clinical Director
Patti Napolitano, MSW, LISW-S (she/her)
Patti is a vocation-driven Social Worker with a passion for walking alongside clients in need of a listening ear. Her clinical strengths include goal setting, crisis intervention, and trauma therapy. She has over 25 years of experience working in High Acuity, Interdisciplinary Programs, in the Cleveland area. These projects have broached collaboratives that serve unsheltered adults, criminal justice system prevention and remediation, family reunification, addiction, and trauma services.
Patti has extensive experience developing programs with outcome tracking and replication as a focus of Planning and Implementation models, and she excels at helping direct care staff engage with their role in outcome achievement and reporting. Her experiences with the Electronic Health Record implementation team at Frontline and the Bureau of Justice Associates and Supreme Court of Ohio have given her practical experience in navigating inter agency regulations and preferences for communication in a way that enhances warm hand offs throughout the system.
Chloe is a nonprofit leader, community organizer, event producer, and comedian based in Northeast Ohio. As the founder of Ohio Queer Talent, she is dedicated to creating inclusive spaces that celebrate LGBTQ+ artists, performers, and community members while fostering connection through arts, advocacy, and community engagement. Her nonprofit experience includes fundraising, community outreach, volunteer engagement, partnership development, program coordination, grant support, and organizational leadership, with a focus on creating opportunities for underserved communities and amplifying diverse voices.
For more than ten years, Chloe has been an active performer and producer throughout Northeast Ohio, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. She has produced more than 100 live events, including comedy shows, entertainment and trivia events, musical performances, community celebrations, and concerts supporting voter engagement initiatives. Her experience spans event planning, talent recruitment, marketing, audience development, sponsorship cultivation, and logistics management, bringing a creative and community-centered approach to every project she leads.
Assistant Director
Chloe Jackson, (she/her)
In addition to being our Program Director, Sharon is also the Executive Director of R-Place Drop-in Resource Center who’s primary mission is to improve mental health outcomes and to educate the local community on basic literacy, financial literacy, resume writing, and available resources.
Through our partnership working in the North Broadway-Slavic Village she served 2,412 individuals in the last twelve (12) months. She is a pillar of the Slavic Village community and served as a community partner and advisor on the Slavic Village Community Planning Coalition which produced the Slavic Village Needs Assessment and Community Prevention Plan in 2023.
Not only is Sharon a supportive and loving peer for many of our friends and neighbors, she manages multiple recovery meetings each week, provides one-on-one mentorship to women in early sobriety and also facilitates financial planning and adult education courses in our community.
Program Director
Sharon Vaughn (she/her)
Compliance Officer
Julie Pachta, (she/her)
With 3 decades of experience providing residential services to individuals with Developmental Disabilities and mental health diagnoses, Julie has worked in many capacities, starting as a direct care provider and culminating in a Program Director Position, overseeing a 46-unit apartment building where services were provided around the clock as needed.
She ensured her clients had access to a wide range of services so they could live their lives as fully and independently as possible. This included ensuring safe and secure housing, support for daily living skills, maintaining benefits, and addressing medical needs, among many other services. Julie embraces the individuality of each and every person, and believes owning our story and loving ourselves and others through that process is the bravest thing we can do.
An enlightened recovered alcoholic, Timothy has grown tremendously since the dark dreary days he spent at 2100 Lakeside Avenue. As our stoic house manager at 4th House, he handles the day-to-day operations where he enjoys his duties as the primary caregiver for our emotional support cat, Ms. Kitty (see below) and our established outdoor areas including roses, fruit trees and general feng shui.
With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University, and his experience in fire art restoration and repair, he owned the Carteaux and Leslie Art and Books gallery in Cincinnati for years before falling on hard times during the pandemic which led him to become homeless.
Tim is an out and proud member of the local recovery community and leads by example in his duties with the organization.
For any inquiries on how to obtain a space at 4th House, please reach out to Timothy directly.
