Our COVID-19 Crisis Response Gets Big Boost From SC Johnson’s Donation of Essential Items to Support San Francisco Families When shelter-in-place began, many of our corporate partners reached out wanting to help above and beyond their annual financial support for our programs. One of our Partner heroes is certainly SC Johnson providing funding for crisis-related food support and also a critical amount of diapers and wipes. Food insecurity was immediate for our homeless and at-risk families who lost 40% of their income almost immediately at the beginning of shelter-in-place. SC Johnson awarded a grant of $15,000 to provide Compass families with direct financial support through our Family Care Kit program which provided grocery store gift cards to families in-need and to support weekly food pantry purchases for our family service hub at 37 Grove Street. This was on top of their $50,000 grant to support our housing programs. SC Johnson’s Babyganics line pitched in with more direct-to-family support by sending 110 cases of diapers and 90 cases of baby wipes. Diapers and wipes are distributed to hundreds of families each month from our main service hub at 37 Grove Street, from our Compass Family Shelter, and to families we’ve recently housed across the San Francisco Bay Area via Compass case manager’s deliveries. Compass has provided more than 66,000 meals and more than $300,000 in direct financial support to keep families stabilized. And we’ve secured stable housing for more than 60 families during the pandemic. Compass’ crisis response has been massive thanks to partners like SC Johnson. They’re a family company supporting families in need in our community and beyond. Thank you!

Covid-19 changed everything, including how hundreds of corporate employees volunteer with Compass. “A crisis is when we need volunteers the most. But how do you do that when there’s too much at risk? We had to pivot to remote volunteering and realized the impact could be just as big as in-person volunteering. And in our first event, we realized it can actually be even bigger,” says Karin Lamb, Volunteer and Community Resources Manager for Compass. Employees of Accenture , a multinational professional services company, offered to volunteer for a half-day event for Compass if we could come up with a remote project. We came up with two projects and they said “yes!” The projects were coordinated by Karin Lamb and Abigail Vieira, Program Director for our housing program, SF HOME . The first is a landlord outreach project to help our housing team identify and contact landlords in the Bay Area and make them aware of our housing subsidy program. These introductions will hopefully open the doors to more landlords renting apartments to Compass families. The second project involved mapping different types of resources in cities and counties throughout the Bay Area. This includes food bank locations, employment centers, childcare, language classes, and transportation. Compass secures housing for families exiting homelessness as far out as Sacramento. As affordable housing is rare in San Francisco, most families must move further and further out which means we need to build relationships with landlords and also map resources in those communities. Volunteers met on Zoom and were given an overview of Compass Family Services before they were split into two working groups where they were provided an outline for each project. The results were impressive. Several new connections were made with landlords and available apartments were identified. The Accenture team added 9 new potential landlords in 3 counties! And the resource team mapped 30 new resources in Sacramento and 17 in Vallejo. All of the new location and contact information was immediately forwarded to housing specialists who are following up. And the new resources identified will now be available to families in those communities. The Accenture team also identified several ways to improve both projects and some volunteers wanted to continue their work after the project ended! If you or your office team would like to volunteer with Compass, in-person or remotely, please contact Karin Lamb at klamb@compass-sf.org. You can also click below to learn about many other ways we’re you can help.

“We are so grateful to be able to help Compass families with Fogo meals. The Compass team is amazing and inspiring.” Fogo de Chao is another big hero of Compass and our families sheltering in place during the COVID-19 crisis. As restaurants struggle to keep to-go orders and staff busy, many are also helping out those who are most vulnerable. A member of San Francisco Private Dining Venues , Fogo de Chao has delivered hot and generous meals to the families and staff of Compass Family Shelter. That’s more than 60 adults and children. Mahelly Ferreira, Fogo de Chao employee, delivers a hot meal with coworker, Amanda Perry, to a family at Compass Family Shelter. Millicent, a Compass Family Shelter resident, says she and her son are very grateful for the meals donated by local restaurants. Mahelly Ferreira at Fogo de Chao says “I have participated in different events with Compass and I think the world of what you do. I had similar work back home in Brazil and know the hardships that come with.” Mahelly provided more than hot meals, she offered to deliver to the doors of Compass’ monolingual families. You can enjoy Fogo de Chao too as they’re providing curb-side and delivery orders. Thank You, Fogo de Chao! You can help additional families today by purchasing a COVID-19 Family Care Kit that includes gift cards for groceries, medicine, and household items.

