Strategy To Date
The development of our pilot program has consisted of a careful approach to self-understanding rooted in both iteration and listening. Following startup best practices and Einstein’s assertion that “if given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes studying the problem and one minute solving it,” our strategy has been to stay as lean as possible while spending most of our time learning how our park-focused, community-based homeless work and outreach model can best fit into the existing nonprofit landscape in Silicon Valley and the macro social issues surrounding homelessness and park funding.
To do this we have studied existing landscape-based homeless work programs locally, regionally, and nationally, consulted leaders from Washington D.C.'s Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Denver Community Foundation, the City of San Jose's Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department, professors from the University of Notre Dame's Master of Nonprofit Administration Program, and, most importantly, our unhoused participants and others with lived homeless experience. We plan to approach our organization's maturation and any expansions to programming with a listen-first mentality.
To do this we have studied existing landscape-based homeless work programs locally, regionally, and nationally, consulted leaders from Washington D.C.'s Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Denver Community Foundation, the City of San Jose's Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department, professors from the University of Notre Dame's Master of Nonprofit Administration Program, and, most importantly, our unhoused participants and others with lived homeless experience. We plan to approach our organization's maturation and any expansions to programming with a listen-first mentality.