Compass Community Services eNewsletter Spring 2008

Guests and volunteers enjoy a fabulous eveningto benefit homeless families [Barbara Sari Photography].

At Compass, we know that the way to end family homelessness is not through the efforts of a single individual, but via a community of friends and families working together to affect change. On May 1, guests of our annual fundraiser, Spring Forward, had the opportunity to see that belief in action.

In an effort to engage the youngest members of our community, Compass invited school-aged guests to Spring Forward for the opportunity to learn about family homelessness from our professional staff in age-appropriate language, through games, a visit to a model shelter room and a special “houseBANK” project - a piggy bank that the children decorated to take to their home or school to collect donations to benefit homeless families at Compass.

Diane Larrabee, Assistant Director of Admission & Communication at Children’s Day School in San Francisco and a longtime Compass supporter whose vision and determination led to the creation of Compass’ highly successful Clara House program, was thrilled at Compass’ efforts to teach children about family homelessness.
“This event provides a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about an issue that most dramatically affects other children,” said Larrabee. “Young people have an amazing capacity for compassion and it is our responsibility as adults to help ignite the passions of our future leaders, advocates and philanthropists.”

While the children enjoyed their own private party, adults perused our silent auction and enjoyed offerings from the One Market kitchens. The highlight of our program, however, was the debut of a short film, A Tale of Two Families/Finding Home with Compass, which told the truly inspirational story of two Compass families who overcame great odds to achieve stability for their families.

Compass thanks all who supported Spring Forward and helped to raise funds to support the vital services that its programs provide to San Francisco families in need.

JUAN OCHOA
Former attorney’s concern for people is part of his vision for social justice

Juan Ochoa is responsible for the infamous “waiting list” for homeless families entering shelter. Families meet with him and his staff when job losses, domestic violence, medical crises or a number of other issues force them into such dire situations that they no longer have a place to live.

What these families know from Compass Community Services’ Connecting Point staff is that it will be more than two months before one of the City’s shelters will have a room for them.

As the director of the Connecting Point program, Juan is not one to accept that this is the best it gets.

He was only 22 years old in 1996, when he was hired by judges to work in the Supreme Court in Colombia. While these positions would normally be reserved for experienced attorneys after many months of an interview and hiring process, Juan was accepted immediately out of law school to handle the tremendous workload resulting from mass firings due to corruption.

“When you’re young, you think you’re immortal,” he explained as the reason he took such risks. He wanted to see change. “I started challenging things and this was scary for people.”

His passion was human rights. In 1998, he began working on two cases that shook the establishment. One was legislation that would allow benefits for survivors of same sex couples. The other gave people with HIV the right to receive medication -- regardless of whether they had a health plan -- for the reason of mitigating pain and improving the quality of life. Both were incredible professional and personal triumphs for Juan, who at age 17 was diagnosed as HIV positive.

Like everyone who worked in the courts, he began receiving death threats. In the spring of 2000, Juan was issued a four-month Visa to stay in the United States, given two weeks to leave, and told not to be in contact with anyone back home to protect everyone’s safety including his own.

His middle-upper class background became irrelevant overnight. He had a suitcase, some money and no English skills when he came to California.

For four months, he relied on weekly financial assistance from an international rescue organization so he could eat while he was looking for a place to live and taking classes to learn English as quickly as he could. He was asked every question about his housing and job history and deeply felt the pain of responding that he had no job.

“I was trying to be strong in a foreign country without friends and family,” he said. “I was a professional, but now I’m just an immigrant.”

The cultural difference was his biggest barrier in everything from developing a personal relationship to securing a place to live.

Meanwhile, he no longer wanted to inconvenience the person he had been staying with, so one day Juan told him that he found a place to live before leaving. Actually, he was homeless and living out of his suitcase.

After being granted political asylum in the summer, Juan was able to start working legally. He worked for whomever would employ him. At his first job as a cashier in a Castro district restaurant, he struggled with being able to provide customer service when he could understand so few words.

“At the end of that difficult day and with no place to go, I had a panic attack and had to be put on antidepressants and immediate antiretroviral meds.”

As part of his routine housing search on the Internet, Juan arranged for a visit to meet a woman, a nurse in Oakland, who was looking to rent out an extra room she had in her apartment. He remembers telling her about his difficulty with securing work and questioning why she would even want to rent to him.

That confidence gave him the courage to aggressively pursue work that would set him on a career path. He decided he needed to be in an office environment, which would be similar to the places he had worked in Colombia. He knew he would have to start with anything, which could include picking up papers and general assistance in the office. For three months, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, he took a computer training class in English and was only able to absorb the information because he had similar skills from his work in Colombia.

By the end of 2000, Juan’s job search led him to two choices, both at non-profit organizations: an office position with a bilingual Spanish-English service center or an administrative assistant position with Connecting Point.

