News release
Homeless services provider Bridge to Home has announced the departure of Executive Director Chris Najarro, a longtime team member for the nonprofit organization.
Najarro joined Bridge to Home in 2017, after spending six years as the executive director at Family Promise. Hired as the director of programs, she was promoted to the executive director of Bridge to Home in 2021.
“Najarro was instrumental in the major strides the nonprofit has made over the last eight years,” said a news release from Bridge to Home. “She oversaw a small team of about 22 staff members, that has since expanded into a dynamic organization of over 50 employees. She led Bridge to Home from operating as an overnight 60-bed winter shelter to running a 101-bed full-time shelter, that includes families. She expanded the crucial Feeding It Forward and case management programs. She led the organization through the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, managing two moves and culminating in the opening of its landmark transitional shelter facility in 2024.”
“It has been an incredible honor to serve this organization for the past eight years,” Najarro said in the release. “What we’ve built together is more than just an organization — it’s a movement rooted in compassion, dignity, and hope for our unhoused neighbors. I’ve been immensely proud to stand alongside this dedicated team, our board and the Santa Clarita community in pursuit of that mission. This decision was not made lightly, and I will miss Bridge to Home, the team and the community that serves alongside me.”
“Chris has been the foundation of Bridge to Home for nearly a decade,” board Chair Cherise Moore said in the release. “She helped guide our nonprofit through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, while always striving toward the goal of a new, permanent facility. Her lasting legacy will be the beautiful 18,000-square-foot facility, the strong staff, the dedicated volunteers and the hundreds of Santa Clarita residents she helped guide from homelessness to housing. We are so grateful for everything she has done for Bridge to Home and she will truly be missed.”
Najarro will exit the organization on Oct. 8. The board of directors is in the process of setting up a recruitment for her replacement, the release said.
For more information on the organization, visit btohome.org.
