Interview with Mark Walker, Managing Director of Global Community Affairs at Applied Materials and Chair of the Destination: Home Leadership Board

Posted on June 18, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Mark Walker is the Managing Director of Global Community Affairs at Applied Materials and the Chair of the Destination: Home Leadership Board. Applied Materials is working to microfinance solar power for schools in India, as well as to end homelessness in Santa Clara County.

Q: How are you involved in ending homelessness in Silicon Valley?

Mark: Applied Materials is one of the biggest supporters of Destination: Home, but I personally have been involved since the inception of the Housing First movement in Santa Clara County. Housing First gave us the conviction that we could be successful with a new model of ending homelessness, and creating systems change. It made it doable, and also gives us a way to quantify the problem.

Right now we’re working on measuring the cost per person of being chronically homeless, in mental health services, hospital costs, justice costs and more. We’re making progress, thanks to great cooperation from the County this year. It’s been great to see our hopes for a better, more just future coming to fruition in Housing 1000’s successes.

Q: You manage Applied Materials’ philanthropy across the entire world. Why worry about homelessness in a very affluent area of a comparatively rich nation?

Mark: We do have a global reach—Applied Materials is electrifying villages and schools in India right now. There are currently 400 million people in India who live off the grid, many of whom use unsafe and polluting kerosene fuels. We’re using microfinance techniques so that people can purchase solar home lighting systems, and we’re outfitting schools with solar power and charging stations for lamps. That way it actually strengthens school attendance too, since kids need to go to school to recharge their lamps for reading at home.

Approximately two billion people around the world live on a dollar a day. That means an enormous number of people live below the level of economic self-sufficiency. India, China, and other developing countries have vast economic inequality, with some people who are very rich and some who are extremely poor—as does America.

On a relative scale, America has the same issue of extreme poverty, with an alarming number of people living on meager incomes. Almost 25% of the population in Santa Clara County lives below the level of economic self-sufficiency—and if they have a financial problem, they don’t have an economic buffer and can easily go into crisis-mode and lose their housing. Global poverty is heart-wrenching, but people are suffering right here in Silicon Valley. Homeless men and women in America need help as badly as anyone else in the world.

Q: How do you see corporate responsibility playing out in Silicon Valley?

Mark: All companies have a role to play. Some encourage volunteerism among their employees even before they become profitable, which is just wonderful. Others use their corporate foundations for philanthropy.

There’s a tendency to isolate ourselves from the challenges faced by the homeless and the working poor. We need to be more sensitized to the issues and solutions. When I worked at United Way we created maps with green, yellow and red zones showing the areas where people of different income levels live. Often those living in the green zones—the wealthiest—don’t cross paths with those in the red zones—the lowest income areas—on their way to work. This kind of neighborhood isolation can lead to lack of understanding of how others live.

There’s this pervasive idea that everyone can bootstrap themselves to success, but realistically not everyone can. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important for Housing 1000 to reach out and educate people. Housing 1000 is filling the gap for the most vulnerable members of our society–those who can’t succeed without our support.

Their creative approach to solving this social problem is a great fit for Silicon Valley, which is home to some of the most innovative minds in the world. It is my hope that we can leverage the innovation, creativity and global responsiveness from our business sector to increase philanthropy focused on this critical community need. And that’s my real message to all Silicon Valley professionals.

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Interview with Shelly Barbieri, Housing 1000 Care Coordination Project Manager with EHC Lifebuilders

Posted on June 13, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

“Last week we housed a 77-year-old man,” says Shelly. “He’d been homeless for 40 years.”

It’s all in a day’s work for Shelly Barbieri of EHC Lifebuilders—she does intake, referrals, and periodic life-saving detective work. As the Housing 1000 Care Coordination Project Manager, she is at the heart of all the work that we do. Here’s her story.

Q: What’s an average day for you?

Shelly: I do a ton of different things, from supporting the case managers to communicating with upper management to locating homeless clients. When we started out I was having the case managers go look for their clients, but we realized that was an inefficient use of their time, so I’m mostly charged with that now. Some homeless folks don’t have a phone number or an email address or anything, so they can be hard to reach. I use our database to see if they’ve checked into a shelter, make phone calls, and try to figure what city they’re in. Once I’ve narrowed it down I’ll go walk through encampments and try and ask around.

