Dear friends,
City Hope has always held firm to the belief that no one belongs on the streets - a vision as true now as when we began. For the past 8 years, it has been an honor to pursue this vision alongside Sally Steele, our Co-Director. Thank you, Sally, for your dedication to City Hope, your investment in our vulnerable Tenderloin neighbors, and your commitment to help steer the ship through a pandemic and more. I know you will do amazing things in your next endeavor- you will be missed! City Hope’s journey continues, and this year we celebrate City Hope: You Belong Here. Our Tenderloin neighbors belong here, as they seek relationship and connection at our meals and in our café. Our volunteers belong here, connecting with our guests and learning compassionate service. Our City Hope House residents belong here, as they pursue recovery and restored lives. Our generous supporters belong here, as they invest in our relational approach in the face of the grim reality of marginalized housing. We all belong here. In this season of change and growth, I will resume the role of Executive Director. I am excited by the depth and commitment of our Board and staff, and I am thrilled by our growing programs and community partnerships. Most of all, I am thankful for our community, for your continued support and encouragement. We are all eager to see what is next, and I am grateful to have you on the journey with us. Peace, Paul Trudeau
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Dear friends,
After almost 8 years with City Hope I have decided to explore other opportunities. I am so grateful to all of you for the ways you’ve supported me and City Hope over the years, and I’m proud to have overseen so much of City Hope’s growth. This has been an exciting journey - I'm proud of the impact we've made, the relationships we've built, and the incredible City Hope team that makes it all work. I often talk about that first visit to what would become the Community Center because it is so imprinted on my mind, that shell of a building with the potential to be a space of belonging for the community, this space that now holds so many of my memories. I remember (not so fondly) all the construction and (much more fondly) the community listening sessions as we planned out City Hope’s programs. I remember our staff first moving into the office space and the joy of our vision becoming reality. I remember those first meals served as we welcomed in the community and figured out how to make it all work without a full commercial kitchen. And I rejoice at all the good that has happened since those early days: the opening of the City Hope House and the Café, the ways we’ve intentionally grown and invested in our team, and our resilience while wrestling with a global pandemic, questions of justice and equity, and the realities of becoming our own organization (all at the same time, because why not?). City Hope is now so much stronger than we were and I know that there is more to come. City Hope is an amazing organization with engaged volunteers and supporters, wonderful staff, and a dedicated board. I'm excited to witness and cheer on the next stage in City Hope's growth, knowing that under Paul’s continued leadership, City Hope will remain a place of trusted community and joy, of welcoming faces and amazing meals - a place where everyone belongs. Truly, a vision of the beautiful community. Peace and grace, Sally Steele We believe that one of the most important ways to uplift the Tenderloin community is through listening well. City Hope recently began sharing our space with Trans Thrive, an organization that aims to create safe spaces, events and services for the entire Trans/Gender Non-Conforming community. In honor of Pride Month, Jacey Massetto, our Program Manager, interviewed two employees of Trans Thrive to learn more about the challenges that our Transgender neighbors face in the Tenderloin:
Please tell us a little about yourself and the work you do at Trans Thrive. Erica: My name is Erica. I’m a case manager and I work in Trans services at the San Francisco Community Health Center. I was born and raised here in San Francisco in the Richmond district. I got into the work I do now because I was a peer leader at the agency for many years and always looked up to all the girls that worked in Trans services. In my younger years while transitioning, the girls I looked up to were the ones making the most money on the corner. Now though, it has really evolved and we have so many positive role models in the community that younger generations can look up to. It’s really great for me to be able to experience that coming from working in the sex industry and having the experiences I’ve had. I’ve lived an eventful life, but realized in my later years that I didn’t have anything to show for it. Once I learned that my life experiences are valid for this type of work, I started moving in this direction. It’s been really cool to see my life come full circle. I grew up here and transitioned in the Tenderloin and now I’m able to help other girls. Niko: I’m Niko. I use he/him pronouns. I'm currently the Associate Director of Health Equity at the San Francisco Community Health Center. Basically, I oversee two main components. One is all of the Trans services programs that are not related to medical care. Then I oversee three LGBT health equity programs around tobacco use and mental health. However, I've been at the agency for thirteen years in December. I grew up in Ohio and moved to SF when I graduated from college. I started working at a gay club in the Castro that’s known as being really Trans friendly. Some of the owners are trans men and I worked with them on programming around how to build community for Trans men within the gay community, which wasn’t something that was being talked about a lot. That allowed me to meet this person named Luke, who was the program supervisor of Trans Thrive many years ago. Then, when a position opened at Trans Thrive I already had a connection there and was really excited to start working with this community. I started as a program assistant and have been within the Trans Services Department ever since. What are some of the biggest challenges the Trans community faces in the Tenderloin? Erika: One of the main things is the lack of housing. There have been a lot of ideas and solutions in the past that seemed good, but haven’t worked. I still see way too many girls that aren’t