Taiisa Kelly

Taiisa Kelly is a dedicated advocate for social justice who has worked with Monarch Housing Associates for 18 years and serves as the Chief Executive Officer. Monarch's mission is to expand the supply, accessibility, and variety of affordable, permanent supportive housing through development, planning, advocacy, and partnerships. Ms. Kelly has facilitated the development and implementation of strategies to end homelessness since 2008. She has assisted Monarch in expanding services to include strategic planning, grant writing, system oversight, project monitoring, grant administration, innovative program development, and data analysis. Since becoming CEO in 2019, Ms. Kelly has worked to expand and innovate the housing development focus of the agency.  Monarch is developing new partnerships to support the creation of housing for marginalized communities with an eye towards innovations in development.  Under Ms. Kelly’s leadership Monarch is focused on integrating racial equity into all aspects of homeless planning and housing development with the intent of ending homelessness in New Jersey. Ms. Kelly was inducted into the NJ Housing and Economic Development Hall of Fame in 2023 and was named as one of the 2021 Best 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ Magazine.  She currently serves on several boards including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation JEGNA Council, Nourish NJ Board of Directors, the United Black Agenda, the Housing Community Development Network of New Jersey Board of Directors, City of Newark Commission on Homelessness, Enterprise Community Leadership Council, and Enterprise Community Loan Fund Board.