If I’ve got a photograph I can show it to people, and say “have you seen this person?”

One lady we surveyed didn’t even give us a photograph—and she was 77 years old, so she popped up pretty quickly on our list of the most vulnerable. We actually first started looking for her in December. We asked police, and walked encampments, the whole deal. We’d surveyed her in June, and she wasn’t showing up in the HMIS database—that means she had never, ever accessed a shelter service. So she obviously needed our help and was very high risk, but no matter what we tried, we just couldn’t find her.

Then last month, the craziest thing happened. We got an email through the EHC Lifebuilders website, and it seems that a Good Samaritan had been providing food every morning to a local homeless woman. The donor knew that the homeless woman had a daughter in Oregon, and had contacted her. Apparently the daughter then emailed all the local service agencies, including EHC—and well, the names matched. It was the same woman we’d been looking for!

But the daughter still couldn’t give us very much information. All we knew was that the homeless mother was in Morgan Hill, and that she hung out “at McDonald’s.” Well, there is more than one McDonald’s in Morgan Hill, let me tell you—and I have now seen all of them. I went there with Tonya, our EHC Lifebuilders case manager, and we ordered tea and gave my card to an employee, but he hadn’t seen her. We went to the next McDonald’s, went through nearby encampments, and walked through fields looking for this lady. We went to a third McDonald’s, and by this time I was exhausted and I just asked Tonya to run inside and check, and then we’d turn around and give up for the day. I wasn’t expecting anything—I didn’t even turn off the car engine! Then I noticed Tonya pausing inside—she was in there, right then. It was like a little miracle.

She moved into her new place Monday the 11th. It’s the first time she’ll be housed in 23 years, and it couldn’t have happened without our tightly knit team of people all working together in coordination with each other. Housing 1000 is different from anything else—it’s almost like the CCP is its own agency, because we’re collaborating so well. It’s such a group effort. And it’s working.

Q: That’s an amazing story. What other obstacles do you face in your work for Housing 1000?

Shelly: There was some resistance to the Housing First methodology. I myself have been working with EHC Lifebuilders for 15 years, and it’s hard to realize, “oh, I wasn’t doing best practices all this time,” or “I wasn’t doing what worked.” But when you’re trying to help someone move forward as a case manager, and they’re homeless, it’s like this endless cycle and you constantly feel like you’re starting from scratch. It turns out that Housing First actually makes our job easier—your client may have many other needs, but at least you can know that they’re safe in housing. The other thing is that it’s wonderful for their self esteem. It’s so hard to tell someone about a new job program, or about life skills they might need, when they’re losing their shelter bed the next day. Housing First really gears clients towards looking to the future.

There’s some great moments in this work, too. Last week we housed a 77-year-old man who’d been homeless for 40 years of his life. He loves the place he’s living in, now. Afterwards I high-fived every single person in the office—it takes a team to house someone.

There’s such a satisfaction in this work, because what you’re doing is so major.

Sadly though, a lot of clients don’t make it to 77. These folks have extensive medical and mental health issues, and even after they start getting services it’s difficult. Making an encampment on private property—something people sometimes need to do just to survive—gets you a misdemeanor charge. Landlords don’t want to rent to folks with a criminal history! Plus most of them have evictions on their records. So it’s a struggle to build those relationships with landlords.

Q: What’s your take on Housing 1000’s new website, Housing ONE?

Shelly: I think of Housing ONE as a tool to celebrate my clients’ successes. I tell clients they should be proud of the work they’ve done to get where they are, and they should want to tell that story to the world. For some of these clients, who may have multiple disabling conditions—including severe mental illness and paranoia—it’s a huge step even making it to a shelter. The client is doing this. We’re supporting them, but we’re just the supporting cast. The client is the star.

Q: How are you utilizing technology and innovation in your work?

Shelly: We work with Community Technology Alliance to manage client data. It’s always nice to have somebody tell you how great you’re doing! CTA gives us numbers that make it real, and help us measure our performance—they can tell us how many people we’re housing within 60 days of being referred, for example. It’s great to have someone who has the technical skills to manage our data, and who also understands the mission.

