Dan Straughan to retire from Homeless Alliance

Dan Straughan announced that he will retire as Executive Director of the Homeless Alliance after 20 years. The announcement was made at the Nov. 29 Board Meeting held at the nonprofit’s WestTown Resource Campus. 

Julie Porter Scott, Chairman of the Board, stated, “We are incredibly grateful for Dan’s visionary leadership and service as the founder and executive director of the Homeless Alliance. Over the last 20 years, Dan has helped bring the community together to create a more collaborative, compassionate and rational system of care for our neighbors experiencing homelessness.”

Scott also said that Straughan’s replacement had already been chosen by the board. The organization’s current Associate Executive Director, Meghan Mueller, will take over for Straughan on April 5 of this year and oversee the organization’s mission of rallying the community to end homelessness. Since starting as an intern in 2013, Mueller has been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility and managed the execution of the Homeless Alliance’s main housing programs, support services and partnerships. 

Mueller expressed her excitement to continue to impact Oklahoma City’s unhoused neighbors, saying, “I have learned an immeasurable amount over the last 11 years of working with Dan and our incredible team at the Homeless Alliance. I believe this role will continue my life’s work of improving life for all Oklahomans, especially those who have found themselves on the fringes of society.”

During his time at the Homeless Alliance, Straughan has helped build the community’s capacity to better care for Oklahomans experiencing homelessness while developing strong partnerships with other agencies, local government, community groups, faith groups and businesses. Today, the WestTown Homeless Resource Campus covers a city block that includes Oklahoma City’s only low barrier Day Shelter, a resource center with comprehensive services available for those experiencing homelessness and those at-risk of homelessness and housing for chronically homeless individuals and veterans. The newest feature of the campus is Oklahoma City’s first permanent winter shelter, which opened in November 2023 with space to hold up to 300 individuals and their pets. Straughan also oversaw the creation of Curbside Chronicle, Oklahoma’s only street magazine, and helped it grow to its current suite including Curbside Flowers, Sasquatch Shaved Ice and Curbside Apparel. 

Aside from leading Homeless Alliance, Dan has served as President of the Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (GICH) and president of the United Way of Central Oklahoma Agency Directors Association. “Dan and I’s work together at United Way convinced us that he was the perfect choice to turn a fledgling nonprofit into a vital force in our community,” Robert Spinks, Former CEO of the United Way of Central Oklahoma, stated, "The Homeless Alliance is now a force to be reckoned with thanks to his leadership.” Dan also serves as a member of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council, the Sisu Youth Services board, the Key to Home Partnership Board and the Leadership Oklahoma City board.