[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 187 (Thursday, November 21, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING MARGIE WAKEHAM FOR THIRTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE TO ORANGE 
                                 COUNTY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KATIE PORTER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2019

  Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, I am honored to recognize Ms. Margie 
Wakeham for her 30 years of public service to the Orange County 
community. As the CEO of Families Forward for 26 years, Ms. Wakeham has 
led the fight for families in need to achieve and maintain self-
sufficiency through wraparound services that include career counseling, 
housing, and an onsite food pantry, among other vital programs.
   As a young woman, Ms. Wakeham served as a group counselor to 
incarcerated youth, and later, an investigator for the juvenile court 
systems in San Diego and Orange Counties. Ever the trailblazer, Ms. 
Wakeham was an active mother who continued to be involved with local 
service organizations while raising her children. It was as a mother 
that she realized the profound need for school improvements, which 
inspired her candidacy and nearly two decades of service as an Irvine 
Unified School Board Member. As a champion for Irvine schools, Ms. 
Wakeham was moved to action when she learned of the serious struggles 
by families in her community due to food and housing insecurities. 
Through first-hand insight into the heartbreaking stories of children 
growing up alongside her own children, Ms. Wakeham knew action was 
needed.
   In the early 1990s, Wakeham served as a board member of the 
previously titled organization, Irvine Temporary Housing, which had 
been helping shelter families since 1984. In 1993, Ms. Wakeham joined a 
team of distinguished leaders throughout the City of Irvine to save the 
nonprofit from closing its doors. Ms. Wakeham transformed the newly 
minted Families Forward into a major success, housing thousands of 
families in our community and scoring top ratings from nonprofit 
watchdogs for fiscal management. In many ways, the renaming of Families 
Forward resembles a tectonic shift in service delivery for Orange 
County. Over the last three years, an astounding 95 percent of the 
families served by Families Forward did not reappear in the homeless 
services provider system. This stands as a testament to its steady 
leadership under Ms. Wakeham.
   When we end homelessness in Orange County, it will be because of the 
hard work and foundation-laying of community advocates like Ms. 
Wakeham. Today, we celebrate not only her success as a leader, but also 
the bright future Families Forward to the community. I am proud to 
recognize Ms. Margie Wakeham for her commitment to serving the 45th 
Congressional District of California.

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