Episode 9: Project Homeless Connect

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Project Homeless Connect Days of Service Events, Community Outreach, Volunteers

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“Is there a silver lining to a pandemic?”

In this episode we feature the voice of Meghan Freebeck, the Chief Executive Officer of Project Homeless Connect. Back in 2004 the City of San Francisco was struggling with both the growth of community members becoming homeless and how to provide the necessary wrap around services to help them off the streets. The City of San Francisco was implementing the Care Not Cash Program to help homeless San Franciscans receiving County Adult Assistance Programs by offering them housing or shelter and support services as part of their benefits. Project Homeless Connect was created in 2004, by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Department of Public Health as a way to provide a one stop service agency for all the necessary wrap around services to people experiencing homelessness. To find out more about the origins of Project Homeless Connect please listen to my interview with Emily Cohen than Deputy Director at Project Homeless Connect in Episode Two of my three part series titled Homeless in San Francisco.

Meghan Freebeck

Meghan Freebeck, MAE, comes from Chicago where she served as Director of Communications for the Shakespeare Project of Chicago and later Community & Volunteer Manager of an interim housing program, Lincoln Park Community Shelter, prior to moving to San Francisco. Most recently, Meghan served as Deputy Director of San Francisco Suicide Prevention, however her work continued serving neighbors experiencing homelessness when she founded Simply the Basics, the first national hygiene bank, a volunteer based, community nonprofit. Meghan is grateful to work with a dedicated team that prioritizes impact driven results and compassion in their services. (In 2020, Meghan and her family will be moving out of San Francisco; PHC is currently hiring for the CEO position).

Project Homeless Connect

In 2004, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Department of Public Health created Project Homeless Connect (PHC) as a way to bring necessary services to people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. As of July 2020, PHC is a program of Community Initiatives, a nonprofit fiscal sponsor.

PHC uses a unique approach to service delivery to meet the needs of homeless San Franciscans. We are serving more than 6,000 people every year through Community Day of Service events and in-house weekly services. In one day at a Community Day of Service event, a person experiencing homelessness can find services that would otherwise take months to secure. Volunteers, nonprofits, and government agencies provide participants with services through PHC. These services include dental care, eyeglasses, HIV testing, HepA Vaccines, housing information, groceries, hygiene products, medical care, mental health services, SSI benefits, legal advice, California identification cards, voice mail accounts, employment counseling/job placement, wheelchair repair, addiction services, and more.

In 2012, we launched Every Day Connect, our weekly in-office program. Every Day Connect is a program within PHC that builds on the success of our large-scale service events. Every Day Connect works to connect people experiencing homelessness with social and medical services and resources on a daily basis. In response to the changing needs of the homeless and low-income population, PHC continues to expand our resources and events. By leveraging the power of thousands of Bay Area volunteers and hundreds of local nonprofits and government agencies, PHC truly represents a community response to a community problem. Find out more about Project Homeless Connect its COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and various programs to provide a hand up for our unhoused community members.

Donation / Volunteer

Project Homeless Connect is a program of Community Initiatives, a nonprofit fiscal sponsor. Donations help us support individuals experiencing homelessness, people at risk of becoming homeless, and neighbors in our community with receiving services and care. By making a donation to Project Homeless Connect, you help ensure that every person in need, regardless of income or housing status, is responded to with care and dignity. All of our programs and Community Days of Service are privately funded.

Volunteers make all of Project Homeless Connect Programs possible. To find out more about how you can help a neighbor please check out the volunteer opportunities.

Videos

To find out more about the work of Project Homeless Connect check out their videos:

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