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operated the winter shelter, despite the team having no previous experience with shelters. Peggy’s willingness
to take on this major responsibility put BTH on a growth path as the board expanded and took on more respon-
sibility, the staff turnover stabilized, the number of clients served increased, and the number of clients housed
increased. Since then, under the direction of a new ED, BTH has made major strides and has grown from a $1M
budget to almost $2.8M.
Other Contributions
For thirty years, Peggy has leveraged her expertise and time to assist many non-profits in the SCV. In addition to
the leadership roles listed above, she has conducted pro bono strategic planning for the School & Business Alli-
ance, Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry, SCV Chamber of Commerce, Domestic Violence Center, Single Moth-
ers Outreach, and the Committee on Aging, to name a few. Peggy links people and builds networks. Her work
to co-found Senior Shared Living with the SCV Senior Center is current example. Her community service work
was recognized by the Purdue University Alumni Association with the 2005 Community Citizenship Award for
Outstanding Community Service. In 2017, Neighborhood Legal Services awarded her the Community Service
Award for Los Angeles County. In 2019, Supervisor Kathryn Barger named Peggy “Woman of the Year” in the
5th District of Los Angeles County.
Biography
Peggy Edwards grew up in Redlands, CA, the daughter of an aerospace engineer and a professional Girl Scout.
Her parents were very active in that community and Peggy and her two sisters thought it was normal that almost
every weeknight after dinner, one or both would go out to a meeting. Peggy graduated from Purdue University
with degrees in English and journalism. She found a job working for the federal government in Washington
DC and her career in training and development was launched. Two years later, she transferred to Los Angeles.
Her husband Barry says she met him and decided to make the move permanent. As Peggy tells the story, she
had decided to stay in LA and their first date was looking at areas with apartments – all with a 2-mile radius
of Barry’s place. Peggy enjoyed leadership training and completed a Master’s in Public Administration degree
from the California State University system. Once Peggy realized that she was not going to be able to change
the federal government, she left to become the training director for Marriott at LAX. She moved to the division
offices in Santa Monica and became the director of organization and leadership development. When her division
was transferred to Marriott headquarters in Washington DC, she and Barry decided to remain in the Los Angeles
area. By then, they had moved to Santa Clarita. In 1993, she launched Ellis/Edwards with a business partner,
working with clients in the U.S. and internationally. A bit later, her business partner roomed with a woman from
Santa Clarita at the Girl Scout national convention, where they were both former national board members. She
called Peggy to tell her that a woman named Mary Spring would be calling to find out why she wasn’t more
involved in the community. Mary called and Peggy joined the Zonta Club of SCV! As Peggy became more
involved in the non-profit world of Santa Clarita, she began using her strategic planning skills to help several
local agencies. In 1999, Peggy and Pam created a Pro Bono Community-Based Planning Award program and
worked with agencies locally and around the country, primarily in areas such as child welfare, mental health,
and juvenile justice. Peggy was nominated several times by Sam Dixon Family Health Centers and the Zonta
Club as SCV Woman of the Year. In 2006, Peggy co-founded United Homeless Healthcare Partners, a network
of several hundred healthcare, non-profit and government agencies in Los Angeles County. In 2011, she and
others replicated UHHP to form Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, a network of agencies serving peo-
ple returning from incarceration. She served as Executive Director of both and their missions included policy
advocacy, capacity building, and service delivery innovation. Peggy became a subject matter expert in both
homelessness and reentry and has written several training programs for staff working with these two popula-
tions. She thinks that 2020 is the year she will retire.