Gay Lynn Schwenk

Gay Lynn, a native of San Antonio who has worked in social services in our community for more than 20 years, joined SAMMinistries in September of 2016.  As Chief Program Officer, she will be responsible for oversight of SAMMinistries programs and staff serving families and individuals on the brink of housing disaster to include Homeless Prevention services, Rapid Re-Housing, Transitional and Permanent Supportive Housing, and Supportive services.

Gay Lynn is a licensed Master Social Worker and received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Our Lady of the Lake University in 1995. Her social work career began at Child Protective Services, where she worked in Investigation and in Family Based Safety Services units. Gay Lynn was selected as Bexar County Child Protective Services’ first full-time liaison to the Juvenile Probation Department, and was housed at their offices for a year, before becoming a CPS Supervisor. She supervised an Investigation unit, and later, a Family Based Safety Services unit.

After more than 8 years at Child Protective Services, Gay Lynn worked for Bexar County, as the Program Director for the then newly established Family Drug Court. This specialty court intervened with families separated because of parents’ addiction to drugs or alcohol, and provided intensive case management and wraparound services, in cooperation with Child Protective Services, community addiction treatment professionals, and various other community partners. Gay Lynn directed this project for 6 years before accepting an opportunity to gain experience in private non-profit social service.

In 2008, she joined Family Violence Prevention Services (The Battered Women and Children’s Shelter), as Director of Development. Gay Lynn headed government and foundation grant writing and later worked on numerous agency fundraising events and efforts, represented the organization on various community boards and councils and maintained strong cooperative partnerships in the community as the agency’s Vice President of Advancement.