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Robert Gehman
Listen to this articleRobert Gehman
CEO
Helping Up Mission
For nearly three decades, Robert Gehman has led the Baltimore-based nonprofit Helping Up Mission, which is dedicated to helping people experiencing homelessness, poverty or addiction in a faith-based setting.
Gehman believes that while Baltimore may be recognized around the country for high drug use among its population, it should also be home to the “most cutting-edge Spiritual Recovery Program in the country offering leadership to other similar organizations.”
Helping Up Mission’s Spiritual Recovery Program is a yearlong 12-step-based program that provides participants with tools for addiction recovery and relapse prevention, as well as helps them pursue new training or employment through trade schools, earn their GEDs and get non-emergency health issues addressed. Some of Gehman’s staff are graduates of this flagship program, “giving constant credence to its effectiveness.”
Throughout Gehman’s tenure, he has grown Helping Up Mission’s long-term residential program from 50 beds for men to 500 beds. In January 2022, the organization expanded its ability to house women and children to 200 beds and 50 beds, respectively.
Helping Up Missions provides 182,500 nights of shelter, 438,000 meals, more than 155,000 items of clothing and personal care and 6,700 counseling sessions yearly.
Before joining Helping Up Mission, Gehman served as a Baptist minister. He has a master’s degree in religious education and a bachelor’s degree in theology from Liberty University.
