Check Out Patrick Kearns’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Kearns.

Hi Patrick, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My path started overseas. I spent over fifteen years doing humanitarian work in Southeast Asia, much of it along the Thailand-Myanmar border. One of the things I’m most proud of from that period is co-founding a school inside a refugee camp. That experience shaped everything about how I think about community, dignity, and what people are capable of when given real support.
In 2014, I received the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award from the Dalai Lama. It was a humbling moment. But honestly, it made me want to do more, not less.
I came to Cleveland in 2016 to lead what is now Re:Source Cleveland. We serve over 3,000 newcomers a year in Cuyahoga County. Since then, we’ve grown fivefold and built programs that go well beyond direct services into systems change, social enterprise, and education.
The through-line for me has always been the same: people fleeing impossible circumstances deserve more than survival. They deserve a real shot.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road.
Building anything from the ground up is hard. Growing an organization fivefold while the needs of your community are also growing that creates real pressure. There were years where we were doing important work with very thin margins and very little room for error.
But the harder struggle is the one that never goes away: the policy environment. The people we serve are some of the most resilient I have ever met. And they are also among the most exposed. When federal policy shifts overnight, we feel it immediately. Benefits disappear. Legal status becomes uncertain. Families that were building stability are suddenly in crisis.
That is not abstract for us. It is personal.
So the road has not been smooth. But I think the difficulty is part of what keeps the work honest. You don’t get to be comfortable when the people you serve aren’t.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Re:Source Cleveland is a comprehensive newcomer services organization. We work across the full arc of someone’s arrival and integration — direct services, legal support, health access, education, workforce development, and housing. But what sets us apart is that we don’t stop at services. We also do systems change work, and we run social enterprises that create real economic opportunity for the people we serve.
Ohio City Farm is now in its 16th growing season. We just opened a farm store this spring. These aren’t side projects — they are part of a deliberate vision that newcomers should be contributors to this city, not just recipients of help.
A good example of how we work is Operation Green Card. In the current federal environment, lawful permanent residents are at serious risk if they haven’t yet secured their green cards. We stood up a coordinated, multi-partner initiative to move people through that process fast. We have already far exceeded our original caseload targets.
What am I most proud of? The trust. When a family in crisis calls us first, that means something. That took years to earn.
And what sets us apart is that we hold both urgency and long-term thinking at the same time. We respond to today’s crisis. And we are always building toward something bigger.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I grew up outside of Louisville Kentucky in the early 80s which basically meant growing up outside. We would constantly explore the woods and creaks of the area and one summer we came upon an island in the middle of one of the creaks and we built a fort on that island which we would visit each day for a summer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://resourcecleveland.org
• Instagram: @resourcecleveland
• Facebook: @resourcecleveland
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kearns-7101a615b
• Other: https://ohiocityfarm.com