No one should face life's most vulnerable moments alone.
Safe Harbor Circles is a hub for training, research, and advocacy — equipping the partner organizations who walk alongside families across Maryland's Eastern Shore.
per Circle
program duration
stabilization rate
4–8 trained volunteers — organized and stewarded by partner organizations — walk alongside families with skill, consistency, and dignity
We don't replace the trusted organizations already on the ground. We lift them.
Across Maryland's Eastern Shore, churches, legal aid clinics, immigrant rights groups, mutual aid networks, and grassroots organizations are already doing the work — accompanying families in crisis, connecting neighbors to resources, holding communities together in moments of fracture. They are stretched. They are under-resourced. And they are indispensable.
Safe Harbor Circles exists to strengthen them. We are a physician-led, community-rooted organization building the Eastern Shore's first hub for training, research, and advocacy in community-powered care — so the partners doing this work can do it with greater capacity, greater fidelity, and greater impact for the families they serve.
Aging Out of Foster Care
Young adults transitioning out of foster care enter adulthood without family support networks, financial stability, or stable housing — at one of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.
Returning Home from Incarceration
Individuals leaving incarceration face compounding barriers: limited housing access, employment discrimination, and the need to rebuild community trust — all simultaneously.
Immigration System Failures
Legal or administrative breakdowns can suddenly remove stability, work authorization, or housing for immigrants and families — often with little warning or support.
Discharge from Mental Health Care
People leaving inpatient or crisis mental health treatment are frequently discharged into unstable situations, with insufficient community support to maintain the progress they've made.
Many individuals experience homelessness not because services do not exist, but because they lack consistent community support during major life transitions.
A model built for partners.
The Circle of Care is a community-powered approach to walking alongside families in moments of profound vulnerability — immigration enforcement, housing instability, family crisis, reentry, resettlement. Safe Harbor Circles does not run Circles directly. We equip partner organizations — those with deep community trust and existing relationships — to build, train, and sustain Circles within their own programs.
Referral & Matching
Partner organizations identify families they are already serving who would benefit from accompaniment. Partners initiate — they hold the existing, trusted relationships with families.
SHC Trains Partner Staff & Volunteers
Safe Harbor Circles trains partner staff and volunteers in the Circle of Care methodology, providing curriculum, certification, and ongoing technical assistance so partners can build capacity within their own organizations.
Partners Form and Steward Circles
Partner organizations form and steward Circles, drawing on their own community networks. They walk alongside families. They hold the relationships. The Circle stays with the partner — the family stays connected to the trusted organization that already knows them.
SHC Coordination & Oversight
Safe Harbor Circles provides outcomes documentation, peer learning across the partner network, advocacy coordination, and continued training — strengthening the system without disrupting it.
Stabilization & Transition
Outcomes are documented across the partner network, building evidence for funders and policymakers, and preparing for expansion to additional counties and partner cohorts.
Circle Volunteer Roles
Each Circle typically includes volunteers who contribute different types of support based on their strengths and the participant's needs.
Advocate
Helps families navigate systems and communicate with service providers on behalf of partner organizations
Resource Connector
Identifies housing, employment, and social service resources that match needs
Transportation Support
Helps with appointments, job interviews, housing viewings, and essential errands
Language Bridge
Assists immigrants and families navigating language barriers in services
Wellness Companion
Provides non-clinical emotional support, encouragement, and accountability
Who We Serve
Safe Harbor Circles focuses on individuals and families at high risk of homelessness during major life transitions — the moments when systems often fall short and human connection matters most.
Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
Young adults entering independence without family support, stable housing, or established social networks. SHC circles provide mentorship, practical guidance, and the relational support that helps them build stable, independent lives.
Youth TransitionIndividuals Returning from Incarceration
People rebuilding their lives after incarceration face compounding barriers to housing, employment, and community reintegration. Circles offer consistent community support and help individuals reconnect with the resources they need to succeed.
Reentry SupportIndividuals Facing Immigration System Failures
Immigrants and families who experience sudden instability due to legal or administrative challenges. Partner organizations with deep community roots provide language access, legal navigation, and community support during uncertain times.
Immigration SupportIndividuals Discharged from Mental Health Care
People leaving inpatient or crisis mental health treatment who need community accompaniment to maintain stability. Circles provide consistent human support, service navigation, and the connection necessary to rebuild their lives.
Mental Health TransitionTrained, Prepared, and Supported
Every Circle volunteer completes the Safe Harbor Circles Volunteer Training Framework before accompanying a participant — ensuring safe, ethical, and effective community support.
Understanding Housing Instability
Structural barriers to housing, navigating service systems, and the role of community support — equipping partner staff and volunteers to understand the families they serve.
Trauma-Informed Support
Trauma awareness, emotional safety, respectful communication, and approaches to supporting families without re-traumatization — core competencies for every partner volunteer.
Healthy Boundaries & Ethics
Maintaining healthy volunteer boundaries, confidentiality, trust, and recognizing when to connect families to professional providers.
Resource Navigation
Housing assistance programs, workforce and education opportunities, health and social services, and connecting families to local providers.
Cultural Humility
Cultural awareness, language access, understanding immigration experiences, and recognizing systemic inequities that affect the populations we serve.
Crisis Awareness & Response
Recognizing crisis situations requiring professional intervention and using established protocols to connect families to appropriate emergency support.
