Dolores Street to lead Mission SRO Collaborative

Dolores Street was recently awarded a contract from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Housing and Urban Health section, as the lead/fiscal agent for the Mission SRO Collaborative program.

In this program, we will work in partnership with St. Peter’s Housing Committee and the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center to provide outreach, education, social services, community building and community organizing activities for residents of SRO (Single Room Occupancy) residential hotels throughout the Mission District.

There are approximately 50 such hotels in the neighborhood, with a total of approximately 2,000 residents.

The focus of our work in this collaborative will be Fire Prevention and Emergency Preparedness, Tenant Rights education, housing referrals, improving conditions in the hotels through code enforcement, and engaging tenants to participate in city and community forums on issues that affect their lives.

For this program Dolores Street staff will draw on our many years of experience providing shelter and housing for homeless adults, many of whom also cycle in and out of the SRO’s.  We are looking forward to expanding our work with the community of SRO residents and other organizations working on issues affecting SROs throughout the neighborhood and throughout the City.

Improving “quality of life” - Mejorando la “calidad de vida”

Have you ever gotten in the shower and realized you didn't have soap or shampoo? Have you ever wanted to brush your teeth after a meal and realized you had no toothbrush or toothpaste? These items add a great deal of comfort to our daily lives and help us maintain our health and hygiene. However, it isn't hard to realize that if one's income is limited, these basic supplies may be out of reach.

¿Alguna vez han comenzado a bañarse y de pronto no encontraron jabón o champú? ¿Alguna vez se han querido cepillar los dientes, y no tenían cepillo o pasta dental? Estas cosas nos traen mucha comodidad, y también nos ayudan a mantener la higiene y salud. Pero, no es difícil ver que cuando falta el dinero, estas cosas pueden estar fuera del alcance.

Richard M. Cohen Residence receives special holiday grant from Academy of Friends

The Cohen Residence staff and residents were excited to learn recently that we had received a grant from Academy of Friends (AOF) for some special activities, gifts, and celebrations this holiday season.  Academy of Friends is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has been raising money for HIV/AIDS service organizations around the Bay Area for over two decades through its popular Oscar-night gala.  This year, Dolores Street’s Cohen Residence was one of 11 organizations awarded holiday grants, which were presented at a reception and awards ceremony on Monday, December 11^th.  The majority of the grant will be used to take all residents out for a night on the town—dinner and the theater. Residents are still deciding between Beach Blanket Babylon and Teatro Zinzani, but whichever they chose, it is sure to be a festive occasion.  In addition to the night out, the grant will also be used to supplement our annual budget for gifts for each resident, as well as for our annual Holiday Party and Christmas Dinner.  Dolores Street, and especially Cohen Residence, is grateful to AOF for their generous contribution.

This Altar for Día de los Muertos was built together by clients and staff to honor loved ones who have passed away as well as all the men and women who have lost their lives crossing the border. We included offerings such as toiletries, food and clothing to remind the community of all that we provide to those in need. Please come by and check it out. It is located at 938 Valencia Street in the Mission.

As we get near Election Day I wanted to encourage all of Dolores Street Community Services supporters to vote and participate in the many campaigns that will effect our constituents and communities we work in.

As an organization we are supporting Prop 1C (see September 5, 2006 blog entry) but there are other issue that will have an impact.  In particular, I encourage folks to look closely at Prop 90 which could have a huge impact on how cities are able to set aside community benefits such as affordable housing or minimize environmental impacts.

There are also local issues and district elections to consider.  While many of us have strong opinions on these issues and candidates, the most important aspect is to get informed, participate and vote if you can.

So get out there to support your candidates and issues; and encourage others to get involved as well!

 BOARD OF DIRECTOR'S OPEN PALM AWARD
Mason Jeffrys, Dolores Street Community Services 

TOM TULL OPEN PALM AWARD
Tim Patriarca, Maitri

ALMILCAR MAYEN OPEN PALM AWARD
John Avalos, Supervisor Chris Daly’s Office

  PRESIDENT’S OPEN PALM AWARD
Fran McDermott, MSW

Sometimes working in the main office and a step or two removed from our clients I forget the reason why we’re all here in the first place.  Last night, a simple act of understanding and kindness reminded me. 

Ricardo Beltran, our shelter Operations Manager, and I were visiting each site to draw up emergency evacuation plans in the case of fire or earthquake.  We were just finishing marking up the emergency exits at the Santa Ana shelter when a man and a well dressed older woman walked up to us dragging a suitcase behind them.  It seemed he’d found her crying on the street lost and with no place to go.  He was familiar with the small shelter we run at St. Peter’s Church and brought her to us.  Although our shelter is a men’s only facility, Ricardo and the shelter monitor on duty were more than ready to help... and as I later found out more then used to dealing with this exact situation.

Over the past few weeks we have reported that our Posada to Casa Project was funded through the Board of Supervisor’s add back budget process. We are currently involved in intense negotiations on securing those resources as well as actively pursuing sites for our permanent housing and our extended shelter stay. While we are confident that we will secure both the funding and future sites we may need to continue advocating and ask for community support. Stay tuned as we move forward with our Posada to Casa campaign.