Formerly Berkeley Food & Housing Project
Berkeley Food & Housing Project Announces Expansion of Services in Solano and Contra Costa Counties
Read the full press release here: https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/community/community-news-and-views/press-release-berkeley-food-housing-project-announces-expansion-of-services-in-solano-and-contra-costa-counties/
Berkeley Food & Housing Project (BFHP) announces the receipt of two new grants to expand homeless services in Solano and west Contra Costa Counties.
Through the Community Action Partnership Solano County Joint Powers Authority, BFHP was awarded a grant of $910,000 to provide outreach, rental assistance, case management, and other services to help people experiencing homelessness in Solano County to move into, and stabilize in, permanent housing.
BFHP has also received a grant of $410,000 from the Contra Costa County Coordinated Entry System (CES) to staff and operate a CARE Center that will provide low barrier drop-in services as a first entry access point into the county’s CES for homeless services.
BFHP has been offering services in these counties for several years already through their very successful Roads Home program for homeless veterans. Roads Home offers both homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services (through the VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families program) and operates a veterans’ employment program (funded by the Department of Labor’s Homeless Veteran’s Reintegration Program). Since Roads Home was launched in Solano and Contra Costa Counties in 2014, the program has placed 607 individuals from veteran households in permanent housing (374 in Solano, 233 in Contra Costa).
Said BFHP Executive Director, Terrie Light, “I am very pleased that we are being recognized for our expertise and ability to house the most difficult to serve. These new grants will enable us to bring our skilled staff and many years of experience in working with the chronically homeless as part of a coordinated effort.”
BFHP’s mission is to ease and end the crisis of homelessness in our communities. The agency, which was founded in 1970, serves more than 2,300 homeless individuals each year across Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sacramento, Amador, and San Joaquin counties. The agency’s uniqueness lies in its comprehensive service strategy that spans emergency food and shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent housing with support services for those clients who are disabled or unable to live independently.
Berkeley Food & Housing Project launched the Coordinated Entry System (CES) in Alameda County, a process designed to coordinate service providers, assess the need for services among the chronically homeless, connect them with appropriate providers, and thereby reduce their barriers to finding and sustaining permanent housing. BFHP operates one of the main points of entry for homeless services in Alameda County: the North County HRC (Housing Resource Center), which serves approximately 1,100 unduplicated clients/year.
Said Light, “We are honored to be chosen to work with the Contra Costa County coordinated entry system and we look forward to sharing resources and best practices across our various communities in a coordinated effort to end the crisis of homelessness.”
Berkeley Food & Housing Project has an annual budget of $9.2M and provides housing and support for the homeless across six counties. The two new grants will create 14 new positions, bringing the total number of agency employees to 108.
Contact: Director of Programs, Calleene Egan: (510) 601- 2609, cegan@bfhp.org