SAN DIEGO – When former CEO Laura Tancredi-Baese joined Home Start’s team 18 years ago, the organization had been through a rough couple of years. During her tenure, Tancredi-Baese focused on stabilizing funding, deepening impact through social enterprise programs and restoring Home Start’s reputation.
Original article in the San Diego Business Journal is here
Now, as she retires, Tancredi-Baese is passing the torch to new CEO Joe Buehrle, who will lead Home Start in its next era of growth.
“I spent 18 wonderful years here, and it’s time to slow down and smell the roses,” Tancredi-Baese said. “It’s time to let that next superhero step up—and that’s Joe. I have every confidence in him, and that he will take Home Start to the next level.”
Buehrle began his career in social work but has spent the last two decades leading initiatives in child abuse prevention, social justice and community health. At Home Start, a nonprofit focused on child abuse prevention, he hopes to build on Tancredi-Baese’s legacy.
“It seemed like a great opportunity to have an impact on an even greater level,” Buehrle said. “What attracted me to Home Start, is that everything they do is anchored in my core values around helping vulnerable families and communities find healing, belonging and resilience.
“Home Start’s vision and mission is all about ensuring every child has a safe, stable and nurturing home, and they do this through assuring the safety of children and strengthening families and communities,” he continued. “It very much felt like a natural fit, and things seemed to serendipitously align.”
Home Start Gets a Fresh Start
Before his appointment, Buehrle served as Vice President of Strategy and Development at SAY San Diego, a nonprofit focused on youth advocacy. In his time there, he spearheaded equity and inclusion initiatives and procured millions of dollars in new multi-year government contracts and private philanthropy.
Additionally, Buehrle was the founding Board Chair of Zero8hundred, a local military transition support network. He was also a former chair of the San Diego Nonprofit Association.
“We are in unprecedented times, and so it is now more critical than ever that organizations like Home Start are here, present and standing alongside folks, especially given San Diego has one of the highest costs of living in the country,” Buehrle said.
While he officially took office on June 16, Buehrle has been in contact with Tancredi-Baese for transitional support as he settles in.
“I remember being new—your first six months are kind of like drinking out of a fire hose, getting up to speed on an organization,” Tancredi-Baese said. “We’re bigger now than when I started, but he’s very bright, and he’s got a great team around him. I’ve introduced him to key people in the community. I’ve suggested certain boards for him to get involved with. He’s a very knowledgeable fellow, and understands the field of social work extremely well.”
As Buehrle steps into leadership, he identified three major priorities for Home Start’s future: investing in people, increasing visibility of the organization’s work and revenue growth.
Buehrle plans to diversify Home Start’s portfolio and expand its social enterprise programs like the Home Start Thrift Boutique, which provides a setting for young mothers in its Maternity Housing Program to develop job skills and work experience.
“We are an organization of activists who really want to make a difference and see San Diego truly live up to its name as America’s Finest City,” Buehrle said.
Elevating a Legacy of Community Impact
Building on Tancredi-Baese’s work is one of Buehrle’s central goals. Under Tancredi-Baese’s leadership, Home Start grew to offer prevention and early intervention services, evidence-based treatment and specialized housing for families in need.
Over the past 16 years, Tancredi-Baese led seven capital projects aimed at housing hundreds of locals, launched the Maternity Housing Program and started social enterprises Home Start Thrift Boutique and Bright Futures Candles. She also doubled the size of the Board and led the organization to an endowment fund and cash reserve.
Tancredi-Baese nearly tripled Home Start’s budget to more than $13 million, more than doubled the staff to 115 individuals, brought strategic reserves from nothing to nearly $2 million and helped the organization obtain 5 multi-unit residential properties as assets.
“If you help parents learn to be better parents—which is one of the most important jobs we have that we get the least amount of training for—there are going to be better results,” Tancredi-Baese said.
According to Tancredi-Baese, current budget cuts present a major challenge to nonprofits and to the families that Home Start supports. With Buehrle’s leadership, she hopes the community will find resilience.
“I think our nonprofit sector needs support more than ever right now,” Tancredi-Baese said.
“It’s important to tell those stories so that the community understands that this is a challenging time and that they can help us in a wide variety of ways.”
Home Start
FOUNDED: 1972
CEO: Joe Buehrle
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego
BUSINESS: Nonprofit
EMPLOYEES: 105
REVENUE: $13.1 million
WEBSITE: https://home-start.org/
CONTACT: 619-692-0727
SOCIAL IMPACT: With services tailored to prevent child abuse and neglect and to strengthen families, Home Start serves more than 15,000 San Diegans annually.
NOTABLE: Home Start runs two social enterprises, the Thrift Boutique and Bright Futures Candles, to provide valuable job training for formerly homeless youth.