Expanding space for women to heal: Grand opening of the Hope Center in the heart of the Tenderloin Oct. 20

Hope-Center-Grand-Opening-welcome-quilt-on-wall, Expanding space for women to heal: Grand opening of the Hope Center in the heart of the Tenderloin Oct. 20, Local News & Views
Everyone who comes to the Hope Center is welcomed by this quilt hanging on the wall.

by Clementine Ntshaykolo

We are thrilled to announce the grand opening of the Hope Center drop in services, an expansion of the San Francisco SafeHouse transitional program. Join us on Sunday, Oct, 20, 2-4 p.m., at 255 Hyde St., San Francisco.

Since its founding, San Francisco SafeHouse’s transitional housing program has been a safe harbor for women experiencing homelessness and sexual exploitation. With a community of support behind us, this comprehensive housing program has been providing safety and services to the most vulnerable women in our community for over 20 years. We have served over 400 women by providing 18-24 months of transitional housing, wraparound services and over 70,000 nights of safety.

A truly innovative program from the time of its inception, Rev. Glenda Hope’s pioneering vision to create a safe space for our most vulnerable neighbors began as a result of her experiences working and ministering in the Tenderloin. This fall, SafeHouse returned to the Tenderloin neighborhood with expanded supportive programming with the opening of the Hope Center drop in services.

In line with the transitional housing program, the Hope Center will maintain our agency’s core values of being an inclusive and safe space where we meet each survivor with compassion and person-centered care. At the center, survivors will have access to a web of supportive services, including case management, basic resources, rental assistance, groups, therapy, social opportunities and more. We envision a dynamic place where participants have a direct hand in shaping and executing programming and where women’s voices are amplified and celebrated.

At its core, this program expansion will allow SafeHouse to reach hundreds more women than we can accommodate within the transitional housing program. With the closure in recent years of several adult homeless women’s programs, the Hope Center will also fill a critical gap in gender-specific services for adult women who have experienced exploitation.

With the growing homeless population, the Hope Center is committed to being part of the solution by serving exploited women who are homeless and those at the risk of becoming homeless by providing direct services and partnering with city agencies and other agencies engaged in anti-violence work in the Tenderloin and throughout San Francisco.

For further information, please contact Clementine Ntshaykolo at clementine@sfsafehouse.org or at 415-643-7861, extension 103.