Advocate for homeless killed in crash
WILLISTOWN » A pioneer in the fight against homelessness in Chester County who dedicated his life to helping the less fortunate through a wide variety of non-profit efforts was killed in a bicycle accident.
Michael Hackman was injured Saturday evening when a car driving behind him on Providence Road near the Radnor Hunt Club struck the bicycle he was riding. He was taken to Paoli Hospital, where he died of massive head trauma. He was 64.
“It is difficult to put into words this unimaginable tragedy,” said John Crosby, one of the founders of the organization that Hackman helped run in recent years, the Uncommon Individual Foundation in Devon. “He was an indispensable part of our work, and it will be impossible to think about replacing him.”
Before Hackman joined the foundation, which is dedicated to inspiring mentorship in adults to help guide their success and which was founded by Crosby and entrepreneur Richard Caruso, he was the administrator for the thennascent “Decade to Doorways” program, the effort by Chester County to put an end to homelessness.
As such, Hackman helped institute a multi-faceted attempt to answer that problem by providing a pro-active solution that would not only relieve the emergency homeless conditions that affect residents here, but also address ways of preventing it across the board.
“The message is that we have come together as a community,” Hackman said in a 2015 interview with others who had just finished on of the county’s annual Point in Time counts of homeless people on the streets. “We developed a plan, and we built it.
“Frankly, we have some remarkable work in such a short time,” Hackman said in the interview. “There will always be people experiencing homelessness. But the measure of our success is how quickly we get them services.”
The mission of the 10year effort, begun in 2012, to battle homelessness was to bring together a host of resources that had been only loosely coordinated in the past that would shift the focus of the anti-homeless programs from managing and sheltering people and families without homes to preventing it with rapid rehousing efforts and helping them maintain that home. Instead of just moving a street person into a temporary, emergency home, the “Doorways” effort led by Hackman extended to finding a permanent place to live and means to continue in it.
In 2010, the count of homeless people living on the street was 745. By 2019, it had decreased to 517. This year, the count was 522.
“He cared,” said Pat Bokovitz,
the director of the county’s Department of Community Development, which oversees the Decade to Doorways program and who worked with Hackman during his tenure with the county. “I know that’s something of a cliche, but that was a big part of who he was. He was committed to helping people who are vulnerable and less fortunate. He was all in on that.”
In a statement, county Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline on Tuesday paid tribute to his service.
“We are saddened to hear of the tragic passing of Michael
Hackman,” the statement read. “He worked tirelessly in our Department of Community Development to end chronic homelessness through the Decades to Doorways program. Our deepest condolences are with his family, his friends and co-workers, and the many people who are no longer homeless because of his passion and dedication.”
Crosby echoed Bokovitz’s view of Hackman’s empathy for those he encountered.
“He gave of himself in so many ways, never thinking of himself,” Crosby said on Tuesday. “He had given of himself basically all of his life.”
Officials at the foundation issued a statement on his death: “With great sadness, we announce the loss of our beloved colleague, Michael Hackman,” it read. “Please keep the Hackman family in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time.
“Michael brought 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience to UIF when he joined the organization in 2015,” the foundation stated. “As managing director of UIF’s Education Programs — OnTrack and Youth Literacy Mentoring — Michael was committed to helping students succeed. He embodied our founder, Dr. Richard Caruso’s mission to help those most in need. Michael’s smiling face and cheerful banter will be greatly missed throughout our UIF family.”
According to his biography at Uncommon Individual, Hackman had worked with the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Philadelphia before taking the position with the county in 2012.
Hackman had a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography
from Penn State University and a Master’s of Social Work Administration from Temple University. He is survived by his wife, Charlene, their son, Sean, who also worked at Uncommon Individual as a technology specialist, and their daughter Chelsea, her husband, Lou, and a grandson. The couple lived in Tredyffrin.
Besides being a mainstay in the non-profit world in the county, Hackman was also an avid soccer player, competing for many years in the Men’s Over 50 League at United Sports Training Center in West Bradford. Jamie McVickar of West Vincent was one of his teammates.
“He was always more interested in hearing about my life than in talking about himself, which is rare these days,” McVickar said. “He always wanted to hear details of my family, and our Quaker Meeting’s service trips to Native American Indian reservations, or to Appalachia. We loved talking politics and laughing or wincing at the latest Trump outrage.
“But most importantly, he always had a smile on his face,” McVickar said. “You couldn’t dislike Mike. Just a great guy.”
According to Willistown police, the crash occurred between 7:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. on Saturday in the 800 block of Providence Road, near the Radnor Hunt Club, when Hackman was struck from behind by an automobile. The crash is currently under investigation, and anyone with any information is asked to call Detective Sgt. Stephen Jones at (610)-251-0222, ext. 111.
A virtual memorial is planned in the future, details of which will be shared by the foundation once they are finalized.