AmeriCorps – Shelter Health Educator – 2025

San Francisco is incredible in that there are so many resources and programs to remove barriers to getting care and meeting one’s basic needs. Having a lot of resources also means many players at once. The Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) helps connect individuals to shelters or housing. Street Medicine and Shelter Health exist within Whole Person Integrated Care (WPIC) in the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH). Case managers from Community Forward SF are located throughout the city’s shelters. Then there are shelter or navigation center managers and the shelter staff. Each of these groups interacts with many of the same clients but in a unique way. The overall goals of each group are the same: to support the client in getting the care and shelter they desire. Something we discussed at a meeting was the importance of pooling the resources we each have to serve clients best. For instance, there are many services offered through WPIC at our main clinic, the Maria X Martinez clinic, that the case managers at Community Forward SF may be unaware of because that’s not their department. If the separate teams work together and merge as necessary, we can create a dependable and resilient care team for clients. Having many resources is an important first step, but it’s not the final destination. There’s still much to do to improve the system for folks experiencing homelessness.