Building the hub.
We are establishing Safe Harbor Circles as a backbone organization for community-powered care on Maryland's Eastern Shore — investing 18 months in the infrastructure, partnerships, and evidence base that will enable our partners to do this work with greater fidelity and greater impact.
Geographic Focus
Our work is rooted in Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset Counties — three of Maryland's most underserved regions for housing services, mental health care, and immigrant family support. Lessons from the Eastern Shore inform our research, advocacy, and the curricula we share with partners across the country and across the hemisphere.
Implementation Timeline
Foundation
Partner agreements and onboarding, curriculum finalization, train-the-trainer cohort design, and research infrastructure development with academic partners.
Implementation
Partner staff and volunteer training cohorts, Circle launches at partner sites, and field-based technical assistance.
Evidence and Scale
Outcomes documentation across the partner network, evidence-building for funders and policymakers, advocacy coordination, and preparation to expand to additional counties and partner cohorts.
Partner Network Growth
We continue building the evidence base, expanding our training curricula, coordinating advocacy, and onboarding new partner organizations across Maryland and beyond.
Why Our Work Matters
The populations Safe Harbor Circles serves face homelessness at dramatically higher rates than the general public — not because of individual failure, but because of system gaps at the most vulnerable moments of transition.
Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
Sources: Annie E. Casey Foundation (2024); Youth.gov; U.S. Children's Bureau
Returning from Incarceration
Sources: Prison Policy Initiative; U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; Community Solutions (2024)
Immigration System Challenges
Sources: HUD 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report; National Alliance to End Homelessness (2025)
Mental Health Discharge
Sources: JAMA Psychiatry (2024); NAMI Mental Health by the Numbers (2025); National Alliance to End Homelessness
Community support changes outcomes.
Research consistently shows that strong social support networks are among the most powerful predictors of family stability — especially during critical life transitions. Safe Harbor Circles equips the partner organizations doing this work with training, research, and advocacy infrastructure.
"Strong social support networks are one of the most powerful predictors of family stability and long-term independence."
— The Foundation of the Safe Harbor Circles Model
We work in partnership.
Safe Harbor Circles works with organizations across the Eastern Shore and beyond — coalition partners, faith communities, legal aid providers, healthcare organizations, academic institutions, and grassroots networks. Together, we ensure that families receive coordinated, culturally rooted, dignity-centered support.
Partnership inquiries welcome — contact us to discuss collaboration.
The People Behind the Circles
Safe Harbor Circles is led by a founding team committed to community-powered solutions — bringing together public health leadership, operational expertise, community engagement, education and workforce development, and care coordination experience. Each member of our team works in a partner-facing role, supporting the organizations across the Eastern Shore that are walking alongside families every day.
Dr. Marie D. Fouché
The founding visionary of Safe Harbor Circles, Dr. Fouché brings deep public health expertise and unwavering community commitment to building and leading the Circle model from the ground up.
LinkedInJessica Theodore
Jessica supports the systems that keep the partner network running — overseeing operations, human resources, and organizational infrastructure so that Safe Harbor Circles can serve its partners with consistency and accountability.
LinkedInRenee Delmas
Renee brings strategic leadership and community perspective to advance our partner-facing mission — contributing board-level guidance that keeps Safe Harbor Circles rooted in the communities it serves.
LinkedInNathalie T. Saint-Phard
Nathalie drives Safe Harbor Circles' community engagement strategy — building relationships with partner organizations, faith communities, and neighborhood networks across the Eastern Shore.
LinkedInDenean Jones-Ward
Denean leads SHC's training, education, and workforce development curricula, building learning pathways that partner organizations can deliver in their own communities.
LinkedInWe are actively building our team. To learn about leadership and staff opportunities, contact us →
Fund the Hub
18-month hub build-out investment · Foundation, government, and institutional funders welcome
Volunteer Training & Coordination
Curriculum development, training delivery, and ongoing Circle supervision
Program Management & Evaluation
Staff capacity, HMIS-aligned data tracking, and outcomes evaluation
Participant Support Resources
Resources and tools that partner organizations deploy to support families through barriers to stability
Outreach & Partnership Development
Community engagement, partner network building, and coalition outreach across the Eastern Shore
Stand with us.
Whether you are an organization seeking training, a funder investing in community-powered infrastructure, a researcher interested in collaboration, or someone who wants to be part of the work — there is a place for you here.
Our Leadership
Safe Harbor Circles was founded by Dr. Marie D. Fouché and is led by a five-member Board of Directors.
Dr. Marie D. Fouché
Founder & President · Board of Directors · MD, MPH
Jessica Theodore
Chief Operations Officer & HR Director · Board of Directors
Contact Us
Safe Harbor Circles
2636 North Salisbury Blvd. #1070
Salisbury, MD 21801
443-317-9197
Serving Wicomico, Worcester & Somerset Counties
Maryland's Eastern Shore
For Funders & Partners
We welcome conversations with foundations, government agencies, and community organizations interested in supporting or partnering with our Maryland hub build-out.
View funding opportunity →
Volunteer Training Inquiries
Interested in volunteering with a partner Circle? Complete the contact form and let us know — our team will connect you with a partner organization running Circles in your area.
Stay Informed
Get updates on Safe Harbor Circles news, volunteer training dates, and program milestones.