Warm weather has finally arrived here at our Insight Housing headquarters in Berkeley! As we wrap up the summer months, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for the community you all have built with us. As you’ll read in this newsletter, August was busy for us across many Insight sites. We:
Participated in a three-day outreach event in San Francisco.
Visited the Campus residence in Berkeley.
Checked in with some Community Meal volunteers at the Hope Center.
Thank you for being the kind and generous neighbors who make up the Insight Housing support network. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts about what you enjoy seeing and what you want more of – reach out to us at info@insighthousing.org.
Supportive Services for Veteran Families Surge Event in San Francisco
Last week, Insight Housing participated in a Department of Veteran Affairs Surge event in San Francisco. In partnership with the VA and community partners, and with months of planning, a Surge is an intensive, scheduled event led by the VA to rapidly engage homeless Veterans and connect them to immediate pathways to permanent housing and supportive services.
Teams made up of Insight Housing Case Managers, Outreach Specialists, and VA social workers were assigned to different neighborhoods throughout the city. They connected with Veterans living on the streets who may be interested in accessing housing and services. Teams also provided hygiene kits, water, snacks, and blankets to individuals experiencing homelessness.
Surge events like this are crucial to getting people immediate and accessible support. Thank you to our staff, who meet everyone they come across with compassion and urgency to help! Click here to watch our video about the event, and follow us on socials to keep up with all the latest happenings!
Volunteer Spotlight: Jenny and Jon Ettinger
Meet the Ettingers, a couple who began volunteering at Insight Housing in 2024 after they attended our Community Champions Dinner with a board member of Insight Housing. They recently shared what it’s like volunteering with Insight while they were serving Community Meal at the Hope Center in Downtown Berkeley. “We have always enjoyed and valued giving back to our local community,” said Jenny.
When it comes to the staff at the Hope Center, Jenny and Jon have felt welcome since their first shift. “Andre, Josh, Sam, Uttam, Nadia, and the rest of the team are professional, caring, and great to work with. We are so appreciative of the work they do and the way they run the center.” Click here to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Insight Housing!
Jon and Jenny Ettinger during Community Meal at the Hope Center in Berkeley
Visit to the Campus
Welcome to The Campus, part of Insight Housing’s emergency shelter program. Formerly a Berkeley motel, the Campus first opened in August 2023 and was initially meant to house people living in an encampment at 8th and Harrison streets.
Now, any person living in the City of Berkeley in an encampment can be housed through this program. This interim housing facility allows participants to stay until they find permanent housing. Stay tuned for upcoming newsletters featuring stories of individuals living in this community.
Insight Housing staff, Ikenna Onyemechara, program manager, left, and Forrest Mayari, housing navigator, right, stand outside the Campus Motel in Berkeley
Measure W Advocacy Success
At an Alameda County Town Hall, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a plan to allocate 80% of Measure W funds to homelessness services, with the other 20% going towards other support services. Insight Housing is proud to be among those who elevated voices of lived experience in this process -- check out our Instagram post about our participants speaking at a Town Hall here.
This means that $1.4 billion will go towards housing and homelessness solutions throughout Alameda County, managed by the Home Together Fund, the County homelessness plan. Funds will be allocated to reflect the homelessness rate in the region, and centered around racial equity, as black and indigenous people in Alameda County are significantly overrepresented in the homelessness population (you can read more about this in the Centering Racial Equity report).The County will work with cities to set funding priorities, strengthen operations, and create platforms for advisory groups with lived experience to help improve homelessness response systems. To get involved in housing justice advocacy, stay tuned for another Board of Supervisors meeting in late September, and follow us on social media!
