Help wish Sue well at her retirement reception: 5:30-7 p.m. June 28 at the Savoy Opera House. RSVP by June 15.

Executive Director of Our Family Services since 1994, Sue Krahe has been a strong, consistent voice for at-risk youth and families. Her advocacy for their needs, and her tireless work to increase collaboration and reduce duplication in Tucson's human services community, have made a lasting impact on services for children and families in Southern Arizona and across the country. 

Sue has worked behind the scenes of the human services field for more than three decades, doing the kind of advocacy work that demands long hours, compromise, and a passion for improving the lives of those most in need. Sue has been a strong advocate for the federal funding upon which runaway and homeless youth services depend, testifying at a Congressional hearing on reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act in July 2007.

Sue has said the proudest moment of her career was the creation of the groundbreaking CommonUnity residential program for homeless young mothers and their small children. Since opening in 2000, more than 1,000 young mothers and children have called CommonUnity their home.

Sue has been a longtime advocate of collaboration and the reduction of duplication in the local human services community, and one of its strongest leaders by example, orchestrating the 2005 merger of OUR TOWN and Family Counseling Agency to form Our Family. In 2009, Our Family brought Information & Referral Services under its umbrella, joining forces with Community Information & Referral in Phoenix to create the statewide 2-1-1 helpline and211Arizona.org database. Also in 2009, Our Family took on operation of programs for at-risk children and seniors at the House of Neighborly Service in South Tucson.

Sue will crown her retirement with another merger assuring the stability of services for homeless children, youth and families in Southern Arizona. Our Family and New Beginnings for Women & Children will join forces on July 1. The merger blends services for adults and families with Our Family's existing programs for homeless youth ages 12-21, a huge plus for young people who might now age out of Our Family's care. As she retires, the agency will be building a new, 20-bed Reunion House shelter for homeless youth. This shelter will replace the facility Sue originally came to the agency to run in 1991.

 
But ask any one of her staff, her board or her colleagues what Sue's legacy will be, and they will give you the same answer. Throughout her career, Sue has held the people who need us at the center of every discussion. Her thinking has helped create a client-centered culture at Our Family, as well as the numerous other organizations she has touched. Whenever difficult decisions need to be made, Sue is the first to ask, "What's best for the people we serve?" It has fueled collaboration, big-picture thinking and a true spirit of service in Southern Arizona and beyond.

The welfare of the people we serve is at the heart of Sue's work and her legacy, and her 30 years of service making Tucson a better place have earned the heartfelt thanks and recognition of this community. Thank you, Sue!