“We want to help Compass families during this crisis. We have lots of food and lots of cooks!” Credo restaurant’s General Manager, Brandon Heist, reached out to Compass Family Services to offer meals during the COVID-19 crisis. And they came through in a very big way, delivering 230 meals Tuesday morning before our doors opened at 9am to families. “This was a big help to our families today,” says Erica Kisch, Executive Director. “Many of our services for families have been limited over the last week so when we opened this morning to provide essential items like diapers, hygiene, and getting them their mail, being able to offer them a nice, healthy meal made with love was just perfect.” Credo General Manager, Brandon Heist, and Chef, Larry Finn, and additional staff deliver meals to Compass Family Services Tuesday morning. Credo is a member of SFPDV.com and has supported Compass for many years through their annual event, Toast & Taste, and through their nonprofit of the month program. Although temporarily closed for all food orders now, we hope you’ll join us at Credo when they’re open once again. Thank You, Team Credo! You can help additional families today by purchasing a COVID-19 Family Care Kit that includes gift cards for groceries, medicine, and household items.

Thank you for making it possible for 30 vulnerable families to safely Shelter-in-Place! Three weeks ago San Francisco’s family service providers—Compass Family Services, Hamilton Families, Homeless Prenatal Program, Dolores Street Community Services, and Providence Foundation— joined forces to shelter unhoused families during the COVID-19 public health crisis. Our motivation was that families cannot shelter in place if they have no shelter and no place to go. We launched a campaign to help fund this effort, and thanks to your incredible generosity, we’ve raised more than $30,000 on our campaign page so far! We have been hard at work over the past three weeks: securing a block of 30 hotel rooms in San Francisco’s SOMA district, negotiating a family-centered agreement with the hotel operator, and matching unsheltered homeless families to open rooms while collaborating to provide supplies, food deliveries, and supportive services. Rooms are spacious with one king bed or two full beds and private bathrooms with showers and baths. After Homeless Prenatal Program performed an initial safety assessment, Compass Family Services stepped in to child-proof every room, equipped each room with a microwave, and added industrial refrigerator and freezer; and Hamilton Families stocked each room with a welcome pantry, full of toiletry items, nonperishable snacks, cleaning products, baby supplies, and more. Our family collaborative has worked seamlessly to provide donor-funded meal deliveries, build supportive relationships with each family, and make services and supplies available on an ongoing basis. We have maintained a high occupancy rate, allowing for a small degree of turnover as families locate alternative housing. All families are engaged in housing search with the support of our agencies, as we are committed to transitioning our hotel families from unsheltered homelessness to stability as much as possible. Here are the stories of just a few of the families currently housed at the hotel: · A mom and a young son who were couch surfing and spending nights in their car once they lost their housing due to separation from an abusive partner. The mom had located housing, but her work hours were cut due to COVID-19 and because of the cut she could no longer afford to move in. · A mom in her first trimester and dad with their one-year-old. She had been staying at a local women’s shelter while the dad slept in their car near the airport, where he works. The shelter bed had become increasingly uncomfortable as a result of the pregnancy, and the mom had considered moving the entire family into the car so that they could at least be together during the stress of a new pregnancy. They were so grateful to be offered a hotel room where they can be together and where the mom can get a comfortable night’s sleep. · A mom, dad, and their three children—a daughter and two sons—who had been sleeping in a tent. Both boys have asthma and they had struggled with homelessness for a while. They are particularly appreciative of the room because they are concerned about the boys’ health and vulnerability in the pandemic. It is thanks to your tremendous support that we can provide these children and parents with a safe, stable, and private place to shelter as we ride out what we hope is the worst of this terrible and unprecedented crisis. We are grateful, we are hopeful that we can help our hotel families start building lasting stability for themselves and their little ones, and we know that we are stronger when we are working together. Thank you for partnering with us to serve these vulnerable families! Families cannot stay-at-home if they do not have a home, and we will not rest until they do. Help unhoused families shelter-in-place during the COVID-19 health crisis.

Blandine is a superstar! She started with Compass in February of 2019 with a focus on helping us with our social media and marketing initiatives. Blandine always brings a can-do attitude and fresh ideas to the table. She came to us when we were implementing many changes to our web presence and played a vital role in negotiating better rates for our online platforms and the creation of our volunteer toolkit web pages. Blandine wears many hats, and is also a familiar face for staff, client families, and donors at our annual events, such as Toast and Taste, Spring Benefit and Twitter Holiday Party. Since shelter in place began, Blandine really stepped up to the plate in helping us with our crisis response efforts and assisted with marketing and advertising our COVID-19 Emergency Family Care Kit Initiative which allowed us to provide digital gift cards for groceries and other household necessities to over 600 families. We are so grateful for Blandine’s marketing expertise, diligence and positive attitude! We cannot thank you enough!

