“I’m excited (about) how I’ll be able to make an impact working with a segment of the population instead of the entire homeless population.” Catherine Swanson executive director, Bethany House

Catherine Swanson was appointed the new executive director of Bethany House earlier this month. She brings 20 years of experience in human services to the position.

On Sept. 8, Bethany House, which offers emergency shelter and transitional services to women and children in an effort to end the cycle of homelessness, announced that it had hired Swanson to take over several duties. Swanson’s expertise is in emergency housing and social work, and at Bethany House she will implement the policies of the board of directors, and advise the board on strategic direction, organizational development and fundraising in addition to overseeing day-to-day operations.

Swanson was most recently the deputy director of emergency housing at the Nassau County Office of Housing Department of Social Services. She earned an undergraduate degree at Syracuse University’s School of Social Work, and a master’s in clinical social work at Adelphi University’s Graduate School of Social Work.

“I felt like when I saw this opportunity to join the Bethany House, it was my time to leave government and start working for a nonprofit, where I could help the homeless population from a different vantage point,” Swanson said. “And I’m excited (about) how I’ll be able to make an impact working with a segment of the population instead of the entire homeless population.”

She added that although she just started working at Bethany House a few weeks ago, she already had lots of ideas about how to help serve the homeless population. She explained that the facility will continue to expand on its existing programs, which are all geared toward helping women and children transition from a “life of uncertainty and homelessness to a brighter, more stable future,” as Swanson described it.

One program in particular that she wants to expand is called Safe Ground, a three-step approach in which those in need are provided with food and housing, and then make the transition to a traditional housing program.

“Once they start building on their education and having a more stable income, they move into our third step, which is an apartment program,” Swanson explained. “From there they become independent, because we want to break the cycle of homelessness.”

The program is funded not by state or county money, but by grants. Swanson said she was looking for more funding opportunities so she can expand the program’s outreach.

She also hopes to expand programs that help people with their education, finances and mental health struggles, she said.

In 2003, Swanson started working for the county in a family-unification program. After Nassau received a homeless-intervention program grant in 2003, she began working with homeless clients, and learned about Bethany House.

“I remember going into the Bethany House, and it was such a beautiful setting for people who were going through a crisis to come in to,” Swanson recalled. “It’s an agency that really treats its guests with respect and dignity, and the environment we provide is a very beautiful, warm environment where people can heal from whatever their struggles were.”

When she was deputy director of emergency housing at the Nassau County Office of Housing Department of Social Services, she would enroll her clients at Bethany House. Swanson said her transition to executive director of the facility was an easy one, because she knew a lot of the staff and guests. She added that she was honored to oversee the agency and to use her experience make the house “stronger.”

“Over the past few years, Bethany House leadership has reached out to Katie to assist in resolving issues and provide input on other matters,” Maryanne Pedersen, chair of the board of directors, said in a press release about Swanson’s appointment. “During such moments, Katie’s exemplary leadership has been on display, earning the respect of our guests and staff alike. Katie’s emphasis on treating people experiencing homelessness with respect — making it a point to ‘hear’ them, make eye contact, and to work collaboratively to come to a resolution — is what appealed to us most. We feel extremely fortunate to have Katie Swanson as our new executive director.”

By Ben Fiebert

https://www.liherald.com/elmont/stories/baldwin-bethany-house-catherine-swanson,195323

Baldwin High School’s fashion class participated in a community service project for Halloween, using the sewing skills and hand-stitching techniques they’ve learned in class to create monster stuffed animals for families at the Bethany House—a local non-profit supporting women and children experiencing homelessness.

The project aligns with the district’s curriculum focus on “students as producers” and civics, showcasing how the high school’s fashion coursework prepares students for various career paths post-graduation.

“This effort started as a way to connect our Baldwin High School students to our younger children within the community,” Analisa Giannone, the family and consumer science teacher, expressed in a news release. “The high school students have said it has been an extremely rewarding experience, and I completely agree!”

The students began by choosing a monster pattern and then utilized skills learned in class, such as sewing machine operation and hand-stitching, to create seams and incorporate poly-fill stuffing. They crafted more than 30 stuffed monsters.

Giannone initiated this endeavor last year during her first year at Baldwin High School, coordinating the donation of stuffed dolls to the Baldwin Public Library. These dolls were made available in the children’s section and gifted along with checked-out books.

https://www.liherald.com/baldwin/stories/baldwin-high-school-fashion-class-bethany-house,211208

Gloria Romanowski, a veteran real estate advisor at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in Rockville Centre, has been elected to the board of directors at Bethany House, a Baldwin-based nonprofit that provides emergency shelter to homeless women and their children.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Romanowski said. “I’m blown away by it to tell you the truth.”

Romanowski, a second-generation Long Island native, served as an advisor and housing committee member with Bethany House for more than two years, before she joined the board.

“I hope to use the knowledge and expertise that I have developed as a global real estate advisor for the last 17 years to help advise and support Bethany House as we support and grow our horizons together,” she said.

Romanowski brings to the table nearly two decades of experience in the real estate industry, the last seven of which, she has spent at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s, where she has garnered both acclaim, as a member of the company’s Gold Circle, and recognition from Real Trends as one of the nation’s top-performing real estate agents.

Before transitioning to real estate, she managed Fortune 50 clients in New York City as an IT sales consultant and manager. Her background in high-level client relations helped shape her approach to the real estate industry. She currently specializes in Nassau County properties and coordinates global referrals through Sotheby’s international network, to match clients with like-minded real estate professionals around the world. Her outstanding performance in outgoing referrals has even earned her top ranking at the company. 

Romanowski said her passion for real estate derives from her desire to help her clients achieve their goals, particularly in regards to Long Island’s unique market, for its combination of coastal living with urban accessibility.

She also maintains active memberships in both the Long Island Board of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors, to ensure her practices align with the highest industry standards.

Beyond her work with Bethany House, Romanowski serves on the board of the Phillips House Museum and remains actively involved in community initiatives throughout Nassau County. In her leisure time, she enjoys spending cherished moments with family and friends, embodying a balanced approach to both her professional and personal life.

By Daniel Offner

https://www.liherald.com/rockvillecentre/stories/real-estate-executive-joins-bethany-house-board,211160

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