actually placed anywhere. They’re just staying in hotels. It’s hard when you see money being given to help these people, but it’s unclear why there is no plan that’s working. Niko: I think housing is definitely our number one need at this point. I always think that there's room for improvement about everything in general, but there are a lot of medical resources that are Trans competent in San Francisco. There are plenty of places that people can go and get a hot meal, but there isn’t a good place that I can send Trans people where I can assure that they're going to be safe in their housing. Even some of the shelters and recovery programs that we know to be friendly actually depend on who you're with in terms of staff and other clients. One powerful model that can help this shift is “it’s for us by us” where the majority of staff are Trans, which is a model we follow at Trans Thrive. It’s really nice to be able to walk into a space and see people that you know are part of your community. And while our stories are very different in our experiences, we can both feel compassion for each other around what it's like to be Trans. We all have common experiences like what it was like to transition. Many of us have family issues, and there’s something powerful about having these universal connecting points. I think it would be amazing to eventually have a clinic that is only run by Trans people. I do think that allies and cis people have a place in the movement, but it’s so important for communities that are marginalized to have a sacred safe space with people of their community. This is also a challenging neighborhood to be in if you’re in recovery. There are a lot of resources you can access in the TL (Tenderloin), but if you’re Trans and in recovery, it can be really triggering. What do you do if your main source of support as a Trans person is in the TL, but going there might cause you to relapse? Also, the lack of safety is a challenge. People still get harassed on the streets by other community members. Part of why our Trans Thrive drop-in center is so important is because, for the three hours we’re open, people are respected and supported in the identity they choose to be. Erika: I feel like the safety issue has gotten worse for girls on the streets. It can be incredibly dangerous. Back in my day, I felt like it was less dangerous or we had a better understanding of how to keep ourselves safe. For me, being here actually helps me stay sober. When I see what other people are doing, I always try to remind myself that it could be me if I was still on that path. Now, I have the opportunity to help girls like me and even girls I used to party with in the past. It was because of one girl that I decided to go to Walden House and get sober when I turned 50. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. These girls still on the streets are my family, and I want to be able to help them. It’s hard though because no one is going to make a change and stay sober until they want to. It won’t stick until they really want to make it stick. At City Hope we are always trying to create community for our neighbors. This is something you all at Tran Thrive are doing so well through your drop-in centers. What does it look like to create a strong and safe community for our Trans neighbors? Niko: The number one thing is to listen to the community. I think a lot of times people, and this is not just related to the trans community, will come into a certain community that they don’t identify with and present a certain idea or solution. But often, they haven’t talked to the community or asked the community what they want. I think it's really important if you want to get buy-in from the Trans community, you need to have Trans people involved in whatever you're putting together. I don't think that everybody in an operation needs to be trans. However, if you want Trans people to come and feel safe, then walking into a space and seeing some Trans volunteers or seeing photos on the wall of people in the community can be really impactful. Erika: Yeah I completely agree. If you can have a diversity of people from different communities, it’s really impactful. If people can see themselves represented and relate to what you’re doing, they’ll want to come and join. Niko: If you have Trans people in your community already or in your program, ask them if you can work with them. If you don’t go to organizations like Trans Thrive to help you develop something. Honestly, it goes such a long way when someone reaches out to us and asks how they can best support the community. It also can be better to ask us, as professionals in this work, than to ask someone you don’t know in the community, especially if you’re in a position of power. It is never a marginalized person’s job to answer your questions. But I do consider it part of our job, as professionals in the Trans services, to be more vulnerable and help answer questions that people might have. Erika: Yeah it’s always good to ask us questions first if you can. If you ask a community a sensitive question, they might not want to come back. We’d much rather talk to you about those things first. Niko: Trans people, understandably, have a lot of distrust of medical providers and particular service providers, and I think that it's really on other people to do that work to step up and support our community. There's many of us that are here that are willing to help support people that are genuine in wanting to do that work. The more resources that are Transgender or Trans friendly or Trans inclusive, the better in my mind. Not every resource in the world out there is for everybody, so the more different points of access for Trans people in the community, the better. Thanks so much Erica and Niko for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with our community. *To learn more about Trans Thrive, please visit: https://sfcommunityhealth.org/program/trans-thrive/ COVID has impacted all of San Francisco’s residents in more ways than one over the past year. For our unhoused neighbors, however, this impact is even greater as they face a pandemic on top of the ongoing homelessness epidemic. At City Hope we’re often asked about these impacts on San Francisco’s unhoused community. What happens next for the people who were staying in the City’s COVID response hotels? Has the number of people experiencing homelessness increased? What’s next in City Hope’s response to COVID?
