{"id":42,"date":"2025-10-22T00:10:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T00:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:14:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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above all else, we are driven by the belief that
EVERY PERSON DESERVES A HOME.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Addressing homelessness is immensely critical and complicated. We come alongside your community, partnership, or nonprofit to stand in the eye of the housing and public health crisis.<\/p>

If you are looking for a team who is committed to helping navigate the murky waters of housing, behavioral health, and homeless services, we are here to partner. We are experienced, passionate, and sincerely motivated to see our partnerships become more adaptive, move to action, and scale impact.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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THE HEMLOCK & Forge WAY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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1<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0Our mission is more important than the logo or the ego.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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2<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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We work for equity and justice, building a world without systemic racism, prejudice, and oppression.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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3<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Be the most collaborative person in the room.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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4<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Put your oxygen mask on first. Your wellness matters.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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5<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Storytelling is our language. We share what we learn.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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6<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Be in proximity to where the work happens. Walk their streets, learn their names.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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7<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ending homelessness is hard. Keep learning, keep adapting, keep working, believe without ceasing.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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OUR STORY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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We are a benefit corporation based in Philadelphia. Formed in 2023, Hemlock & Forge represents the evolution of Wyatt\u2019s career.<\/strong><\/p>

Beginning as an AmeriCorps member doing low-income home repair in 2009, Wyatt has worked on the issue of housing and homelessness for his entire career. As the Executive Director of CATCH in Boise, Idaho, he became increasingly frustrated as his case managers detailed how damn difficult it was to house families experiencing homelessness.<\/p>

Whose job was it in the community to increase the number of supportive housing units available? No one was grabbing the baton and sprinting.<\/b><\/p>

There was a chasm. Our systems were broken. Our homeless response system was too overwhelmed in crisis management to focus on housing development. Our behavioral health system struggles to integrate social determinants of health into its care. Our housing system is often mired in increasing costs to build supportive housing.<\/p>

To make the job of his old case managers easier, more focus needs to be drawn to how best to identify new funding streams, managing cross-sector partnerships, and becoming a loud voice on housing equity from a community-wide lens.<\/p>

Wyatt moved home to Philadelphia and launched Hemlock & Forge.<\/b><\/p>

The story of his home state is a story of families adapting each season to earn an honest wage to put food on the table. One of his grandparents worked the steel mill in Beaver County to sustain the roof over his mother’s head. The other grandfather worked the farm until he could put himself through college. The company name honors his family legacy in Pennsylvania – the hemlock and the forge.<\/p>

It\u2019s deeply personal to us that every city, town, borough, and hamlet in Pennsylvania and Delaware ensures a safe and stable home for its neighbors.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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OUR Team<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Wyatt\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Wyatt Schroeder, MBA<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Executive Director | he\/him\/his<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Wyatt has worked on the issue of homelessness and affordable housing since 2009, stemming from a fervent belief that everyone deserves a safe, stable, and affordable home. He has served roles from executive nonprofit leadership to grassroots organizer to local government official.<\/p>

Wyatt serves as the Director of Hemlock & Forge, a supportive housing agency. His work focuses on designing new local coalitions to accelerate new housing development. He uses a multi-disciplinary approach that mixes a social worker’s ethics with an MBA’s training and a grassroots organizer’s technique.\u00a0<\/p>

Prior to launching Hemlock & Forge, Wyatt was the Director of Community Partnerships for the City of Boise, guiding all social service partnerships for City Hall. He has served a number of roles in his work on housing equity, including Executive Director of CATCH, Idaho\u2019s largest supportive housing agency and Senior Manager at Agnew::Beck Consulting, serving communities in Idaho and Alaska by designing and managing public-private partnerships that led to the development of affordable housing and increased housing outcomes for marginalized populations.<\/p>

Wyatt is proud to have been a key leader in the development of Our Path Home, the public-private partnership in Ada County, Idaho dedicated to ending homelessness. This leadership led to the creation of the state\u2019s first coordinated entry system on homelessness; developing New Path Community Housing, the state\u2019s first Housing First-based supportive housing building; and launching the Campaign to End Family Homelessness, a five-year strategy to bring aggressive philanthropy and innovative service design to achieve functional zero.<\/p>

Wyatt holds a Master of Business Administration from Villanova University and a Bachelor of Arts from Allegheny College, and a professional certificate on Real Estate Development from Fordham University. You can find him living in Philadelphia, PA, watching baseball or sneaking into the Wissahickon for the afternoon or on his stoop with a guitar in his hand.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sam Oppenheimer, LICSW<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Director of Supportive Services | she\/they<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sam is a dynamic leader who has dedicated the last 15 years to collaborating with community leaders, providers, clients, funders, and government officials to expand the vision of what a homeless response system can achieve.<\/p>

In their current role as Director of Supportive Services at Hemlock and Forge, they are instrumental in developing robust frameworks, policies, and trainings that build supportive housing pipelines across Pennsylvania and Delaware. Sam is dedicated to driving systems-level change and fostering equitable, anti-oppressive systems of care. They firmly believe that \u201coppression is the absence of choices,\u201d (bell hooks), and center the voices of those most impacted by inequitable systems in their work. They affirm in their work that people should not need to share their story to be deserving of care as housing is a fundamental human right.<\/p>

Previously, as Policy & Operations Director at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), Sam successfully launched and oversaw the Peer Navigation program, which served people living unsheltered in downtown Seattle using a Housing Command Center model. They developed the policies and infrastructure to transition the program from philanthropic to Medicaid (FCS) funding. Prior to their role at the KCRHA, Sam worked for seven years at Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), the agency which pioneered Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing on the West Coast. During their tenure they served in roles ranging from outreach case manager to Senior Program Manager of Clinical Entry Services. They believe that there is no such thing as someone who is \u201cdifficult to serve,\u201d but rather that we operate in systems that actively disempower not only those who need the most support, but also those tasked with providing that support.<\/p>

Sam has extensive formal training in advanced clinical skills. They are proficient in Motivational Interviewing, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), Seeking Safety, Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment (IDDT), and Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT). Their skills also encompass critical areas such as Housing First Fidelity, Harm Reduction, Opioid Overdose Response, Suicide Risk Assessment and Prevention, and Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, complemented by training in ethical decision-making within harm reduction frameworks and specialized supervision models for multidisciplinary clinical teams. They are a certified trainer for DESC\u2019s Vulnerability Assessment Tool (VAT) and Cultures Connecting: Strategies for Facilitating Courageous Conversations on Race. They hold an active Independent Clinical Social Worker license in the State of Washington and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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let's get CONNECTED<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Please feel free to reach out, even if it’s just to let us buy you a cup of coffee. We would love to connect!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tContact Us<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

above all else, we are driven by the belief thatEVERY PERSON DESERVES A HOME. Addressing homelessness is immensely critical and complicated. We come alongside your community, partnership, or nonprofit to stand in the eye of the housing and public health crisis. If you are looking for a team who is committed to helping navigate the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-42","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemlockandforge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}