Deba Harper is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CHAMP Community Foundation, Inc. The CHAMP mission is to house homeless and at risk youth, ages 18 to 25, in healing homes where supportive intervention methods can change the trajectory of at risk youth toward productive adulthood.
Innovative solutions are required to close the gap on affordable housing. Deba is no stranger to pioneering innovative approaches to solving complex problems. Prior to engaging the efforts to end homelessness, she worked with various multinational corporations as a specialist advancing digital technology. She integrated systems and teams to improve efficacy in producing goods and services. Deba was a key contributor on the Warner Brother Home Video development team that launched the DVD industry. She uses her analytical insight to created practical solutions for improving the human condition.
As the Chairperson of the Antelope Valley Alliance to End Homelessness (AVAEH), she lead community volunteers to conduct the regional demographic survey for the national 2013 100K Homes Registry Week. Using the primary data gathered she wrote a literary review, “Los Angeles Homeless and Ethnic Disparities.” The quantitative data analysis of the study identified key factors contributing to long term homelessness. As a Project Manager contracted by Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA), she led the 2016 Unsheltered Homeless Demographic Survey for Antelope Valley.
As a 2016 graduate from California State University Northridge with a B.A. in Liberal Studies Interdisciplinary in Art and Urban Planning, she is on course to be a licensed real estate agent and to pursue a Masters degree in Urban Planning. Deba explains her motivation and commitment to ending homelessness, “I have looked in the face of homelessness, and there for the grace of God goes I.” The measure of a strong sustainable community is how we care for the weakest and most vulnerable among us, our youth.
Email: deba.harper@gmail.com