The obvious choice would have been the bilingual center, but he chose to be in an English environment, figuring that doing things the hard way would yield better long-term results.

He described the first couple of months as receptionist and answering phones as “overwhelming, when I could only understand 10 percent of what people were saying.”

The understanding and support from his supervisor, the staff and clients encouraged him to fully learn the systems and language. His third month on the job was life changing.

Within two years, Juan became assistant director of Connecting Point, which allowed him to observe internal operations and examine in depth the conditions that could lead families out of homelessness. By 2005, he became program director.

“I’ve met the best people in my life here. I realize that I would never be happy unless I’m doing this.”

Juan’s strength and passion make him able to do one of the toughest jobs in the city.

He is not one to accept that there is only one way to do things. Or that he can do everything without engaging and empowering his staff. Since he became director, four of his staff have gone on to head related programs at Compass Community Services, crediting Juan for his friendship, support and mentorship.

Being a lawyer provided him the skills to listen to people and give them advice. He and his staff work closely with homeless families to prevent further crises by discussing with them painful issues such as substance dependence and financial management.

“When we talk about budgets with families, we are not talking about numbers,” he says. “We’re talking about lifestyle changes.”

During their two-month wait for shelter, families disclose details about their situation because they know that Connecting Point staff will not be asking questions if they will not help do something about the problem. Families also know they will get an honest answer their life plan choices and encouragement about their achievements.

Juan believes that talking creatively with families helps the dialog. “We need families to believe we care,” he says. “Families seeking help are really very grateful. They give back.”

Everything cycles back to the people you meet in your life. A stranger that Juan met on BART eight years ago was the one who helped him find the international rescue organization. He credits that stranger – Mark, who is his life partner today – with the support he still thrives from. “He has been there for me, helping me grow as part of this community.”

Story by Janice Lee, a San Francisco writer and media professional who has covered multicultural communities, affordable housing development and design, job training and employment in low-income communities, hate crimes and domestic violence, and family homelessness.

The staff of the Positive Parenthood Project
From Left to Right: Nina Wang, Vania Vega, Grecia Capetanopulos, Rachel Kraft, Carly Earrnshaw and Aleyda Veliz

As the Positive Parenthood Project (Triple P) enters its third year, there are many things to celebrate. The program has grown to include a staff of six and has expanded its services to include a wide variety of classes and support groups to help parents with children under 5 raise healthy, happy and confident children.

One of the most unique and exciting aspects of Triple P are the ties that it has created with other service providers to ensure that their clients have quick access to the services that they need most.

A long standing collaboration has been with Safe Start, and organization which provides a coordinated response to violence in the community or in the home. Families with young children who have witnessed violence can be quickly referred to Triple P for counseling and support. In turn, Safe Start can provide Triple P with expedited access to individuals and agencies that can provide specialized knowledge to help them guide their clients through the family court system or the many complexities of domestic violence cases.

Triple P also believes in helping parents to celebrate their achievements and to create opportunities for family bonding. The program hosts monthly baby showers, complete with decorations, games and presents, for expecting and new parents as well as field trips for the entire family to local attractions.

Triple P serves 90-100 parents each quarter.
40 parents and 22 children took advantage of Triple P’s last field trip to the Bay Aquarium!
Triple P’s newest collaboration with the Tom Waddell Clinic’s Car Seat Inclusion Project will ensure that every client as access to a new car seat and its proper use.

Larry's Story - A Parent's Triumph with a Dash of Triple P

Larry first came to Triple P when his girlfriend was four months pregnant. At the time she was in jail – for stabbing Larry – and he had been referred to Triple P as a victim of domestic violence by Safe Start. Child Protective Services (CPS) was involved from the time Larry’s child, a son, was born.

The mother’s parental rights were eventually terminated, but the CPS social worker was unwilling to consider Larry as the primary caregiver. Larry’s history of drug use and concerns for his mental health outweighed the reality that he had been clean for two years, had stable and supportive housing and the support of a therapist and the family support worker at Triple P.

Motivated by his desire to keep his son from reliving his own childhood experience of growing up in foster care, Larry dedicated himself to gaining full custody of his child.

In addition to his work with Triple P, he also successfully ended his methadone maintenance so that he would never have to take his child to the clinic. He began computer job training classes and made sure to choose a program with on-site childcare. He has also visited several childcare centers in anticipation of having full custody of his son and working full-time to support them both.

Larry’s hard work and the support of Triple P paid off. In March, Larry’s son was placed in his full-time custody. He still maintains regular contact with the family support worker at Triple P who is helping him with the fun parts of parenting like making healthy food choices and cooking chicken noodle soup from scratch.

Young guests at Spring Forward enjoed fun activities and learning about family homelessness. [Barbara Sari Photography]

We are grateful to the many people and institutions that made Spring Forward a resounding success!