Q: Anything else you’d like people to know about the Care Coordination Project and the work that you do?

Shelly: My CCP team is amazing. I couldn’t have wished for a better group of people in my wildest dreams—they’re just completely awesome. Thanks also to the executive team, Destination: Home, the County and our other partners for supporting not only this project but also the clients. The executive team has been awesome at providing resources eliminating barriers. Destination: Home has been great at leading the fight to end chronic homelessness.

Housing 1000 is all of us. It’s not just the CCP, it’s not just EHC Lifebuilders. We all need to take ownership of it. It’s a community effort—jump on the train!

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NEW VIDEO!

Posted on June 7, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Thanks to the work of the awesome team over at C Sharp Video Productions, Housing 1000 has a new video to share with you!

This video has some amazing, eye-opening shots of people living in creeks, and in other extreme conditions. The people featured in it are clients, volunteers, and Housing 1000 team members. You can spot our team member Julia, slipping through a hole in a fence to go survey our homeless neighbors during Registry Week.

At the end we interview Lynn, a client of ours who we’ve recently helped become housed. Why not take a look?

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Interview with Lorena Collins, Senior Program Director of South Bay Mental Health and Men’s Services with InnVision the Way Home

Posted on June 7, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Lorena Collins is the Senior Program Director of South Bay Mental Health and Men’s Services with InnVision the Way Home. But before that, she spent 20 years as a case manager—so she knows what it means to be there every day for the poorest and sickest members of our community. Read her interview below!

Q: You’re the program director for Men’s Services. What does that mean?

Lorena: Men’s services are often forgotten in this field—people want to help homeless women and children, but they think men can just “make it” on the street. What they may not realize is that all of our clients have experienced trauma. They’ve been raped, or beaten. When one of my clients was little, his father nailed his hand to the kitchen table. Others were kidnapped, or abused during their childhood. Imagine trying to trust somebody after that—or to give government officials your personal information. It’s almost impossible.

I wish people could remember that homeless men have talent, kindness and amazing potential—they too were once somebody’s child. Some of them tend to put up these independent or aggressive fronts, as a coping strategy, and part of our job is to help them admit they need help, and trust us to give them support. They get scared, just like anybody else.

People don’t realize that homeless men and women learn adaptive and survival skills on the street that are different from what it takes to succeed in other places. They learn ways to cope with poverty and fear, and at times these compensatory strategies may not serve them well when it comes to, for example, a job-search. Many homeless clients may develop mental illnesses caused by past trauma—or that is exacerbated by past trauma—and then use alcohol or drugs to self-medicate. They do it to survive, but then they may become addicted and it’s even harder to escape from the cycle of poverty.

Q: How does your work involve Housing 1000?

Lorena: I supervise our Housing 1000 case manager, whose clients are often featured on Housing ONE. I also assist with ongoing coordination of surveys being completed at our Cecil White Day Services Center for the Housing 1000 Registry. Our Montgomery Street Inn and Julian Street Inn are both doing the Housing 1000 survey upon intake. We’ve integrated Housing 1000 into our daily routines, here at InnVision.

Q: What’s the most important factor in housing these high-need men and women?

Lorena: Aside from affordable housing actually being available, case management is by far the most important part of housing chronically homeless individuals. Case managers need to be adaptable to help people get housed and stay housed. It takes a team because these clients are high risk. They need to learn to trust people in order to make progress, and it takes a great case manager to build that trust.

Q: You mentioned trust issues, anxiety and self-medication as struggles for mentally ill homeless people. What other ways can mental illness impact these clients?

Lorena: There’s a stigma against mental illness. When people talk about mental illness, the term schizophrenia is sometimes used indiscriminately. It’s a common mistake to assume because you suffer from mental illness, you are schizophrenic—but actually mental illness can be anything from acute psychosis to bouts of mild depression.  People tend to believe it’s like in the movies, with  individuals hearing voices causing them to be quite extreme with their behavior and volatile, but that very often isn’t the case.

Our motto here is that no matter their starting situation, everybody can be helped. Everyone can improve, given the right support.

