“I support Compass Family Services because every family deserves safe and secure housing, access to quality child care, early childhood education and critical support services in time of need. For more than 100 years, Compass Family Services has been there for San Francisco’s neediest residents in their greatest time of need - when they have no one else to turn to. My wife and I are proud to support Compass because the need is critical and the time is now.” - Chris Wagner This year, Chris Wagner, Compass Board Chair, completed his term on Compass Family Services’ Board of Directors after 11 years of service. Chris has supported Compass and our mission to break the cycles of family homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2008. As a San Francisco native, Chris viewed his role on the Compass board as a meaningful way to improve the lives of homeless families and build a stronger and more supportive community. He joined our Board of Directors in 2010 and became Treasurer in 2017 before taking the helm as Board Chair in 2017. During his years of service, Chris was not afraid to get on the ground from helping to provide direct support to client families to engaging with donors to raise funds to support Compass programs and initiatives. Chris also participated in and volunteered for our annual Adopt-a-Family holiday program where our donor community fulfills holiday gift wish lists for families in need. Prior to his current position as Senior Vice President of Wealth Management at UBS, Chris was the Director of Private Banking at Credit Suisse, where he cultivated a long-lasting relationship with Compass and to this day, Credit Suisse employees volunteer at Compass events annually and also provide a generous grant to support our programs. As Board Chair, Chris was a key player in the acquisition of Compass’ service hub at 37 Grove, where we provide services to over 6,000 homeless and at-risk children and parents each year. He also provided tremendous support for Compass’ three-year $30 million campaign, Housing. Support. Hope., The Campaign for the San Francisco Family., to ensure that the organization will be available and accessible to San Francisco's homeless and vulnerable families for as long as our services are needed. Under Chris’ wise leadership, deep involvement and dedication to Compass’ mission, we reached our big goal in July of 2021, securing Compass' future and ensuring the organization will remain a deep support for San Francisco families in need! We are incredibly grateful for Chris and his strong commitment to Compass and the families we serve!

“It’s still surreal to me... because if someone would have told me when I was homeless and in my addiction that I’d make it this far, I would have laughed in their face. Jail or death seemed more like a reality back then.” Compass program directors and case managers frequently get letters and emails from former clients thanking them for their help along the way to achieving a stable home. Marilyn sent an update on her housing success with the news that she and her family purchased their own home in Vallejo earlier this year! Marilyn graduated from Compass Clara House in 2007 after more than two years of dedicated work to keep her and her children together, healthy, and on a path to self-sufficiency. Marilyn credits success to the services she received from her case managers and therapists who helped her heal from past trauma, maintain sobriety, and ultimately to get her college degree. Marilyn’s email to Compass Clara House: “My children had a safe home at Clara House surrounded by staff and other families that fostered a sense of community and genuine care for one another. My children gained a mother who was clean and sober, driven to do better for them, and found stability. I am forever grateful to Compass for helping me put mine and my kid’s life back together. So, whenever something great happens, I always remember where my journey started so I’m reaching out to let you know that...... I am now a homeowner!!!!!! :) I bought a house in Vallejo. It’s still surreal to me... because if someone would have told me when I was homeless and in my addiction that I’d make it this far, I would have laughed in their face. Jail or death seemed more like a reality back then. If Compass hadn’t taken me in, supported us, pushed me to be better, believed in me and gave us a chance at life — I know I wouldn’t be where I am today. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! Best, Marilyn Marilyn is currently in a leadership position at a nonprofit agency that provides permanent supportive housing to people experiencing homelessness. Congratulations to you and your family, Marilyn!

Together we achieved our Housing. Support. Hope. campaign goal and raised $30 million to ensure Compass will continue to be here for San Francisco's homeless and vulnerable families for as long as there is a need! Thank you so much for helping us reach this incredible milestone! Every contribution over the past three years counted toward our goal and thousands of people and institutions are a part of this success . We truly can't do our work without this enormous community support making it all possible. We're able to provide housing, childcare and education, mental health support services, workforce development, and more, only because you enable us to do so. Campaign funds support three key initiatives: With your help, we did it!

