Our New Pilot Program Has Taken Off! 

Members of Stanford Night Outreach

Have you ever wanted to do more for the homeless population in Silicon Valley? One motivated group of college students have done just that, by initiating a collaboration between their group and InnVision to form Hotel de Zink: Women's Shelter.

For many years, Stanford Night Outreach, a Stanford University student organization, has followed its mission to provide social services to the homeless and very low-income folks in the area. Night Outreach students volunteered and assisted the local nonprofit Urban Ministry of Palo Alto, and after UMPA merged with InnVision in 2006, the group continued to work at the Opportunity Services Center and other locations on the Peninsula.

A few months ago, the students approached InnVision with an idea to partner on opening a women-only shelter in Palo Alto as a pilot program. This shelter would be modeled after the existing coed Hotel de Zink rotating shelter program currently operated by InnVision with a maximum of 15 beds. The idea of housing more homeless women generated a lot of community excitement and involvement, so much so that the students raised all the needed funds in just a few months.

Three churches (All Saints Episcopal, Peninsula Bible Church, and Menlo Park Presbyterian Church) volunteered to be a part of this effort by providing spaces and other logistics while they hosted the clients each month. InnVision assembled a case management staff, overnight shelter staff, administrative support, and most importantly, InnVision's 38 years of expertise to get the program off and running by the end of January. The students serve as client advocates and also volunteer in many ways every day to keep the shelter running smoothly. There are currently 11 women in the shelter who are working with a case manager to help address their needs.

Thanks to all those who have donated to make this effort possible! Your generosity will ensure that even more women on the Peninsula can find self-sufficiency through InnVision. If you would like to contribute, you can make a gift directly to Hotel de Zink: Women's Shelter on our donation page. 

I feel as though I have been an inconvenience to friends and others by staying where I am not welcomed, but you make me feel like home for now...I am going to get a place, a job and a better way of life in due time. But for now, thank you for all you do in making me feel welcome and that I belong. 

- Tili, Hotel de Zink: Women's Shelter client

Needless to say, when offered a studio apartment through InnVision in Redwood City, Allen leaped at the opportunity and moved in during February. One week later, he gave his case manager at Julian Street Inn an unsolicited phone call to thank him and JSI for their generosity and, more importantly, to inform him of his ongoing successes: Allen will be graduating probation upon successful completion of one remaining anger management course; he has already established an expanding support system through AA in the Mid-Peninsula; and he has even landed some part-time work helping clear apartment units of abandoned belongings. 

Allen's dedication, in conjunction with the services he received through InnVision, demonstrate that homelessness can be overcome, no matter what the causes or circumstances.