Q: Do you see mentally ill individuals getting employment at all?

Lorena: I see our clients getting and keeping employment all the time. Here at InnVision, we tell our clients what they CAN do rather than what they can’t do. They’re certainly employable. You can suffer from mental illness, and still be just as effective as anyone else.

There are barriers, especially now with the economic downturn—you’ve got people with degrees going for the Safeway jobs, so our clients are seen second. Most of our clients don’t have cars, so it’s hard for them to get to work. There’s a need for more support especially now.

Q: What about barriers to housing specifically?

Lorena: People who owned before the crash are now renting, so there’s more competition for units. Landlords would much rather not pick someone with an eviction and bad credit history on their record, if they have a choice, so our clients have it extra tough. Plus there’s not enough deposit or rental assistance available, with funding cuts to the public sector.

Housing 1000 can make a difference by spreading awareness. People should know that mentally ill homeless men and women can be successful with any risk factors they have. It’s important to talk about the real challenges our clients face, because only then can you truly see how far they’ve come.

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Interview with Chris Richardson, Director of Program Operations with Downtown Streets Team

Posted on May 31, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Chris Richardson is the Director of Program Operations with Downtown Streets Team, a partner of Housing 1000. Through Downtown Streets Team, homeless men and women are given the opportunity as “team members” to rebuild their lives through an innovative work-readiness program.

Q: What does Downtown Streets Team do?

Chris: We place clients in work experience contracts in a variety of places, including corporate janitorial work, InnVision work, City of San Jose and City of Palo Alto clean-up work. Our most exciting new contract is with Manpower—our new workforce development program with them is so effective that our graduation rate has been going through the roof! That means a higher and higher percentage of our clients have entered permanent employment, sustainably turning their lives around.

We’re growing at a rapid pace right now—in just two and a half years, our operating budget has quadrupled. We’re also constantly pursuing innovative strategies and partnerships. For example, in addition to working with Housing 1000 we also won a grant to clean up Coyote Creek. The funding came from the Environmental Protection Agency, the City of San Jose, the Santa Clara County Water District, Destination: Home and the eBay Foundation. The goal is to clean up a portion of the creek where over 100 unhoused people currently live—and to help house the men and women living there, as well. By the end of the two-year project, we hope to house 50 people!

Q: What do you think is unique about Housing 1000?

Chris: It’s simply the campaign that is going to house the most people. We’re a work-first model, but the housing has to be there. So many of the social services agencies have bought into it. It’s the most coordinated effort to end homelessness I’ve ever seen.

Q: How did you first get involved with Housing 1000?

Chris: We weren’t originally sure how we would fit in to the Housing 1000 campaign, since we’re a “work first” model. But we’ve wound up being able to assist more work-ready individuals while Housing 1000 targets the most medically vulnerable. Housing 1000 is literally saving lives, and we’ve been able to help a great deal with outreach because we’re already out there in encampments, meeting people where they are. People who are hesitant to come into service centers or shelters actually tend to be more vulnerable, so it’s an important role. In the last month alone, we have surveyed over 200 homeless men and women.

Our case manager in Palo Alto is basically the only Outreach surveyor in North County—and at this point he’s administered the most surveys of any single person in the whole County. We’ve surveyed at the Boccardo Reception Center, and also at Coyote Creek and St. James Park. What’s really cool is that we’ve actually had our team members out administering surveys. It’s a very client-driven outreach effort.

We’re also involved through the Care Coordination Project, via our case manager Gina Matthews who works her tail off housing her Housing 1000 clients. It’s funny because we think of our typical clients as less “vulnerable” than theirs, but five of our team members have actually ended up in Housing 1000’s top 80 most vulnerable.

Q: You’re a work-first model. Housing 1000 is a housing first model. How does that work?

Chris: There’s been some pushback against Housing 1000 because it doesn’t fit into every agency’s model, and there’s only so much funding that programs can compete for. That’s what it means to be innovative and new—it hasn’t been done before. But what people fail to see is that we’re all working towards the same goals and most basically, when you house even one person you’re saving resources. It may be hard to see, but you are spreading the wealth and alleviating strain on government agencies, which actually makes it easier for you to serve clients in the longer run. Financial resources that come along with working with Common Ground are also helpful. The Campaign also unites agencies working independently, making us all more effective at fulfilling our mission to help end homelessness.

