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N ot long ago I was in our capitol sitting with a state senator as he listened to a county employee explain how wonderful and successful this thing called Housing First is. The speaker asserted that the fundamental issue in homelessness is a lack of housing. When it was my turn I explained that we believe the fundamental issue is the collective causes for a lack of housingand that data from the CDC NIMH and other sources proves it. This was a debate of context really. Is housing the correct context for understanding this issueor childhood maltreatment Or something else What lens makes sense of the problem and organizes solutions that produce results The longer I serve as the leader of a mission the more convinced I become that context is a big part of my job. For example my job is not merely to make sure our mens shelter runs well. I also need to make sure everyone knows what that meansour clients our staff our supporters our politicians. Im a crafter of context and purveyor of meaning. I carry the narrative and that means more than telling the story of individuals we have helped. It also means explaining the bigger picture. Our clients need to hear the bigger picture too. Like many in the broader community they can hold the deep belief that they are the loser- bums of society. And while policy and personal choices matter deeply they are still only the visible part of the iceberg. Sadly 92 percent of our recovery residents report high to severe levels of childhood abuse trauma and neglect. And childhood maltreatment is the variable most predictive of adult homelessness. According to multiple respected studies what happened to these friends of mine when they were kids predicts that they are 1030 times more likely to become homeless as an adult. That means housing isnt the issue. It means our shelter isnt merely a compassion ministry or a route to rehousing. Its a chance to love people who have known harmpeople who will only be healed by love because they hate themselves distrust you and have been in survival mode since childhood. We have to know this data we must be able to tell this story. More and more Im seeing my job as helping to explain this to everyone associated with home- lessness and our mission. It changes how our clients see themselves how we enact our work what we measure for success and what good policy should look like. Among other things leaders are context-crafters. And it might be among the most important things we do. 50 WWW.AGRM.ORG MAYJUNE 2016 DAY-TO-DAY LEADERSHIP LAB Mike Johnson Framing the Context Knowing the data and telling the story Mike is executive director of The Rescue Mission in Tacoma Washington. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University a former Army Ranger an ordained minister and father of six childrenall adopted. You can email Mike at mike. johnsonrescue-mission.org.