Millennium delivers intelligent compassion to people in complex situations by supporting a network of both small local teams and full-fledged development programs to respond to needs at the local level.

We believe that our strategy is an effective and empowering approach to relief and development.  We do not implement pre-packaged development programs. Rather, Millennium field partners acknowledge the unique needs and circumstances of various groups of people and begin by listening to, and engaging with communities, often through professional connections, followed by thoughtful assessment. Projects are borne from these conversations and the opportunities that arise.

This approach strives to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy, centralized control and costly administration. Millennium’s Houston and Canadian headquarters support programs conceived and implemented by field workers who live and work among the people they serve. Millennium field partners represent a diversity of backgrounds including medicine, science, education, engineering, technology, and business.

Bill Koops formed Millennium in 1997 after serving the Kurds of Northern Iraq as a humanitarian aid worker for six years with his wife, Teresa. Bill was project director for several U.S. government, UN and private contracts. Many of the concepts for the genesis of Millennium came from their experience in relief and development work. From 1991 to 1997, he assisted Kurds in Northern Iraq over the whole evolution of the crisis, from refugee flight to the mountains through long-term development in the unstable region of Northern Iraq. They were adopted into an extended Kurdish Muslim clan, giving them a unique knowledge and perspective. In 1997, he assisted refugee Kurds in Houston to acclimate to the US. Bill speaks Kurdish and Arabic. A graduate of Rice University with a degree in electrical engineering, Bill was a digital hardware engineer for a Houston engineering firm. Bill and his wife have three children and live in Houston, Texas.