According to Valerie P. Vidal, president and chief executive officer of Meta House Inc., the clients of the organization are the North Star – the center of all motivation and decision-making.
“I keep my passion for our work ignited through the lives and stories of the clients and families we serve and by reflecting on my personal journey,” she said. “I honor the memory of my loved ones who lost their battle with substance use disorder by serving others, and I aspire to share my enthusiasm for mental health and substance use disorder treatment resources with others by connecting impact and outcomes with personal stories and experiences.”
Meta House’s mission is to end the generational cycle of addiction by healing women and strengthening families.
As the president and chief executive officer, Vidal has led an ambitious expansion, which is now underway and will entail a full operational relocation into newly constructed buildings. Once fully operational in the new spaces, Meta House’s staff and annual operational budget will nearly double. Construction of the 100,000-square-foot campus is supported through private philanthropy, public grants and advantageous loans through the New Market Tax Credit program.
The expansion will allow Meta House to serve nearly twice as many clients, which will result in thousands of lives impacted in just one year. Through its capital expansion project, Project Horizon, Meta House will drastically increase access to life services for underserved Wisconsin residents, including low-income pregnant and postpartum BIPOC women.
In the past three years, Meta House has raised more than $20 million in public and private support in furtherance of this expansion under Vidal’s leadership. This is the most amount of support Meta House has raised in a comparable amount in the agency’s 60+ year history.
“Valerie is a fierce advocate for the clients served by Meta House and the employees who make those services possible,” said her staff. “She creates community and builds effective coalitions in service of collective objectives such as advancing policy change, and she is a mentor to others and looks for ways to help clear barriers for other nonprofits.”
As a result, Vidal has been recognized for her service to the community. Most recently, she was recognized by the Milwaukee Business Journal as a woman of influence in 2021. She was recognized as one of the Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in 2018. In her prior role as a litigator for Quarles & Brady LLP, Vidal was frequently recognized as a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Pro Bono Honor Society.