One thing that keeps people in homelessness is a lack of self-respect that comes from years of being marginalized. If we can serve clients with respect, in addition to housing them, they can have a hand in their own success, which makes it that much more sustainable. Our approach also aligns with the cost-effective model of Housing 1000—our work experience program more than pays for itself.

Q: What’s next for Downtown Streets Team?

Chris: We’re expanding into three new neighborhoods inSan Jose, soon. This summer, we’re also starting up a team inSunnyvale, so look for guys in STREETS TEAM shirts and say hi! If you want to see the stories of some of our individual clients, check out Housing 1000’s new site, Housing ONE. Many of the stories are about clients our case manager Gina is working with!

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Interview with Miriam Rivera, Intensive Case Manager with New Directions

Posted on May 21, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Miriam Rivera is an intensive case manager with New Directions who is working with Housing 1000 clients. That means she advocates for some of the sickest, most chronically homeless men and women in the county. This week we spoke with her about her experiences.

Q: Have you noticed anything unique about homeless clients in particular?

Miriam: My homeless clients have been so humble. Some of my clients work, but their income is just not enough to afford housing. Media portrayals are so deceptive—my clients have never tried to take advantage of the system, they really don’t feel entitled. They appreciate anything you can do for them. Something that you and I take for granted, like a photo ID, can help them take a step towards reclaiming their dignity.

I think some of these folks have lived on the street for so long that they don’t really believe they deserve a better life. It’s just heartbreaking. As a result, they won’t speak up for themselves enough. For example, they might not appeal a benefits decision.

They also might not understand the process of finding a place to live, or getting General Assistance. My clients tend to be quite ill, and underserved by the medical system; six clients of mine this year couldn’t remember the last time they’d seen a doctor—it might have been 30 or 40 years ago, when they were children. A couple of my clients were among those institutionalized in the 80s, before the state mental hospitals closed down, and there was just no follow-up care and they became homeless because of their illness. These men and women need advocates, and that means they need a case manager.

I’ve housed six Housing 1000 clients so far, and they are like different people now than when I first met them. Their demeanors are totally different after being housed, far more relaxed, optimistic and focused. They say they’ve never had so much rest—my clients sleep ten or twelve hours a night, those first few days in a new place. It’s because they’re no longer worrying about being attacked, or having their stuff stolen while they sleep.
I continue working with them after they’re housed, on whatever they need—we work on setting healthy boundaries, budgeting, sometimes even setting up a payee account to help them maintain their housing.

Q: How did you first get involved with serving homeless clients?

Miriam: I got my masters from SJSU, and did an internship with New Directions. New Directions works with people with complex medical issues, including people in medical respite—that’s a program for folks recovering from surgery or other medical procedures, who have no place to go, so they’re housed in the Boccardo Reception Center shelter for 4-6 weeks while they get better. Medical respite and New Directions work together to fill an old gap in the system—it used to be that homeless people would get very ill, wind up being hospitalized, and then have no place to go after being discharged. It’s not the compassionate thing to do, or even the cost-effective thing to do, to put someone out on the street after a medical crisis. So now these patients are able to recover in a safe, clean, dorm-style living environment and access case management.

Q: We in the “biz” throw around the phrase “case management” a lot like it’s a magic bullet. But what does that actually mean? What do social workers and case managers actually do all day?

Miriam: That’s a great question. Basically what we do is advocate for people in society who might otherwise fall through the cracks. We do a ton of different things on a daily basis, from helping clients get photo IDs, to hooking them up with the benefits they qualify for, to helping them find housing. We provide for their basic needs, and in some ways we act like family—a lot of my current clients, for example, are pretty isolated individuals. A case manager is a consistent person who provides support. We find out what they need, and help them get it. Whatever it takes. If you’re a case manager, you’re the intervention that could change a life.

I’m usually at the Boccardo Reception Center during the day, but I also do some home visits. This morning for example I went out to Gilroy to meet a client who’s living in a park. The first two or three times I meet a client, I’ll bring coffee or a Subway giftcard—something to convince them I’m trying to help.

