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Beyond the Tarp: The Importance of Meeting People Where They Are

from KT Harcourt-Medina

This Story of Impact highlights Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition, a Women’s Impact Fund grantee.

When our outreach team first met Ms. D., a 73-year-old woman experiencing homelessness in Mecklenburg County, she was soaking wet from a recent rainstorm. So were all her belongings. She was living beneath a single tarp with her two beloved dogs, in the backyard of a deteriorating, uninhabitable home.

Ms. D. has significant vision loss and multiple serious medical conditions. Yet traditional shelter is not an option she is willing to consider because it would mean leaving her dogs behind.

Her story illustrates the complex realities of unsheltered homelessness and why individualized, persistent outreach is essential.

Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition (HFTICC) meets people experiencing unsheltered homelessness wherever they are throughout Mecklenburg County. Our team provides essential supplies, connects neighbors to healthcare and benefits, removes barriers, and helps individuals navigate the path to permanent housing.

For Ms. D., that has meant getting her dogs much-needed veterinary care, helping recover identification and other documents, building trust around medical care, and developing a housing plan that keeps her and her dogs together.

In 2025, HFTICC served 755 neighbors experiencing homelessness and helped 198 move into permanent housing. Yet the need across Mecklenburg County remains significant, particularly for those facing complex medical and housing barriers.

We are deeply grateful to Women’s Impact Fund for investing in our mission and recognizing the importance of reaching our most vulnerable neighbors. Your support helps make this relationship-centered work possible.

This Homelessness Awareness Month, we invite you to join us. Learn more, volunteer, or donate at www.hfticc.org.

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Janet LaBar

Executive Director​
jlabar@womensimpactfund.org

With more than 25 years of experience, Janet has a proven track record of leading organizations and teams in developing strategies that foster thriving communities. Her career is dedicated to the well-being of the places she serves, and the people and businesses within them, positioning her as a trusted sounding board, critical thinker, and purposeful protagonist across corporate, government, education, entrepreneurial, and civic spheres.
Janet joined Women’s Impact Fund in June 2025 to guide one of Charlotte’s most respected, women-led philanthropic organizations into its next phase of growth and impact. In partnership with the Women’s Impact Fund team, Board, Advisors, members, volunteers, and key community partners, she will continue strengthening communities by maximizing women’s leadership in philanthropy through collective giving, education, and engagement.
Inspired by her family, teams who dare greatly, and people and communities striving to be their best selves, Janet’s impactful career includes leadership roles as President and CEO of Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, President and CEO of Greater Portland Inc, and Chief Performance Officer of Greater Phoenix Economic Council. As a first-generation Filipino American, her lived experience deeply informs her professional drive to create equitable economic growth and opportunity in the metro areas she’s served.
She holds a BA in Communication Arts from the University of West Florida and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Phoenix. Janet and her husband James are proud parents to an older daughter, and a daughter and son who are twins.