Jennifer Friend

Chief Executive Officer
Project Hope Alliance

Jennifer Friend is chief executive officer of Project Hope Alliance (PHA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of homelessness using a long-term, site-based model of providing whole-person care for children and youth experiencing homelessness. Under Orange County’s veil of affluence are the faces of nearly 30,000 children and youth who experience homelessness and 120,000 children who live in poverty. Friend was one of those faces. For decades she silenced her past as a motel kid but in the spring of 2013, she left her job as a corporate attorney to share her story and lead PHA as CEO. Today, in large part due to her vision and leadership, PHA operates in 43 schools in four districts, serves more than 350 students, and employs 29 staff with an annual operating budget of $2.7 million.