Isabel's House names executive director

Local nonprofit Isabel's House has named a former state employee and Springfield native its new executive director.

Dottie Mullikin, who most recently served as director of prevention for the Missouri Department of Mental Health and the first director of the Mental Health First Aid public education program, has been selected for the position, according to a Sept. 25 news release.

Mullikin succeeds Francine Pratt, who in July accepted the newly created position of program coordinator for Drury University's Scholars program, an enrichment program for black middle-school students in Springfield. Pratt had served in the Isabel's House role since March 2010.

Mullikin, who also was an inaugural member of the Mayor's Commission for Children in Springfield and a founding member of the Child Advocacy Center Board of Directors, is charged with leading Isabel's House, a project of Junior League of Springfield that serves as a safe haven for children ages newborn to 12 while their parents deal with crisis situations.

“A community is not measured by the quality of its streets nor by the number of churches it has, nor by the number of volunteers it can generate; not by the crime rate, nor by the unemployment rate," Mullikin, a mother of seven, said in the release. "A community is measured by how it treats its children. I look forward to this opportunity to work within Isabel‘s House as a catalyst to help move our community along in that process."