When Meghan was hired, she was living in another state and chose to move to Colorado and accept a newly created position within Hilltop. With courage, she started a new life with her family here, and jumped in with both feet to her role with Communities That Care. Even though she was new to our region, she has put effort and love into developing personal connections and building her own community.

The Collaborative Coordinator role that Meghan holds is fully focused on building a community where everyone belongs. In her work, she has done an exemplary job bringing the community of Montrose together to collaborate in creating a shared vision around prevention and support of our communities’ at-risk youth. Her professionalism and leadership have propelled her programs forward, even when they were in the sometimes-frustrating implementation stages.

Meghan has a huge heart for our participants and works with them with kind and calm acceptance and understanding, while also maintaining supportive boundaries. Those healthy boundaries help her to create connections in our community and allow her to stay in the work.

Meghan has a very outward facing role at Hilltop and has built relationships and trust with community leaders and members. She has also built great collaborative relationships with those that she supervises. Meghan takes time to think through all the angels of collaborative situations and comports herself with honesty and transparency. She communicates well with our funders and maintains trust by making sure that the work she is promoting benefits our community thus ensuring the integrity of her program. Meghan speaks up with care and candor when she sees that something is off or not right – she does not shy away from hard conversions. Meghan has tremendous courage both professionally and in her personal life.

Meghan came to Hilltop seeking growth, even outlining her vision for her future in her initial interview. Before working here, she was doing direct case management but knew she wanted to expand into more program level work. Meghan has bloomed as a fantastic supervisor and Program Coordinator and has tackled some of her biggest fears (excel and budgets), while also growing and developing a new to Hilltop program. She continually comes up with new ideas and processes, and knows her programs backwards and forwards, meaning she can envision the growth opportunities for said programs. This poem comes to mind when thinking about Meghan and her courage to grow:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anais Nin

I reached out to those that work closely with Meghan at state agencies, and her supervisee to see their thoughts on how Meghan exemplifies our Hilltop values:

Karen Funke, Collaborative Navigator, supervised by Meghan:

“Relationship: Meghan and I are Yin and Yang but we’re the best of teams. She is cautious, deliberate and thorough. Meghan has really been instrumental in my success, filling in the gaps and checking in. I know that she always has my back and will always come along side me when I need her. She is timely, keeps appointments. I always feel informed and know what’s going on. She is really great at the high-level overview, and being mindful of everyone’s needs – she is keyed into the feelings of everyone in the room.

“Meghan is courageous about having serious conversations but delivers it in an even and emotionally regulated way. She has high integrity with Hilltop and the work that we do – she doesn’t cut corners and would never jeopardize the company or the work she does. She is responsible to (the boards of the programs she oversees) and maintains high integrity in her interactions with them. Meghan takes her responsibility seriously.

“Growth: Meghan says when she is struggling with something, but is resilient and tries hard, and
pushes through (budgets.)”

Annie Mombourquette, Communities Organizing for Prevention Coach, Colorado Department of Public Health and Education:

“I support the nomination. Here’s how I’ve seen these show up working with Meghan:

Relationship – The growth of the CTC coalition suggests a strong capacity to build relationship. Meghan always speaks with care and candor.

Integrity – Meghan and the CTC team share coalition meeting notes, community action plans, and progress reports publicly, demonstrating transparency and honoring commitment.

Courage – Challenging the status quo is required to work on community prevention and Meghan excels at it!

Inclusivity – Through stakeholder engagement meetings and CTC coalition meetings, Meghan intentionally creates welcoming environments, builds strong relationships, and includes all members of the community with an intentional effort to include community members who have historically been marginalized. (Particularly love the opportunity and practice at the youth led resource fair.)

Growth – Meghan consistently (like every interaction) in coaching calls and in person at conferences and trainings celebrates the success of team members, fellow staff and community partners.

Fun – This I see most clearly in the work with the CTC/environmental club!”

Andie Scott, Collaborative Management Program Administrator, Office of Children, Youth and Families

“Meghan is always kind in our meetings and interactions. She is open-minded and inclusive. She always has an open mind and comes to me with courage and curiosity.”

Meghan is such a great example of courage, integrity and growth. In her nomination, I think that Hilltop employees can see that Hilltop is really dedicated to our employee’s growth, and that if folks are willing to be vulnerable, transparent, courageous, and work hard – it’s possible to achieve great things here! The feedback that she received from her supervisee also speaks to how wonderful as supervisor/supervisee relationship can be at Hilltop.

-MK Hooley-Underwood