We were so lucky to have such amazing interns from a variety of high schools and colleges this summer. These dedicated young achievers worked with Compass staff members in the Compass Family Shelter, Development team and Policy team to further our mission to end family homelessness in San Francisco. We are so grateful for their support and dedication to the homeless and at-risk families we serve and are excited to see what they will achieve in the future! Read more about their accomplishments during their time at Compass Family Services below. Keishi Foecke Hi everyone! My name is Keishi (pronounced Kay-shee). I’m an incoming senior at Washington University in St. Louis where I’m studying Anthropology and American Culture Studies, but I’m a Bay Area native and went to high school just a few blocks from Compass’s 37 Grove Street office. I’m also beginning my Master of Public Health degree this fall, and am particularly interested in the intersection of health and homelessness. For fun, I love to play soccer, read, hike, and (in non-COVID times) explore the Bay’s food and coffee scenes. During my internship with Compass, I split my time working at Compass Family Shelter and supporting the Development team with grant research and writing. I helped enroll a number of children at the Family Shelter in summer camps, as well as provided summer enrichment activities for those who were not attending camps. With the Development team, I helped create grant FAQs that make the answers to common grant questions easily accessible, did some research on the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on family homelessness in San Francisco, and helped build out the 2021 fiscal year grant calendar. I especially appreciated the opportunity to work with two different yet equally incredible teams, getting a clearer sense of the behind-the-scenes of a nonprofit from both the direct service and administrative perspectives. My internship at Compass taught me so much about the various collaborations that occur to holistically support unhoused families, as well as about the landscape of nonprofit and governmental stakeholders who are working together to end homelessness in San Francisco. Luis Flores Hello, my name is Luis Flores and I live in Los Angeles. I am a rising senior (and proud first generation student!) at Dartmouth College majoring in Latin American Studies. In my free time, I enjoy reading, keeping up with baseball, and learning new things. During my time at Compass, I had the opportunity to learn about the scale of family homelessness and research the primary drivers leaving families without a safe and stable home. In doing so, I increased my understanding of the necessary collaboration required between community-based organizations and government. Working alongside the highly motivated Compass staff for ten weeks has been a transformative experience that has further enforced my passion for tackling socioeconomic inequalities. Thank you, Compass, for having me aboard! Pulkit Nagpal Hello, everyone! My name is Pulkit Nagpal and I am a rising sophomore at Dartmouth College. I currently live in Connecticut, but have spent years in India, the Cleveland area, and Puerto Rico. My interests are diverse and along the lines of economics, computer science, and medicine, but I am not too sure what I want to do yet; nevertheless, I have a passion for service and am involved with my school’s center for social impact as a mentor to high school students at under-resourced high schools, a non-profit consulting project participant, and a spring break service trip member to Puerto Rico. Outside of this, I can be seen playing basketball, making origami, or attending events around campus. This summer, I interned with the Development team, working on webpage edits, website data tracking, and iWave, a donor platform. To do this work to the best of my ability, I first learned new marketing strategies from a textbook and online resources and invested time into understanding the scope of homelessness in San Francisco through any kind of media I could access: webinars hosted by the SF Chronicle, presentations from non-profit staff, and Evicted , a study by Matthew Desmond following eight tenants’ struggle with homelessness in Milwaukee. Once I had established context, I had tremendous support from the staff in the Development team and met regularly with Abbey Leonard, my supervisor, as I did my work. I spent most of my time on SquareSpace, Canva, and Google Analytics trying to optimize web content, aesthetic, flow, and structure; I even learned some CSS coding on the side. Despite a virtual experience, I felt very connected to Compass and had the amazing opportunity to sit in many kinds of meetings and received a one-week tour of Compass’ programs. All of that really made me appreciate how a non-profit functions as well as how the mission of one remains the same despite the circumstance. Isleen Justo Hello, my name is Isleen Justo. I live in San Francisco and will be a senior at Mercy High School Burlingame this fall. I love to paint, read, binge watch Netflix, and spend time with my family. A fun fact about me is that I have a twin sister. This summer was very different, given the circumstances of the pandemic. I had the opportunity to intern “virtually” at Compass Family Services. My supervisor, Karin, was extremely welcoming and east to talk to and answered any questions I had. I worked closely with her on the Phone-a-Friend project, which provided Compass children with a teenage buddy to talk to during these tough times where they are missing their friends. Calling the families and volunteers, I learned to keep all of their information organized and I stepped out of my comfort zone by calling strangers on the phone. I spent time reorganizing spreadsheets with the participants’ information to make it easier for my supervisor and anyone else to read. Attending weekly team development meetings, I saw how the Compass staff worked together to problem-solve and to update each other on recent events. Besides working on the Phone-a-Friend program, I had to come up with a list of school supplies that kids might need for remote back-to-school, and researched different kinds of headphones they could give to their kids. I went on a virtual passport tour, where each day for a week other interns, new employees, and I joined Zoom called where we learned about one or two of the nine programs that Compass offers through the program directors. I was extremely inspired by the dedication and work done by the Compass staff to serve their clients.

