A new classical music composition program has changed the lives of a number of inmates serving time at a Bay Area jail. They recently gathered to listen to performances of pieces they composed themselves, after completing their classes at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility. KTVU's Heather Holmes speaks with retired Correctional Lieutenant Liana Whisler and Program Manager Sergeant Jennifer Aicega about how the class came about and what it aims to accomplish.
Mission district tiny-homes project opens follow months-long debate
By James Salazar | Examiner staff writer
Sixty new tiny homes opened in the Mission district Monday as part of The City’s efforts to expand temporary shelter for unhoused individuals.
Located at 1979 Mission St., the cabins can accommodate up to 68 people, depending on the number of couples. Each home has a locking door, a bed, storage space, furniture, outlets and heating. Hygiene facilities, a dining area and a common area are also included, while residents will be provided access to meals, case management and health services through a partnership with the Department of Public Health.
“We want people indoors, where it’s safe and where they can get on the path to a more secure, long-term housed environment," Mayor London Breed said in a release. “That’s how we end homelessness for people who need help and it’s how we prevent long-term encampments in our neighborhoods.”
Five Keys Schools and Programs, founded by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department in 2003 to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails, will operate the site and provide on-site social services. The project will cost an estimated $2 million a year to run, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
Mission Cabins is the second cluster of tiny homes built for the unhoused in San Francisco; it comes after 70 cabins were set up at 33 Gough St. in March 2022. After two years, the homes at the Mission site will be taken down and a long-term affordable-housing project will be built in the neighborhood, creating up to roughly 350 new homes.
In a statement, District 9 Supervisor Hillary called the homelessness crisis the “biggest problem facing our city.”
Mission Cabins are the second such row of tiny homes in San Francisco, having been modeled after the 70 cabins set up at 33 Gough St. in March 2022.
Courtesy San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
“Now approximately 65 people who have been homeless and living on the streets in the Mission will have dignified shelter and around-the-clock social services,” she said. “I believe these cabins will improve many individual lives as well as street conditions in the Mission.”
Ronen threw her support behind the project in the fall after the proposal guaranteed that full-time staff would keep the space clean and safe.
Officials said that The City has expanded shelter capacity by more than 60% since 2018, with 3,900 beds already available and more expected to come online soon. San Francisco has helped more than 15,000 individuals permanently exit homelessness in the last five years, homelessness officials said.
City officials first proposed the Mission district’s tiny homes project in 2022 but faced pushback amid neighborhood concerns. The site’s proximity to the playground at Marshall Elementary School and the kinds of residents it could support were sources of contention.
To address safety concerns, two sets of fencing and storage lockers separate the site from Marshall Elementary’s playground, while there is also one check-in entrance on Mission Street that comes with security cameras.
“The Mission Cabins are a step towards creating more inclusive and compassionate shelter in areas of high need, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive with dignity,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, in a statement.
Tiny ‘Mission Cabins’ for homeless residents open today at 16th St. BART Plaza
Mission Cabins at 1979 Mission Street. Photo by Xueer Lu. April 10, 2024.
by XUEER LU
APRIL 15, 2024, 6:00 AM
Mission Cabins, a two-year homeless-shelter project offering 60 tiny homes to adults experiencing homelessness, will open its doors this morning to residents at 1979 Mission St., next to the northeastern 16th Street BART Plaza.
The project will house up to 68 adults. Sitting on a 24,000-square-foot parking lot surrounded by eight-foot-tall black wire fences, the cabin village features 52 65-square-foot single rooms and eight 78-square-foot double rooms for couples. The rooms for couples sit on the east side of the site.
Deborah Bouck, communications and community engagement lead at the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said that the program is invitation-only, and will not accept walk-ins or applications. The site’s service provider, the nonprofit Five Keys Schools and Programs, and the department’s homeless outreach program aim to move in five people a day until the cabins are all occupied.
One of the three sitting areas in between rows of rooms. Photo by Xueer Lu. April 10, 2024.
Two wooden steps lead into each cabin. Each room has a lock on the door and a window. The inside is furnished with a single or double bed with pink or dark gray bedding, a bath towel and a three-drawer cabinet in the corner. A potted plant sits atop the cabinet, and along the wall is an air-conditioning unit with a light above it.