Meet Terrie! Terrie is a Residential Counselor and Case Manager at Compass Family Shelter, an e mergency shelter providing a place to stay for up to 22 families and offers intensive case management and services geared towards helping families obtain housing and stability. Terrie is an incredible and integral part of the team at Shelter. She always approaches everyone, from Shelter staff and families to our greater Compass community, with warmth and kindness. Her authenticity, positive outlook and attitude immediately brightens up any room! Terrie is also a wonderful mentor towards newer staff members and is a dependable teammate! She readily takes initiative, shares information about helpful resources and happenings to support our families and is never afraid to ask clarifying questions when something new is introduced. Terrie is an excellent communicator, sharing regular updates and fostering a sense of collaboration within the entire Shelter community. We are so grateful for Terrie and her incredible work! Thank you for supporting our Shelter team and families!

During Black History Month and in this new Year of the Ox, Compass stands in solidarity with Asian American communities across the world to condemn anti-Asian racism, particularly the recent spate of anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco , Oakland , and beyond . In Oakland, the president of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce noted tragically that seniors and elders are fearful of walking on their own streets. Compass unreservedly condemns anti-Asian racism in all forms, and we send our deep condolences to the families of those affected and so many other families and neighborhoods impacted by hate, intimidation, threats, and violence. We also extend our gratitude and admiration to the swell of activists, artists, organizers, and others who have stepped in to build community and repair harms, by leading safety patrols, distributing resources across neighborhoods, and fighting hate with their voices and written words . The COVID-19 pandemic has had a uniquely difficult impact on Asian American communities across the world. In San Francisco’s Chinatown—the nation’s largest and oldest Chinatown—the community is not only grappling with COVID-19, but also with decreased tourism and economic pain due to pandemic-related racism. Nationally, the Pew Research Center reports that 58% of Asian Americans feel they experience racism more commonly now than before the pandemic, and more than 30% have reported experiencing slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity. There is so much pain in this—specifically, the pain of longstanding racism that has only been reinvigorated during COVID-19. In the 19th century, white communities reacted to economic and social anxieties by blaming Asian and Chinese immigrants for the spread of diseases prevalent at the time. This history goes largely underacknowledged in mainstream discourse, and yet it is the root of where we find ourselves today. At the same time, anti-Asian racism is connected to a broader system of white supremacy that benefits from divisions between communities of color. We must work together and find collaborative solutions to dismantle this system for the benefit of all oppressed groups. Asian American communities in San Francisco are a core and vibrant part of our Compass community, and we stand in allyship, in community, in solidarity, and in the struggle for justice with them and with Asian-American communities everywhere. Here are some relevant resources from The Management Center, which recently issued their own statement on Black & Asian solidarity : Black Futures: An Ode to Freedom Summer On Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: Who Is Our Real Enemy? Open Letter to Community: Asian American Solidarity & #WeKeepUsSafe The First Rainbow Coalition Oakland Mayor Blames Crime Wave Against Asians on Defunded Police; Black and Asian Activists Disagree Some Pastoral Thoughts for Asian Americans about Elder Violence Janaya Future Khan in conversation with Hollis Wong-Wear Do Better Londrelle - Gratitude Black Art: In the Absence of Light Black & Bold: Perspectives on Leadership