4th House Manager
Timothy L., BFA (he/him)
Ms. Kitty is our emotional support animal at 4th House and lives a life of luxury after spending many hard years as a disgruntled street cat. She fills her days by snatching birds out of the air mid-flight. At night you can find her curled up on the couch or at the foot of one of our restfully sleeping housemate’s beds.
She is an integral part of our support team at 4th House and we couldn’t be more blessed to have crossed paths with her on our life’s journey.
4th House Cat
Ms. Kitty, (she/they)
Our Board
Chair of the Board
Queen Jane Johnson (she/her)
Queen's journey includes 10 long years of struggles. After some time away from Cleveland, she returned home to be close to her family and recently received housing through nothing short of her own determination and strength. Because of her faith in God Almighty and her work on loving herself, she is now stably housed and has gotten her business back up and running!
A formerly homeless woman, she is the only person we know of that has successfully maintained their housing after a Rapid Rehousing Voucher, she understands what it takes to turn a housing opportunity into a lifetime of stability.
The joy of living is strong in Queen's soul, and she looks to uplift herself and everyone around her with that love of life. Her journey shows that if you have faith, God will show up and show out with peace, blessings and wellness.
President
Stephanie Thomas, B.Arch, CPRS (she/her)
Stephanie is a survivor of the opioid epidemic that has claimed the lives of many of her friends and members of our community. Her lived homeless experience, along with the grassroots outreach and mutual aid work she undertook in the hardest days of the pandemic, provided the foundations for Shelter the People Cleveland.
After living in New York City for almost two decades, obtaining a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute, and working professionally for 18 years; Stephanie returned home at the start of the pandemic and hit the ground running. While serving our local communities, she shifted her career focus back to what had initially inspired her to become an architect. Stephanie began to apply her radical ideas for how we can provide dignified housing for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
In addition to her leadership duties for Shelter the People Cleveland, she also serves as the Manager of the Pretrial Support Team at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, is the Secretary for the Arab Americans of Cleveland, is an At-Large Member of the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services.
Treasurer
Ginny Millas, Esq. (she/they)
Ginny has 31 years of experience as a public servant specializing in child welfare law, including 10 years as a Juvenile Magistrate Judge in the Common Pleas Court. She was the first openly transgender Magistrate in Ohio and her career has focused on gender equality for parents and on a reduction of poverty for children
Previously, they helped form countywide fatherhood initiative efforts which included changing practice and policy in favor of providing children the best family life. It marked a dramatic change that allowed, for example, a responsible father a fair chance of having custody.
Ginny has expertise in the barriers families face such as addiction, exposure to violence, and transience. Her empathy comes through in her optimism, knowing that any person can overcome adversity given the chance .
In Ginny’s spare time she leads the LGBTQ+ Swim Team at Cleveland State University, where her and our Executive Director met as they enjoy their shared passion for swimming and inclusive spaces. She also is a deeply spiritual person who practices the Baháʼí Faith.
Nolan is a passionate and experienced Substance Use Disorder Counselor, committed to empowering individuals on their journey to recovery. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Ministries and CDC certification, Nolan brings both clinical insight and a values-driven approach to his work in behavioral health.
Before his current role, Nolan held the position of kitchen manager with the Cherry Street Mission in Toledo, Ohio, and as a 1st Shift Coordinator with the Metanoia Project’s seasonal shelter program, where he provided critical support to unhoused individuals during Cleveland’s harsh winters. His leadership and advocacy have continued through his coordination of LMM’s 2100 Men’s Shelter’s Super Provider Day—an initiative that connects residents with vital services and community resources. Nolan’s dedication has been recognized with awards from the ADAMHS Board, Towards Employment, and the B Riley House, reflecting his impact across multiple sectors of care and support and as an Ambassador for LMM, Nolan has spoken at various events, sharing his lived experience with addiction and homelessness and speaking a message of truth, restoration, and resilience..