Congratulations to our Employee of the Month! We are proud to announce our Employee of the Month - Brenna Monaghan Brenna is the Impact Analyst at Compass Family Services and keeps our client family database running smoothly on a daily basis. She doesn't shy away from a challenge and is always ready to jump in and lend a hand, regardless of how small or large, complex or simple, exciting or routine the task. She will work tirelessly to ensure that her colleagues feel supported and have what they need to work better and smarter. Brenna is approachable and makes coworkers feel at ease around tricky technical database issues. As one colleague notes, "I can always count on Brenna to be real and give an honest and thoughtful response to my questions and ideas, no matter how strange or half-baked they may be. Brenna made me feel immediately welcomed when I started at Compass and has continued to help me feel connected and an integral part of the team, especially during Shelter-in-Place!" Thank you Brenna for all you do to keep us going every day - we appreciate you!

Our Heroes Need Help 2020 has taken its toll on everyone in many different ways. For San Francisco restaurants, it’s been undeniably devastating. We wanted to remind everyone about our good friends and heroes who make up the fine-dining association, San Francisco Private Dining Venues, or SFPDV. Last month we would have celebrated in style at the 6th annual Toast & Taste foodie event of the year. It was set to be held at TableTop Tap House. Toast & Taste is hosted by SFPDV and over the last five years, they’ve raised more than $214,000 to fund our work to end family homelessness. See Highlight’s From Last Years Event! Toast & Taste is no easy event! It’s organized by the private dining managers of the 40 plus member restaurants. They all come together to plan everything from the food that will be presented and served at tables, the tasty bites making their way through the crowds on trays, all of the drinks, the decorations, the VIP section, the fun games, the hilarious photo booth, the music, and the silent auction that boasts the best adventure packages and dining deals in town. We’ve become very close over the years and many of the private dining managers have reached out to help us throughout the year. Le Colonial started hosting a Mother’s Day Brunch for families in our residential programs, Credo has donated proceeds to Compass with their nonprofit partnership program and they, along with Fogo de Chao, donated hundreds of meals to our families during Shelter-in-Place before they shut down temporarily, Epic Steak donated brand new outdoor grills to us a few years ago and they’re in use now at our family shelter, Original Joe’s provided a table of appetizers for our Adopt-a-Family kick off party last year, Palio held a toy drive during the holidays for Compass children, and the employees at Prospect all pitched in and provided hundreds of dollars in gift cards for families also during the holidays. We’d hoped September would be a reopening, at least limited, for our dear friends. Some are busy with take-out and delivery orders, but many have to remain closed still today. And sadly, some have closed for good. Please join us to help our heroes by choosing our friends, below, for your next delivery or take-out order or to purchase gift cards for yourself or friends and family for when they are able to open. And please share this story with your networks. Give our local restaurant partners some love!

Adrianna and her family gets fully furnished apartment thanks to Zendesk Adrianna, a native San Franciscan, and her two daughters were left homeless after she lost her job of five years. They had turned to family and friends, but there was no place to stay except their car. She was pregnant and the baby was coming soon. After a friend suggested she call Compass Family Services, things started to fall into place and just in time. Her case manager, Montez, kept in touch as Adrianna went into labor. Montez was able to help the family qualify for a housing subsidy and they went straight from the hospital with their new son to their new apartment in Vallejo. However, they didn’t have any furniture at all. The Compass Development team was already talking with our friends at Zendesk who had a one-bedroom apartment fully furnished and they were hoping to donate everything inside to a Compass family. And that’s when the two came together! Zendesk hired movers to load everything up and deliver to Adrianna’s new home. The family received a couch, a table and chairs, a bed, kitchenware, and even lava lamps and beautiful artwork for walls. They still needed two additional beds so Compass staffer, Kris Otridge, along with her daughter, Kelsey, donated their bedroom furniture to finish it all out. All of us at Compass were so excited to make this happen for this loving family. The team at Zendesk were thrilled to know the family is happy with their donation. And special thanks to Kris and Kelsey for their sweet contribution to two very happy daughters with a new bedroom.