The NeighborGood Guide
will challenge your perceptions
of homelessness in SF
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hen we think of our community – the people and places that shape our reality – we often leave some people out. That’s what the NeighborGood Guide, a new story-
This perspective – that people experiencing homelessness are first and foremost our neighbors, not simply “others” – is the type of perspective that’s needed. That mental shift allows us to create opportunities for connections with the people we see every day, and lays the groundwork for proven solutions that will transform San Francisco into a place where everyone who lives here also has a home.
How did you become friends with Joe? you ask Rebecca, intent on recalibrating your mindset. Rebecca smiles and says, “Because I’ve been there.”
“There isn’t one reason I became unhoused,” Rebecca tells you, “Just like there isn’t one thing that makes any of us the people we are. Housed or unhoused, we’re all people of vast dimensions.”
Rebecca’s observation is instructive in helping those of us fortunate enough to have housing understand that homelessness is not a character trait, rather it’s something experienced by people from all walks of life. In her case, Rebecca tells you that from the beginning, the concept of home was complicated. Experiencing trauma led to substance use, which in turn led to her first incarceration. Upon her release, she found there was nowhere safe for her to live. Rebecca’s life had changed from the hopes of college and a career to being caught in a vicious, perpetuating cycle of trauma and fear. The situation became all the more dire when she became a young mother of two.
“Before you can thrive, you have to survive,” she tells you. “And for so many years of my life, it was all I could do to stay safe.”
For ten years, others living unhoused became her community, people who could relate to and were sharing her experiences. It wasn’t until the Delancey Street Foundation provided her acceptance, support, and guidance that Rebecca began to reclaim her hope for the future. After feeling only shame for so long, she began believing in what her life could become. Now, Rebecca has secured housing for herself and her family, and a job as director of Cameo House where she helps other women get the support she received.
“What I hope you learn from my story is how integral home, health, and heart are to making, breaking, and remaking a life,” Rebecca reflects.
The NeighborgooD guide
Listening to a story like Rebecca’s can help evolve one’s understanding of homelessness. The NeighborGood Guide, a story-based, interactive resource, is an invitation to expand your own perspective on being a good neighbor to all those around you—living inside or out. Signing up to receive the NeighborGood Guide will provide community members with resources you’ll need to take the next step on your journey toward becoming an active participant in making San Francisco more just, equitable, and compassionate.
Collective action is necessary to solve a crisis where on any given night approximately 7,700 people in San Francisco are experiencing homelessness, the majority of whom are Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGTBQIA+, and other marginalized communities. Tipping Point Community, the group who created the NeighborGood Guide through its All In Campaign, hopes that by inviting your friends and family to join you, we as a community can come together to support solutions to homelessness. But what can we do today to begin?
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Listening to people like Rebecca tell their story is one place to start. Getting your friends and family signed up for the NeighborGood Guide is another. Simply smiling and saying hello to your unhoused neighbors works. If you feel comfortable, strike up a conversation. Little gestures go a long way. If you do offer money, offer it with no strings attached. Easier yet, carry gift cards to a convenience store or offer clothing during bad weather. If you see someone having a mental health crisis, call 3-1-1 and ask for the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT). Each of us has the ability to play a role in solutions to homelessness. The NeighborGood Guide can help you find yours.
The NeighborGood Guide is just one way Tipping Point Community is fighting poverty in San Francisco. Since 2005, Tipping Point has invested nearly $350 million for housing, early childhood education, and employment solutions in the region. The Tipping Point board covers 100 percent of operating costs, so every dollar donated goes where it’s needed most. Last year, 100,000 of our neighbors turned to their grantees for support.
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8,000
35%
37%
85-90%
The approximate number of people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco on any given night. Over the course of one year, as many as 20,000 people access San Francisco’s homelessness services.
Women are 35% of
San Francisco’s homeless population; that number
is on the rise locally
and nationally.
Black San Franciscans
make up 37% of the unhoused population, while only 6% of the population in our City is Black.
Studies show that
85 to 90% of people who enter permanent supportive housing remain stably housed.
To truly bring about solutions to homelessness we need to...
Center the Voices
of People Closest to
the Issue
Confront our Own
Mindsets and Biases
Orient Solutions to
Meet the Wide Range
of Individual Needs
Use Our Power to
Spread Awareness in
Our Communities
Sponsored by
experience was created to change. The digital journey begins by choosing to sit down with Rebecca in your local café. Across from her is a second cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich, suggesting she’s here to meet someone. The extra coffee and sandwich are for her friend Joe. When she describes Joe, who’s often sitting on the corner outside the café wearing a bright blue beanie, you know exactly who she’s talking about. Joe is experiencing homelessness. And, he is Rebecca’s friend.
W
By StoryStudio on July 7, 2022 11:19 AM