I also advocate for clients with landlords. For example there are all these ridiculous barriers to ending someone’s homelessness—landlords will run credit checks, and of course someone who is homeless may not have a perfect history. That’s why they’re homeless, because they couldn’t afford to pay the bills, for whatever reason. So I talk to landlords, I talk to people from board-and-care places—those are facilities for folks who can’t care for themselves in independent living situations. I advocate with the Social Security office, benefits, insurance companies— I just do whatever I can to make sure my client can get healthy and housed.

Q: If you could change the system, what would you do differently?

Miriam: I’d institute shorter waiting times. General Assistance needs to work more smoothly, and the process should be faster. I’d make sure everyone has medical coverage. There’s so much waiting right now, waiting and applying and submitting medical records that might be impossible to obtain. Homeless men and women can’t afford to spend months waiting on the streets before they get benefits or medical insurance they need to survive!
Evictions and inaccurate records are another problem. I have one client who’s been homeless for years, but she had been married and when she was divorced in the 80s, he got the house. Well, that home ownership is still coming up on her records, and it has been a barrier for her in getting services! There also just need to be more shelter beds, and more mental health programs. The system is overloaded and there’s not enough resources.

Q: What has it been like, working with Housing 1000?

Miriam: It’s just been wonderful. It’s a little chaotic because it’s a new program, and there’s so much new stuff to learn, but I love the work I’m doing with my clients. I love it. There’s just something about my bunch of clients, they’re just awesome!
There’s so much collaboration between different agencies. There’s funding for post-move-in worries, like kitchen starter kits and cleaning supplies, which clients need in order to be successful. The patients aren’t in the shadows anymore. The people we’ve housed are so happy. The bottom line is, we’re getting results.

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Interview with Jon Talbert, Pastor with WestGate Church

Posted on May 14, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Jon Talbert is a self-described “compassion pastor” with WestGate Church.

He just finished coordinating the very successful Beautiful Day, a service event which involved over 4,000 people working to help others all over Santa Clara County.

He is dedicated to service both at home and abroad, and is excited about ending homelessness.

This week he’s sharing a bit about his involvement with Housing 1000.

Q: What do you think the role of Christians should be in helping the homeless?

Jon: Many Christians respond to social problems out of conviction, but may not actually know what to do to help most effectively. In trying to attack a problem without the necessary knowledge, they may duplicate efforts, complicate the problem, or even make it worse. One example is San Jose’s equivalent of Skid Row, which is St. James Park—people may go there to serve food without a license, when that presents a problem for public health and safety codes, and complicates things for the City. Or people may give out hygiene kits when a local nonprofit is already providing that service, and it just winds up being more trash.

What Christians and other people of faith need to do is not be in silos and “start our own” everything—we need to find the leading organization working on a cause, and jump in. In homelessness right now, that organization is Housing 1000. We at WestGate Church want to be involved in really solving the problem of homelessness, and Housing 1000 is the resource in our community that is currently doing that.

I believe that Christ’s heart breaks for the poor. His heart is in the midst of what Housing 1000 is doing. I personally don’t believe these organizations are secular—which isn’t to say they are at all religious, of course. What they are is sacred. If Jesus were walking the earth, He would be working with Housing 1000 to house the homeless, He would be working with The Health Trust with folks with HIV/AIDS. He would be doing something to help.

Someone’s always going to be serving dinner to the homeless, and that’s great. But we need to take things a couple steps further and change the way our society deals with homelessness. As people of faith, we can make a huge difference.

Jon Talbert speakingQ: How did you first get involved with Housing 1000?

Jon: I walked the encampments with Harry Mazier from County Mental Health, and really started realizing that dignity is a big part of this. We need to elevate the dignity of people living outside, identify their real needs—like housing—and point them to existing resources that can really help them. Then WestGate Church participated in the June surveying event—we actually had surveys in the auditorium at 4AM, and we did data entry in the gym. I saw the broad coalition that Housing 1000 was building, with council-members, business leaders, nonprofit directors and faith community members, and I realized—hey, this is actually going to work.