At the start... COVID added trauma on top of trauma for City Hope’s guests experiencing homelessness. It was hard to find masks, sanitation, or a safe place to sleep as shelters reduced the number of beds available in order to maintain distancing. People experiencing homelessness age faster and have a higher rate of health issues, both of which put them at increased risk during the pandemic. At City Hope there was deep concern that our guests would be among the first to succumb to COVID-19. We prepared ourselves for the loss while keeping our focus on continuing to provide our essential services to the community. The City, knowing that COVID could have an outside impact on the homeless community, quickly ramped up their response plan. In April 2020 the first Shelter-In-Place (SIP) hotel was opened, and eventually there were 25 hotels that housed 2,500 individuals, as well as four Isolation and Quarantine (I&Q) Hotels for those who had tested positive for COVID. What’s next in the City’s response? The City’s SIP hotels are currently being phased out though there is conversation about continuing the program after the federal government announced a 100% reimbursement for shelter-in-place hotel costs. The City is committed to rehousing all individuals who were placed in SIP hotels before November 2020 and who are participating in the rehousing program. This massive rehousing effort began on November 2, 2020 is scheduled to be completed by this October. Participants are being rehoused into either permanent supportive housing (PSH), given a 24-month subsidy (this is for people who the city believes will be able to pay full rent after that time), or provided with interventions to address their housing issue outside of the city’s response system. There are also another 1,935 housing resources that will be made available by June 2022. According to the City’s website, Mayor Breed’s Homelessness Recovery plan is the largest expansion of permanent supportive housing in 20 years. Has homelessness in SF increased overall? While we have anecdotally seen the numbers of people experiencing homelessness go up during the pandemic, the cancelation of the annual Point In Time count means we do not have the 2020 numbers to compare with homelessness in 2019. With the City’s rehousing plan underway, we are hopeful that a count in 2021 will show a significant drop in overall homelessness numbers. What about City Hope? We continue to provide vital services during this time: 1) continuing to feed people - healthy food means healthier bodies. Through grocery delivery and warm meals, we can boost the health of our neighbors who are often dealing with a variety of other health concerns even in non-COVID times. 2) providing a sense of community to combat isolation - the silent killer for our unhoused neighbors during COVID has actually been drug overdose. Experts believe many deaths could have been prevented were it not for the isolation caused by sheltering in place. City Hope has witnessed and held that tension during this time. We believe strongly in taking all the necessary safety precautions and continue to implement them. We do this while also working hard to remain the place where people know they will see their neighbors and friends and be welcomed by friendly City Hope staff and volunteers. These connections can make that difference in whether people feel alone or not. 3) encouraging vaccinations and disseminating information- there is still some skepticism about vaccines among some of our guests. We strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated and are working to dispel any myths or misconceptions our guests may have about getting vaccinated. Another challenge for our guests is knowing where vaccines are available to them. We currently have flyers posted with information about vaccination availability. We are happy to announce that all of our Tenderloin guests currently have the opportunity to be vaccinated nearby at GLIDE and are hopeful that we will be able to safely gather together again soon. Resources and additional information: ●San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing Rehousing Pandemic Prioritization Plan ●SF Chronicle "If COVID-19 isn’t driving a dramatic increase in homeless deaths, then what is?" ●National Healthcare for the Homeless Council “COVID-19 and People Experiencing Homelessness: Resources and Guidance” ●DataSF “COVID-19 Alternative Shelter Program” Welcome to the City Hope blog! Many of you have heard us say that we strive to be a place where everyone is welcome, respected, and celebrated. At their core, our values aim to cultivate a sense of belonging for everyone who walks through our doors- whether you are a volunteer, a neighbor, a donor, or a staff member. Cultivating belonging takes many shapes at City Hope. It means looking our guests in the eyes when we welcome them and calling them by name. It’s embracing all levels of experience of volunteers and providing them with training and tools to succeed. It’s intentionally creating an inclusive work space for the entire staff.
We believe that the best way to create an environment of belonging is through listening well and leaning deeply into the stories and experiences of our community. We hope that this blog will be a way to do that on a deeper level outside the walls of City Hope. Each month we will share a story about what we have experienced, have learned and are continuing to learn. We will share community stories, staff interviews, thoughts on issues affecting the neighborhood, and more. We are the first ones to admit that making space for everyone to belong and be known is no easy task. It is something that we are continually striving for even if it is imperfect. We hope that you will join us on this journey and invite you to listen to our community alongside us. |
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