{"id":23,"date":"2018-11-27T01:11:27","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T01:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2025-09-25T11:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:27:10","slug":"founders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/founders\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Our Founders"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Founders<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2012, Priscilla Ofosu and Dianeda Short\u2014two dental professionals and former young mothers themselves\u2014co-founded Lean On Us Unity with a mission to uplift and support single mothers facing the same challenges they once overcame. A casual lunch between colleagues turned into a calling: to create an organization that would offer housing, education, and life skills to pregnant teens and young adult women navigating motherhood alone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Initially focused on transitional housing, the organization formed partnerships with local churches, support agencies, and alternative schools across Northern Virginia and Washington, DC. As the need grew, so did the mission\u2014giving rise to LOUU-House of Faith, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping young mothers build independent lives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through prayer, planning, and purpose, Priscilla and Dianeda transformed their shared vision into a life-changing organization that continues to evolve to meet the needs of the community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priscilla Ofosu, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

As Co-Founder and CEO, Priscilla Ofosu, R.D.H., leads with vision, compassion, and operational excellence. She oversees the day-to-day administration of both the LLC and nonprofit organizations, ensuring compliance with government regulations and nonprofit bylaws while advancing the mission to serve young mothers and families in need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priscilla brings over 20 years of experience in the dental field and earned her degree in Dental Hygiene from Howard University, graduating as class president in 2005. She is passionate about giving back and has volunteered annually with programs such as <\/span>Give Kids a Smile<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>MOM\u2019s Project<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Priscilla resides in Springfield, Virginia with her two daughters. Outside of her professional work, she values time with family and continues to be deeply committed to community impact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dianeda Short, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Dianeda Short serves as COO and Director of Programs. She leads the design, implementation, and oversight of all core services. Her work ensures that each program is built with purpose, compassion, and measurable outcomes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dianeda\u2019s background as an Expanded Function Dental Assistant provides her with a deep understanding of both precision and care. She holds a Dental Assistant Degree and X-ray certification from Applied Career Training, and she continues to be active in the field.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Dianeda is a Licensed Therapeutic Foster Parent, certified through Child and Family Services, and was honored as the<\/span> 2010 Foster Parent of the Year<\/span> by Foundations First. Her experience with youth from the CPS system has uniquely prepared her to support vulnerable populations with empathy and strength.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A passionate community leader, Dianeda is also an ordained minister at Liberty House Ministries, where she engages youth on spiritual development. She lives in Fort Washington, Maryland with her husband and their three daughters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Founders<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 2012, Priscilla Ofosu and Dianeda Short came together with a divinely orchestrated vision as they shared employment at a dental facility in Northern Virginia. Relying on each other\u2019s strong work ethic, they formed a professional trust and bond.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the working relationship had been developing in much more than the professional duties they shared, but a sisterhood that would end up turning into a divine purpose. Daily, the three professional women met for lunch to enjoy each other\u2019s company. However, one day of communing led them into a deep, heartfelt discussion as they discussed the plight of teen pregnant girls and young unwed mothers\u2014a situation they each experienced. All three were in tears as they realized they shared an experience and common compassion for an ongoing societal issue.<\/p>\n

The two women immediately began brainstorming about how they could lend their support in helping to aid the issue. However, being not just professional women, but women with a strong spiritual foundation, they decided to pray about the issue individually and report back to explain what they felt God was saying to each of them on how to lend their expertise in aiding the issue.<\/p>\n

After several days of praying and seeking GOD for direction, both of them were given a glimpse of their purpose. As they started to write it out\u2014piecing together the vision that was shown to them\u2014the VISION began to unfold and merge. It was so divinely orchestrated that their human minds could not recognize the divine intervention, but they could feel the power of the Holy Spirit positioning them into one cohesive form.<\/p>\n

As the women became clearer of their vision\u2014to develop a highly-respected and sought-after organization providing sustainable programs to aid pregnant teens and young adult mothers\u2014they began dedicating time and energy by working diligently to make their VISION a reality. Thus, Lean On Us Unity was born.<\/p>\n

Since its inception, Priscilla Ofosu and Dianeda Short have served as executive director and director of programs, respectively.<\/p>\n

Priscilla Ofosu, CEO<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Priscilla Ofosu, R.D.H., serves dual roles as LOUU and LOUU House of Faith\u2019s (under the direction of a Board of Directors) Executive Director. Priscilla\u2019s primary duty is managing the administrative operations of both companies, ensuring that they are in business and government compliance, as well as ensuring that the nonprofit is operating according to the directives of the bylaws. Priscilla\u2019s expertise is in dental hygiene and upper management operations.<\/p>\n

For the past 17 years, Priscilla has worked in the dental field. She graduated President of her class in 2005 from Howard University with a degree in Dental Hygiene. Priscilla prides herself on giving back to the community as she volunteers, annually, with the Give Kids a Smile and MOM\u2019s project.<\/p>\n

Priscilla lives in Springfield, VA, with her two daughters. When not working, Priscilla enjoys quality time with her family.<\/p>\n

Dianeda Short, COO<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Dianeda Short serves dual roles as LOUU and LOUU House of Faith\u2019s (under the direction of the Board of Directors) Director of Programs. Dianeda\u2019s primary duty is spearheading the development of core programs and managing the operation of each program.<\/p>\n

Dianeda\u2019s expertise is in dental care. As an Expanded Function Dental Assistant, she utilizes her expertise by assisting with restoring and creating healthy smiles using modern technology. Dianeda holds a Dental Assistant Degree and X-Ray certification from Applied Career Training.<\/p>\n

Dianeda is also a Licensed Therapeutic Foster Parent. Dianeda\u2019s personal and professional expertise as a foster parent is in handling challenging teens who come from problematic backgrounds within the Child Protective Services system. Dianeda has a certification in Therapeutic behaviors from Child and Family Services, and is the recipient of the 2010 Foster Parent Award of the Year with Foundations First home care.<\/p>\n

Dianeda is also an active member of Liberty House Ministries, where she serves as an ordained minister. Her work in the community, speaking with the youth group in church about oral home care, is done annually. Dianeda lives in Fort Washington, MD, with her beloved husband and three beautiful daughters. When not working, Dianeda spends quality time with her family.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The Founders In 2012, Priscilla Ofosu and Dianeda Short\u2014two dental … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26520,"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions\/26520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewood.ws\/leanonusunitychildcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}