Q: How do you think Housing 1000 can make a difference in the lives of individual homeless men and women?

Jon: Everyone’s story is different, but Housing 1000 is a streamlined approach to systems change that combines case management, housing and services for the most vulnerable. I believe that one entity can’t do this alone. It needs to be a strategic effort, and a partnership between different actors, and that’s what Housing 1000 is. Collaboration is the only way to change.

Q: What would you say to other people of faith looking to help the homeless?

Jon: I think we do a lot of talking about Jesus, and it’s time to start living like Him instead. I like to tell myself to “shut up and show up.” I want people to experience the transformative Grace of Christ, but I also want them to respond to problems like Jesus would, and that means action to help improve the daily lives of other people.

Consumerism, individualism, selfishness and greed make it easy to turn a blind eye to others in need, but I believe that God expects more from us.

Q: What advice would you give to those already donating to overseas missions and charities?

Jon: I think that we need to own our community. We can’t just say, oh, I’m from Silicon Valley, and be proud of our tech and business achievements, without also owning the shadows and margins of that society.

Giving to charity isn’t just a “check-off” on your list of things to do as a Christian; people need to be personally engaged in solving local problems. You can have a financial presence globally, and that’s great, but you should also have a physical presence locally. Have a sense of the global pulse, but have your hands engaged in service right here at home. My family and I are involved in aiding orphans in Zimbabwe, and we have a deep commitment to alleviating global suffering, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t suffering right next door.

You don’t need to go far to find it—people are dying on the street right here in Silicon Valley.


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Interview with Leslye Corsiglia, Director of the Housing Department of the City of San Jose

Posted on May 8, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Leslye Corsiglia has been working in affordable housing since the age of 18. She is currently the Director of the Housing Department of the City of San Jose, is on the board of Destination: Home, and is an expert at luring back talented people from the Belizean jungle. This week she shared with us about her thoughts on ending homelessness in Santa Clara County.

Q: Tell me about homelessness in Silicon Valley.

Leslye: Silicon Valley faces a unique situation because we lost a lot of middle-income jobs when manufacturing went away. Our median income here now is $105,000—-more than twice the national median. So we have this large population of high earners, and each high-skilled job demands services provided by lower-income folks. For example, engineers may need housekeepers, landscapers, beauty salon workers and retail employees.

But a retail employee makes minimum wage, which may come out to more like $17,000 a year. That isn’t enough to rent the average 2-bedroom apartment—which now costs more than $2,000 a month, let alone pay for food and medical care. This low-income population may wind up working two jobs, living in overcrowded apartments, and driving unreasonably long distances to work. Plus there are people who are unable to work, on fixed incomes from disability for example, who are making even less. When there is less affordability, it leads to more overcrowing, with tenants living in unsafe or unsuitable spaces such as garages and basements, because of the inadequate supply of housing-—in the worst case scenario, they can become homeless.

Q: How are you involved with Housing 1000?

Leslye: I’ve been with the City for twenty-one years now, so I was part of the process that led to the creation of Destination: Home, which gave birth to Housing 1000. Jen Loving was actually considering permanently relocating to Belize at the time—-she had a house, and everything—-but then I invited her to come get involved in the process here. Happily she was able to come take the lead at Destination: Home.

Housing 1000 represents the cumulative work of many years. It may have started in earnest last June, but we’ve been working to change the way our system responds to homelessness for over ten years. We realized that in order to succeed we need the partnership of the private sector, the County, the City, and the greater community. The City of San Jose is just one part of the equation.

Q: What has been an obstacle to you in your efforts to help end homelessness?

Leslye: I’d say money has been the biggest issue. With Redevelopment gone, and cuts to other State and federal programs, it’s a perfect storm for affordable housing. We have the passion, commitment, and the will to change, but we simply need more resources.

People who want to help can call their legislator, volunteer, or even donate if they can. I really believe that everyone can do something.

Q: What does Housing 1000 mean to you?

Leslye: A lot of work! San Jose is one of the top five most expensive areas to live in America. Housing cost may not be the cause of every single person’s homelessness, but it is a major impediment to solving the problem of homelessness. People may say “oh, the homeless actually want to live on the streets,” but you can’t really say that unless we’re able to offer them real alternatives.

