Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness initiative offers innovative research and compassionate solutions to the growing crisis of homelessness, addiction, and mental illness facing many American cities. Our mission is to serve as a resource for policy leaders, business owners, and neighborhood organizations trying to meaningfully reduce homelessness and to help those suffering realize their full human potential.
Journalist and Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth and Poverty
Jonathan Choe is a journalist and Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth and Poverty, covering homelessness issues for its Fix Homelessness initiative. Prior to joining Discovery, Choe spent several years as one of the lead reporters at KOMO-TV, consistently the top rated television station in Seattle. His in depth stories on crime and deep dive investigations into the homeless crisis led to measurable results in the community, including changes in public policy. Choe has more than two decades of experience in television news behind the scenes and in front of the camera for ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and Tribune. He has also been nominated and honored with multiple industry awards including an Emmy. Choe spent several years teaching classes on emerging media and entrepreneurship to under privileged youth in inner city Chicago. As an independent journalist, Choe also contributes regularly to the Mill Creek View and Lynnwood Times and has reported on exclusive stories in the past year for Daily Wire and The Postmillennial.
Founder and Chairman of the Board of Discovery Institute
Bruce Chapman has had a long career in American politics and public policy at the city, state, national, and international levels. Elected to the Seattle City Council and as Washington State’s Secretary of State, he also served in several leadership posts in the Reagan administration, including ambassador. In 1991, he founded the public policy think tank Discovery Institute, where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board and director of the Chapman Center on Citizen Leadership.
Michele Steeb is the founder of the Free Up Foundation and author of Answers Behind the RED DOOR: Battling the Homeless Epidemic, based on her 13 years as CEO of Northern California’s largest and most comprehensive program for homeless women and children. A nationally recognized thought leader on homelessness, Michele brings decades of leadership and policy experience rooted in real-world impact. Michele consults with communities and public policy organizations nationwide, including Discovery Institute, where she currently serves as a Senior Fellow of their Fix Homelessness Initiative.
Caitlin Cory is the Communications Coordinator for Discovery Institute. She writes for Discovery’s Fix Homelessness initiative and has previously written about Big Tech and its impact on human freedom. Caitlin grew up in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from Liberty University in 2017 with her Bachelor’s in Politics and Policy, and now lives in Maryland with her husband.
Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.
Project Coordinator and Research Fellow, Fix Homelessness Initiative
Marsha Michaelis is a project coordinator and research fellow for Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth & Poverty and the Fix Homelessness Initiative. She interned with Discovery in the late 90’s while studying at Seattle Pacific University, then spent more than a decade directing communications and education reform at a Washington State-based think tank. She left the office to raise and educate her four children, spending another decade directing various homeschool programs and teaching classes from kindergarten through high school. Marsha has written as a columnist and freelancer for numerous state and national publications, most recently and currently for her county’s monthly newspaper. She and her family live in northeast Washington state.
Kevin Dahlgren is a grassroots journalist documenting homelessness, addiction, and systemic failure on the West Coast. He worked in social services for over two decades and saw the dysfunction firsthand. Through firsthand reporting, photography, and on-the-ground observation, he exposes the gap between public spending and real-world outcomes. His work centers on humanizing people living on the streets while holding nonprofits, local governments, and policies accountable for results. Drawing from direct encounters rather than press releases, Dahlgren highlights lived experience, public safety, and overlooked consequences of failed interventions. His journalism challenges dominant narratives, sparks uncomfortable conversations, and advocates for practical, measurable solutions rooted in accountability, preparation, and dignity.
The Center
The mission of Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth & Poverty is to apply the perennial truths of economics and ethics to the urgent challenges of today. We are building a sustained argument against the progressive ideological regime that increasingly dominates America’s institutions and rebuilding the foundation of the nation’s first principles: freedom, equality, charity, and the pursuit of happiness for all.
