SLRC LOGOMini-Grant Program 1996

Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco


Peer Outreach Project


Project Name: Peer Outreach Project
Funded Agency: Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco
Project Address: 201 Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-3910
Contact Person: Christian Nelson Project Coordinator: Pam Nicholls
Phone Number: (415) 487-3790 FAX Number: (415) 487-3795
E-mail address: nelsonc@otan.dni.us
RRC Partner Metropolitan Adult Education Program

Background

Episcopal Community Services (ECS) is a nonprofit organization providing supportive services and housing to homeless and low income adults. Since 1989, ECS has operated the Skills Center, a major provider of adult education services to homeless and low income adults in San Francisco. The Skills Center Director and staff contributed substantial and ongoing support to the Peer Outreach Project, which was headquartered at the Skills Center.


Collaborating Partners and Agencies

Chinese Community Housing Corporation (CCHC) and Metropolitan Adult Education Program (MAEP)'s SLRC Regional Resource Center collaborated with ECS in design of the Peer Outreach Project concept and proposal.

CCHC Staff recruited candidates for the Peer Outreach Worker positions from among their clients living in residential hotels, and helped candidates prepare resumes and practice for job interviews.

CCHC staff also contributed to the POP team's strategy for "outreaching" people living in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.


Description of Project

The Peer Outreach Project (POP) was designed to recruit and train formerly homeless adults to reach out to homeless adults and recruit them into the Skills Center to improve their literacy and work skills. It offered meaningful and creative internships to five people. Each intern was formerly homeless, now living in supportive housing or drug treatment programs. Each found pride and challenge in his/her job as a Peer Outreach Worker.

Interns worked five hours per week and were supervised by a Coordinator who also worked an average of five hours each week. In weekly meetings, the Peer Outreach team planned strategies for making contact with potential Skills Center students. Workers then performed outreach in many settings, including emergency shelters, AIDS housing, and free meal sites. They worked individually, in pairs, and in small groups, distributing promotional flyers created by the team.

In group and one-to-one outreach sessions, each Outreach Worker told his/her own story of the transformational role played by the Skills Center and adult education in his/her live. These stories were the most powerful outreach tool of all. As the Workers contributed their life experience to bringing new students to the Skills Center, the Peer Outreach Project offered workers the opportunity to develop workplace skills relevant to social and human service positions, and useful in a wide variety of other endeavors.


Skills practiced by the Workers included:

  • Establishing and enforcing ground rules for group and individual work: punctuality, dependability, initiative, dealing with conflict, professional poise.

  • Facilitating meetings and creating and following agendas.

  • Planning work objectives, creating action plans, and evaluating progress.

  • Planning and enacting research using the tools of observation, individual interviews, and group interviews. Sample areas of investigation: Why do people come to the Skills Center? Why do people choose not to come to the Skills Center?

  • Group and individual training and practice in public speaking.

    Project Budget
    Source SLRCECSECS In-KindTotal
    Salaries$ 9,600$ ,400$ 3,400$13,400
    Operation$ 600$ 400$ 300$ 1,300
    Equipment  $ 1,000$ 1,000$ 2,000
    Indirect$ 816 $ 375$ 1,191
    Total$11,016$ 1,800$ 4,775$17,891


    How the SLRC Grant Benefited the Project

    The entire Peer Outreach Project would not have happened without the SLRC Mini-Grant!


    Successes of the Project

    Through outreach to groups and individuals, Peer Outreach Workers spoke with as many as 550 homeless or very low income people, inviting them to check out the opportunities offered by the Skills Center. Attendance records show that more than 34 of those contacted had already entered Skills Center classes by the end of the project's funding period. (Six out of ten contacted is a very high success rate for a program which services the homeless.) At the Skills Center, those new learners will improve their literacy abilities and work toward gaining more stability in their lives.


    Personal Anecdotes

    Shirley C.: "With me, the job keeps me on my p's and q's, keeps me busy, keeps me focused. It keeps me focused and not about taking a drink, not about going out there and being the girl I was a long time ago. I have a lot going on in my mind, always talking about work and thinking about my recovery."

    CWJ: " When the opportunity came along to be a Peer Outreach Worker I felt blessed for the chance to go back to work at a pace that wouldn't be stressful and felt that this gave me an opportunity to give to a school that I truly believe in."

    Marie N.: "Before my job as a Peer Outreach Worker, I was shy and not sure of myself as being able to help others, even though I have hands-on experience with the difficulties such as homelessness, etc. The Coordinator of my team and the support of my teammates helped me to learn the skills I need to reach others. I now have the skills and the willingness to help others find a way for their own special needs to become reality."


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