I think Housing 1000 is a creative approach to meeting our goals, and giving people real options. Everyone deserves a decent place to live, and Housing 1000 is working towards making that dream a reality.

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Housing 1000 April Newsletter: Ending Homelessness with Crowdfunding, Celebrations, and More!

Posted on April 5, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

Our April Newsletter is out. Go take a look!

Housing ONE
Most people want to do something to help when they see a homeless person on the street. You might want to give food, or a blanket, but you don’t exactly carry those things in your wallet…You want to help the gentleman on the street you pass every day, but you don’t know how. Above all, you want to know you are helping to end homelessness.
Read more.

Care Coordination Update
Living on the streets is not safe, and it’s our mission to house the most vulnerable. The sooner we get them housed and connect them with services, the better chance they all have to stabilize their health and kick-start their recovery. Each client is assigned a case manager, who will be his or her advocate throughout the housing process and beyond. At Housing 1000 we’re not just dedicated to helping house people, we’re also making sure they stay housed.
Read more.

Outstanding Volunteer: Annette Hancock
“I’ve been involved since the beginning,” says Annette. “But even after working with homeless residents in San Jose for eighteen years, Housing 1000’s Registry Week last July was such an eye-opener. I saw homeless people I knew and had helped house back on the streets. It really brought home to me the fact that our current system isn’t working—we need to help people stay housed.”
Read more.

Save the Date! Celebration at CTA
Community Technology Alliance is hosting an afternoon of celebration and appreciation for Housing 1000 volunteers, and all those supporting our collective campaign to house 1,000 chronically homeless men, women, and families by 2013.
Read more.

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Housing 1000 & National Service: Thank you, Americorps VISTA and CNCS!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by K.A. Erickson

You may have not heard of AmeriCorps before, but you should. Because in a time of budget cuts, publicity is survival. And whether or not you’re aware, nonprofits and initiatives like Housing 1000 can thrive because of the generous service of AmeriCorps members.

There are many branches of AmeriCorps. The programs are similar to Peace Corps, but in America, and only for one year (12 months). One branch of AmeriCorps is Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA), which is the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. Volunteers are allowed a small living stipend and assigned a project to complete with a nonprofit organization or government agency.

Over the years, VISTA members have made a huge impact on homelessness in Santa Clara County. Project Homeless Connect, for example, has long been a VISTA-coordinated project through the City of San José. This year we’re lucky to have our VISTA member, Katherine Erickson, working part-time on the Housing 1000 Campaign’s blog, social media channels, and website development and maintenance. Since August 1st, Katherine has completed a big website redesign (with another update coming up!), established our official blog, helped manage social media accounts and increased awareness of our work to house 1,000 people by 2013—all in addition to her role as Project Homeless Connect Coordinator.

During the beginning of her VISTA year in July of 2011, Katherine taught herself to code in HTML and CSS and designed our current WordPress theme (entitled simply, “H1k theme”) in only two months. She later implemented Google Analytics on the wordpress site, so we can measure it when our wonderful supporters drop by to take a look. She also established our Google+ presence.

Katherine has recruited survey volunteers and facilitated HMIS training. She has traveled all over the county to conduct interviews, and authored blog posts and newsletter articles that increase awareness and understanding of our work. Katherine drafted and formatted the articles of the Housing 1000 December newsletter and researched different email distribution support options to select our current system. She recruited a pro bono professional photographer and helped hire a videographer to create the Campaign’s upcoming promotional video. During Katherine’s time with the City of San José and Destination: Home she has attracted subscribers to this blog, drafted blog entries, and helped coin the title of our new site, Housing ONE.

Since Katherine is the last VISTA PHC Coordinator with the City of San José, the plan is to have the community come together to manage and coordinate events. Katherine has formed a group in northern Santa Clara County to continue planning events in Sunnyvale, Milpitas and Palo Alto. Additionally, the South County PHC Homeless Outreach Task Force will plan events in Gilroy.

The success and extent of Housing 1000’s current web presence is largely due to Katherine’s service as a Volunteer In Service To America. Thank you to the Corporation for National and Community Service for sponsoring such an incredible program!

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