Troy Vaughn

TROY VAUGHN, who was recently elected as President and CEO of Los Angeles Mission, has been working to end homelessness in Los Angeles for over 30 years. He has held executive roles with Shields for Families, the LAMP Community, and the Weingart Center for Homelessness, and serves as CEO and COO of two Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FQHCs). As he prepares to tackle the Mission’s challenges amidst a growing homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, Vaughn calls upon his own experiences for guidance.

His story is an extraordinary example of what can happen when an individual receives the care and services missions provide. After spending seven years homeless, many of those on Skid Row, Vaughn had a spiritual awakening which led him from his cardboard box to get help. From there, he entered and completed an intense rehabilitation program. This experience, he says, is what lit the fire inside of him to connect others with the supportive services and skills he used to rebuild his life.

In 1996, he and his wife, Darlene Vaughn, co-founded Christ-Centered Ministries, a non-profit based in Inglewood, CA, dedicated to creating housing and employment opportunities for the disenfranchised. This work continues at Restoration Family Worship Center, where Vaughn is the Senior Pastor. Mr. Vaughn has developed permanent housing, social enterprises, and social services programs for families, TAY, veterans, formerly justice-involved individuals, substance abusers, mentally ill and the chronically homeless.

Vaughn also currently serves as Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP), a network of public, community and faith-based agencies and advocates working together to help people who have been incarcerated build new lives for themselves and their families. And was appointed to the Board of the Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) by Governor Gavin Newsom. LARRP is dedicated to creating viable housing and employment solutions and system-wide change for formerly justice-involved individuals. In his role as Executive Director of LARRP, the network as grown to now over 400 agencies. LARRP has had a tremendous impact on capacity building of smaller CBOs, and has fought for input/inclusion in the County’s contracting and budgeting process.

Through these varied tenured roles, he has garnered the reputation of being a change agent, and the respect of his peers. He has also been instrumental in the successful growth, innovation, branding and integration of key systems and program designs within the reentry, homeless and health sectors. Mr. Vaughn is active professionally in local, state and federal initiatives for profit and non-profit organizations providing services to disenfranchised populations, including programs on institutional community systems analysis, and community and public relations.

Vaughn holds multiple advanced degrees, including an Executive J.D. from Concord Law School, M.B.A., and BS in advanced legal studies from Kaplan University and a BS in business administration from Cal State University of Los Angeles (CSULA). He holds a graduate certification in executive non-profit management from CSULA and fundraising and marketing from Cal State University of Long Beach (CSULB). Additionally, he has a master’s in divinity/theology with a minor in urban planning from King’s Seminary in Van Nuys, California, and a doctorate in theology from The Master’s University School of Divinity.