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Strong Communities
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My COO Stories |
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Innovating means understanding problems and solutions at the ground level. COO works alongside skilled and informed teams that live in and know the neighborhoods and are able to work with us to pinpoint where systems are breaking down. Our community work is anchored in four bedrock principles.
During the planning period, COO engaged over 350 residents in more than 50 community meetings. In these meetings we gained a deeper understanding of the issues individuals, families and communities were facing and where their priorities lie. For COO to be successful, we must continue that kind of “call and response” relationship with the community. We must listen to their call for what needs to be done, and social infrastructure must then be flexible enough and nimble enough to respond. COO will be holding quarterly Community Voice meetings to gather resident feedback, provide updates on the progress of programs, and engage residents in the work of building community support and participation.
For many of our residents there are few real options in their lives. This lack of choice often leads to lack of engagement. We have found that when residents are given real choices enrollment and follow-through increase. There are multiple barriers and therefore multiple solutions to providing choice. COO is working on various options to increase resident choices including vouchers for city funded programs, community determined transportation schedules to programs of interest, and additional “customer service” feedback loops to city services providers and CBOs.
After decades of empty promises or services that did not lead to intended outcomes, residents have become wary of outreach efforts and are slow to engage in new programs. To break this cycle we work with peer “coaches” who deeply understand critical issues and work with residents to answer questions in a peer-to-peer setting that breaks through some of the difficult dynamics of a typical community meeting. They help the families understand how to re-engage with the system and take advantage of opportunities. This model not only informs residents but truly help them navigate critical systems and services they need to break the cycle of poverty
During its pilot phase in Alice Griffith, COO built our first Opportunity Center on site. The new, green tech building serves as a community anchor, housing services and providing access to resources such as computer labs, health screenings, and community nights. Since then, COO has opening Opportunity/HopeSF Centers in all four developments, often investing in the rehabilitation of buildings that at one time were sources of community pride but that had fallen into disrepair or were abandoned all together. These centers work to restore part of the heart of the community and create places people are proud to go rather than places they avoid.
In addition, COO has launched its Village Vans service in partnership with the faith based community. The Van serve as a vital transportation link, taking youth and members of the community to programs across the city and on community building outings that are organized by the residents. The vans allow us to take full advantage of the city services that have already been funded but previously were inaccessible to our community due to transportation and safety concerns. It is this kind of community infrastructure that COO helps to create, bridging the gap between the programs and services of the city and the residents who need them.
