The 25 Cities Initiative is a national effort by the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to end homelessness among our nation’s veterans. This national model mobilizes communities across the country to change the way to serve homeless veterans and moves to a rapid assessment and housing approach. San Francisco is one of the cities chosen to participate in this initiative due to the high concentration of homeless veterans in our community and Project Homeless Connect is thrilled to be on the SF 25 Cities Team.
Through this initiative, PHC is partnering with the City of San Francisco, HUD, the VA, veteran organizations and other community nonprofits to achieve the goal of housing 100 highly vulnerable homeless veterans in 100 days. This lofty goal is only the beginning. Through this effort, San Francisco and other member cities will work to:
- Build an intake system for matching homeless veterans and the chronically homeless to the housing and specific support services they need;
- Strengthen and integrate the data systems for these two groups; and
- Merge the VA’s own homeless resources and assets with a broader effort aimed at ending chronic homelessness.
Outreach and assessment are the first steps in this process. The 25 Cities Outreach Team has the goal of assessing 1,000 homeless veterans in 100 days to identify our most vulnerable veterans and appropriately match them with housing and services.
We need you, the San Francisco community, to help us reach this goal. You can be on the frontline of housing homeless veterans by volunteering at the upcoming registry week. During Registry Week – August 18th to August 22nd – teams of volunteers and experienced outreach specialists will hit the streets to meet and assess veterans. Please help us end homelessness for our most vulnerable veterans!
Volunteer Shifts:
- Monday August 18th from 6 – 10PM (training from 6 – 7PM)
- Tuesday August 19th from 6 – 10PM (training from 6 – 7PM)
- Thursday August 21st from 6 – 10PM (training from 6 – 7PM)
Volunteers will be grouped with skilled outreach specialists to assess veterans experiencing homelessness for vulnerability and appropriate housing opportunities. Multiple deployment areas are available and training will be provided at each volunteer session. There will also be additional chances to help register veterans at our August 20th event. Sign up today!
PHC blog