Tenderloin walk 11/2/23

On Thursday, November 2nd, at 3pm, around twenty volunteers who regularly attend the We <3 SF weekly meetups came to YWAM in the Tenderloin District to learn how YWAM operates their weekly outreach. Their Director gave our coalition an overview of the history of the tenderloin, noting that this has been a hub for low-income, SRO, Single Resident Occupancy buildings since the early 1900's. This has also been a famous region for music, speak-easies and political action. Staff also shared their tips and best practices for engaging with folks on the streets. For example, they discouraged us taking photos, touching people, or talking about unhoused folks we meet until we return for our debrief. They went over safety measures and paired each group of 2-3 volunteers with an Outreach Captain. We had hot coco, socks, hygiene kits, housing workshop flyers, nutritional bars, and fresh lavender.

The volunteers were very energized when they returned. The main takeaway is that it felt good to connect with people most of them don't often engage with. The bridge was created from the volunteers to the support and learn from the unhoused residents of the Tenderloin. A lot of the people we met loved the lavender and also the socks were very popular. It was nice having the hot coco, because the community immediately recognized this group as YWAM, and trusted them. The coco was the icebreaker and people were excited to hear about the affordable housing opportunity they could access at the Ellis Room (YWAM) the following day. Those who couldn't make it, took a flyer with a link to the online form. Through the 5 different outreach teams, we invited roughly 50 individuals to apply for Section 8 in 45 minutes. This event was a success and the next one will be 12/07/23 at the same location.