Restorative Community Solutions (RCS), in partnership with Talent Poole Consulting, is dedicated to empowering those who have experienced homelessness by amplifying their voices and sharing power with the community. Over the past three years, our team Community Liaisons in San Francisco have gathered crucial feedback from people experiencing homelessness to improve the systems that affect their lives. We engage the community as trusted messengers, utilizing Motivational Interviewing to meet people where they are, listening deeply, and relaying their experiences to those in power.

Our surveys, focus groups, and interviews have informed San Francisco’s 5-year strategic plan on homelessness. We’ve highlighted the struggles of individuals at the intersection of homelessness and incarceration, sharing our findings with key stakeholders such as the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), the Sheriff's Department, and the Mayor’s office. You can find the summary of our findings here.

Key Insights from Our Research --- "Stay Faithful in Helping Us" (survey response)

• Shelter and SRO Programs: There’s a need to overhaul current programs and provide direct access to tailored services for mental health, addiction, domestic violence, gender, and families.

• Transparency, Collaboration & Communication: Clear communication about available services and eligibility is essential. Agencies need to work together better.

• Access and Efficiency: There are 400 families on the waiting list for shelter in San Francisco alone. Programs need to be more accessible with reduced waiting times.

• Family Unity: Stop breaking up families who wish to stay together, including the inclusion of pets.

• Interaction and Support: It’s not enough to check in once a month. People in crisis need daily or weekly contact.

• Employment of People with Lived Experience: Prioritize hiring individuals with experiences of homelessness and incarceration, and empower them with training.

The Challenge --- "Interact more with us" (survey response)

🏦Budget Cuts and Funding Delays: Budget cuts and government contracting delays have jeopardized our ability to pay our team continuously to do this work.

🚨Urgent Policy Changes: In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision, which allows cities to criminalize homelessness by sweeping encampments, even without suitable shelter, our work is more urgent than ever.

💡Tokenism and Conflict of Interest: Contracting with government agencies can create pressure that influences research; independent funding will allow us to provide unbiased feedback without feeling tokenized or pressured.

Our Solution

Your support will help us continue our vital work, allowing people experiencing the problem to provide honest and direct feedback driving real, lasting change. If we raise the funds, we will be able to continue this work including:

Developing & deploying innovative outreach training to outreach workers and case managers
Regularly survey and connect with people experiencing street homelessness
Connecting with city agencies to distribute our findings
Gathering the voices of people experiencing homelessness, providing an view of of the conditions people are facing without bias

How You Can Help

$2,500 Provide a stipend for one month of Community Liaison work

$5,000 Supply 100 $50 grocery cards for survey respondents

$1,000 Provide 10 $100 gift cards for focus group participants

$500 Provide childcare for focus group participants with children

$200 Provide pizza and drinks for a shelter focus group

$5 Provide a package of socks for outreach in the winter months

Amplify Community Voice in San Francisco

"The BEAT OF THE STREET. You gotta touch it, taste it, feel it to know what the f$%& to do about it." — Couper Orona, SF Community Liaison

Team Members