We're celebrating Keen's 10 years of support for Compass families and programs! Our friends at Keen have been supporting Compass families through our Adopt-a-Family holiday project since 2011. Over the last 10 years, their support has grown generously from providing gifts to children and parents over the holidays to funding Compass programs for shelter, childcare, housing, mental health services and more to ensure that families have the resources they need to reach stability. Keen employees are deeply engaged with our community and many have volunteered during Compass back-to-school events, contributed individually to support our work and Keen has doubled their employees' impact by matching their support with funding that's crucial in our mission to end family homelessness. When Compass pivoted to provide groceries, emergency supplies, and hotel rooms for unsheltered families during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Keen provided $10,000 to ensure that our most vulnerable families will have the basic necessities to get through this crisis. They knew it was needed before we even had a chance to ask. They also funded tasty pizzas for families staying in our temporary hotel program last summer. Earlier this year, Keen continued their support with a $25,000 sponsorship for our annual spring event, HOME . This generous support will help us reach our goal for our $30 million Housing. Support. Hope . campaign which will ensure that Compass is here for San Francisco's most vulnerable families for as long as its needed. Compass is incredibly grateful to partner with Keen and their employees who share our vision of a just society in which all children and their families are able to flourish in a safe and stable home. Thank you!

Meet Kate Liedl! She joined Compass as a Children's Enrichment Specialist in 2019 where she offered welcoming support to children and parents who were accessing our Family Resource Center's drop-in childcare services. Kate was a friendly and familiar face for parents who would drop off their children for free onsite childcare while they were receiving case management and therapy services at 37 Grove. When shelter-in-place began, Compass was no longer able to offer drop-in childcare services but Kate quickly adapted to provide incredible support to new Compass initiatives created to meet the growing needs of families impacted by the crisis. Kate is now a Case Manager for Compass' Family Resource Center, offering individualized support and resources to our families. Since then, Kate has drafted our first ever Drop-In Childcare Handbook, connected many families to childcare services during the crisis, such as Learning Hubs, First5 services and so much more. Kate's attention to detail, balance of compassion, professionalism, and commitment to our client families is tremendous and we are grateful to have her on our Family Resources Center team! Thank you so much, Kate!

As we reflect during this National Volunteer Month, we at Compass are in awe of all that we have accomplished together. This past year has been a time of tremendous change and adjustment for all of us but especially for the homeless and at-risk families Compass serves. As we adapted and increased our services to meeting the growing needs of our families, Compass volunteers have stepped up to the plate asking, “How can we help?”, “What can we do?”, to provide support for families impacted by this crisis. Last year, 568 volunteers committed over 10,000 hours of service. These amazing volunteers have dedicated their time, skills and talents in many ways to support our families. Compass families were immediately impacted at the beginning of shelter-in-place with loss of employment and access to basic necessities and hygiene products. We immediately pivoted our services to meet our families’ growing needs and volunteers were essential in this effort — sewing handmade masks for parents and children, delivering meals and essential items to families at our Compass Family Shelter and transitional housing facility, Compass Clara House, as well as to families throughout the Bay, and doing so much more. Many Compass children were struggling with distance learning. Compass volunteers enabled the creation of our Homework Helpers Initiative, where dozens of volunteers meet one-on-one with Compass kids weekly over Zoom to provide extra educational support. Compass volunteers are also onsite at our 37 Grove Services Hub sorting and organizing donated goods and creating custom resource boxes for families filled with new and gently used clothes, toys, household goods and more. Volunteers also provide support remotely through our Landlord Outreach Project where volunteers connect with local landlords to help increase our ability to find new and affordable housing for unhoused families and through our Community Resource Mapping Project where volunteers research and compile information on local resources for families. Without our volunteers, we would be missing vital resources to deliver on our mission to help homeless and at-risk families achieve housing stability, economic self-sufficiency, and well-being. The patience, creativity, energy, and enthusiasm of our volunteer community donating their time, energy, skills and talents to serve our Compass family — especially during a global pandemic — is truly humbling and fills us with gratitude not just during National Volunteer Month, but all day, every day. Thank you to all our volunteers for everything you do to serve Compass families! Interested in volunteering? Learn more about volunteer opportunities at Compass here.

