Who We Are
Chosen Home was built on the belief that every person deserves dignity, safety, and community.
Our Mission
To provide free, unconditional harm reduction services, housing navigation, and peer support to people in Lincoln, Nebraska — with no barriers, no judgment, and no conditions.
Our Vision
Chosen Home exists because every person deserves compassion without conditions.
We believe that belonging is not something to be earned, it is something every human being is owed. Yet too often, the most vulnerable among us find that help is available only to those who conform to a particular belief system, identity, or way of living. When the cost of receiving care is the surrender of who you are, many people go without. For those left standing outside, that gap can be the difference between life and death.
Chosen Home was founded to stand in that gap.
We provide safe spaces, access to healthcare, housing program navigation, case management, and counseling, meeting people exactly where they are. We work without question, judgment, or precondition; grounded in the conviction that compassion is a moral imperative that requires no further justification.
We serve people experiencing homelessness, individuals navigating substance use, and members of communities who have learned (often painfully) that existing systems of support were not designed with them in mind. We do not ask who you love, what you believe, or what choices brought you to our door. We ask only: what do you need?
Our measure of success is not our own reach or recognition, but the dignity, safety, and expanded possibility of every person we walk alongside. Chosen Home is not a place you have to earn your way into.
It is a home that chooses you.
Our Values
These are not aspirations. They are commitments we make every day.
Dignity
Every person we serve is treated with the same respect and care, without exception.
Non-Judgment
We do not moralize, lecture, or attach conditions to compassion. We show up without an agenda.
Harm Reduction
We meet people where they are and prioritize keeping them alive and healthy above all else.
Inclusion
Explicitly welcoming and affirming of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences.
Community
Lived experience guides our work. We build with our community, not for them.
Transparency
We are honest about what we can and cannot do. We name what we know and what we are still learning.
Our Story
Founded
Chosen Home was founded by Derrick Anderson in Lincoln, Nebraska, after seeing firsthand the gaps in services for people experiencing homelessness, people who use drugs, and LGBTQIA+ individuals who had been turned away from conditional programs.
Phase 1: Core Harm Reduction
Launched naloxone distribution, fentanyl test strip programs, peer support, and basic supplies through volunteer-led operations in shared community spaces.
Growing Our Impact
[Placeholder — add milestones as the organization grows: wound care services, HIV/HCV testing partnerships, case management, and more.]
Our Team
The people who show up every day.
Derrick Anderson
Founder & Executive Director
Derrick Anderson founded Chosen Home because he refused to look away when his community was being left behind. As an LGBT individual who has navigated housing and food instability firsthand, he builds bridges where other systems have failed to.
Dalton Williams
Director, Secretary
Dalton has been working in mental health since 2017, with a specialization in disenfranchised communities. That field, alongside his work in community centers, has given him a drive for helping those in need.
Kaleb Walter
Director, Treasurer
Our Partners
[Partner logos and names will be added as partnerships are formalized.]