As we shifted from in-person to remote learning early on during the pandemic, we realized that many Compass kids will fall behind academically due to the immense obstacles they face, such as lack of access to technology and resources, a stable and safe space to focus on school work, and the daily stressors of isolation during a public health crisis. In addition to working tirelessly to provide families with laptops, tablets and headsets so that kids will have the tools they need to participate in distance learning, Compass also started a new virtual tutoring initiative in August 2020 called Homework Helpers where we connect volunteer tutors with Compass kids in need to extra academic support. Since then, we have matched over 36 Compass kids with Homework Helper tutors, along with local academic organizations, like 826 Valencia and Pandemic Professors to provide additional tutoring support, especially for monolingual Spanish speaking students. We would not be able to provide this essential tutoring support for Compass kids through our Homework Helpers Initiative without support from our amazing volunteers, Merritt Richmond and Roseanne Barry. Merritt is a Professional Development Lead for teachers and wanted to get involved as soon as the pandemic impacted our families and Roseanne has been a long time Compass supporter and has been volunteering at Compass since 2019. In collaboration, Merritt and Roseanne created a trauma-informed curriculum and every Tuesday afternoon, the two welcome and train prospective tutors as part of Compass’ Homework Helpers Initiative. They provide numerous resources to ensure that our volunteer tutors are well equipped to meet the needs of Compass kids, both academically and emotionally. Additionally, they created beautiful Homework Helpers Student Toolkits with thoughtfully curated supplies unique to each Compass child, to enhance their virtual learning experience. Merritt and Roseanne also provide additional volunteer support for other Compass initiatives, in addition to their wonderful work through our Homework Helpers program. Merritt helps with managing our community resources and the creation of custom boxes of donated items, including clothing and housewares for client families, as well as all of her other volunteer efforts to support our Annual Fund, Back to School distribution and Adopt-a-Family. And Roseanne is also helping out with data entry and providing additional support to our busy administrative team. Roseanne and Merritt are amazing volunteers who go above and beyond to support Compass children and parents, especially during this challenging time. We are so grateful to have them as part of our Compass family. Thank you so much for all that you do to help our families reach stability and wellbeing.

Compass Family Services will serve more than 7,000 parents and children this year through nine programs that provide shelter, housing, childcare, mental health, educational assistance, and employment services. To provide enhanced support to help families through the pandemic and beyond, and as part of our strategic goals for improving services, Compass has recently expanded its Compass Family Resource Center (CFRC) program in the areas of workforce development and securing housing. Compass has provided workforce development support to clients through case management programs for years, but it has not been a primary focus of the work. Now, as many families need help pivoting from careers that disappeared during the pandemic, they will receive dedicated job attainment and career preparedness support through this new Compass sub-program, CWORK . Parents will work with staff to address and remove barriers to employment, identify employment pathways, connect with training providers and – ultimately - be placed in employment. The comprehensive programming includes one-on-one wellbeing sessions with a career success coach to develop healthy and productive habits. Participants will also learn how to track and improve their credit scores and how to track their CalWORKs benefits. A job readiness workshop and a barrier removal workshop series as well as virtual job fairs will all be available. Compass is also partnering with Farming Hope through its Project Refettorio, which will provide a fine-dining experience where families can enjoy a meal and network within their community. Compass will also provide workforce related presentations. This project has in mind undocumented participants who are struggling to find employment to support their families. Additionally, the expansion will place housing coordination services in the CFRC and will provide hundreds of families who are not being served by a Compass housing program with support and resources to identify and pursue affordable housing opportunities. Many options including below market rate housing are incredibly competitive and the systems can be hard to navigate without this kind of specialized support. “We are dedicated to improving and expanding our programs to meet the needs of families in our community. This expansion is a response to exactly what parents are asking for - good paying jobs that put families on long-term paths to stability and better opportunities for their children,” says Compass Executive Director, Erica Kisch. The new initiatives join the family resource center’s already robust suite of services that include groups and classes providing parenting skills and financial management; essential resources such as weekly groceries, diapers, and hygiene supplies; and referrals to other Compass programs for mental health services, childcare subsidy support, and more. This expansion is made possible with funding support from Kaiser Permanente , Safe & Sound , Twitter , SC Johnson , San Francisco Office of Economic & Workforce Development , and California Public Utilities Commission .