Guests are allowed to bring in their own possessions, and can put their belongings in one of five shared storage units if they require the extra space.
San Francisco Opens Mission Cabins to Expand Temporary Shelter for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
60 new cabins are part of continued expansion of City’s shelter services, which have increased by over 60% over the last 5 years
April 15, 2024
San Francisco, CA -- Today Mayor London N. Breed and Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced the city has opened its latest temporary shelter program, the Mission Cabins, which will provide 60 cabins for people experiencing homelessness at 1979 Mission Street. The project, modeled after the successful 33 Gough Cabins, will provide private cabins and onsite support services for individuals experiencing homelessness. The program is expected to run for at least two years until the long-term affordable housing development planned for the site breaks ground.
Mission Cabins is part of the city’s ongoing efforts to expand access to temporary shelter. Since 2018, San Francisco has expanded shelter capacity by over 60%, with over 3,900 shelter beds now online and more coming online soon. These temporary shelter beds are critical as part of the city’s efforts to move people from the street, to shelter, and back to housing stability. Over the last five years, San Francisco has helped over 15,000 people permanently exit homelessness.
Mission Cabins will offer individuals experiencing homelessness a safe, temporary living environment and the services they need to move beyond homelessness. Each cabin provides a private room with a locking door, a comfortable bed, storage space, a desk, a chair, outlets, and heating. The site includes hygiene facilities, a dining area, and community space. The program will also provide meals, case management, health services and activities for guests. Staff will be onsite 24/7 to ensure the safety and well-being of residents.
“The new Mission Cabins will provide a critical new space in our work to bring people off the streets and into a safe, stable environment,” said Mayor London Breed. “We want people indoors, where it’s safe and where they can get on the path to a more secure, long-term housed environment. That’s how we end homelessness for people who need help and it’s how we prevent long-term encampments in our neighborhoods.”
"The homelessness crisis is the biggest problem facing our city. Now, approximately 65 people who have been homeless and living on the streets in the Mission will have dignified shelter and around-the-clock social services. I am proud to have championed the Mission Cabins with city departments, community advocates, and many neighbors in District 9. I believe these cabins will improve many individual lives as well as street conditions in the Mission," said District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen.
“The launch of the Mission Cabins expands an innovative shelter model for people experiencing homelessness in the Mission,” said San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing executive director, Shireen McSpadden. “The Mission Cabins are a step towards creating more inclusive and compassionate shelter in areas of high need, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive with dignity.”
Five Keys Schools and Programs was selected through a competitive process to operate the site and provide onsite social services. Through a partnership with the Department of Public Health, health services will be provided on site several days per week.
“Five Keys is once again proud to partner with HSH by supporting the operations of the Mission Cabins,” said Steve Good, executive director of Five Keys. “Five Keys prides itself on providing a safe and dignified home for the unsheltered. We look forward to working with the community to ensure this site is a success.”
“The Mission Cabins initiative offers people a safe and welcoming alternative to living on the streets,” said Public Works Director Carla Short, whose in-house teams provided design, project management and construction management services. “This is just the type of thoughtful and collaborative project we need to keep San Francisco moving in the right direction to provide shelter for unhoused residents and to improve neighborhood street conditions.”
"Providing healthcare onsite to the Mission Cabins residents is an example of our commitment to offering easily accessible and low-barrier treatment to address health disparities in our communities” said Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax. “We are pleased to be a part of this partnership and collaboration to ensure people receive the support and care they need."
New program seeks to rehabilitate Sonoma County jail inmates by teaching music composition
MADISON SMALSTIG | THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | April 1, 2024, 3:15PM
The Edith String Quartet, composed of four Juilliard students playing two violins, a cello and viola, prepares Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, to play for 11 men in the music composition course and about 60 Sonoma County residents in the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility. (Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)
The hums and harmonies from the string quartet flowed up and down, and the picks and plucks sharply exited the speakers into a classroom at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility.
Eight incarcerated men and a small crowd listened March 25 as a quartet — Juilliard School students on two violins, a cello and a viola — performed eight pieces, each composed by one of the inmates.
Fluttery movements and fluid melodies dissipated wanting, dissonant chords and bled into sharp and distinct dynamics. The composers had written some comments, including “cartoony” and “life is risky but never boring,” in their sheet music that dictated the vibe and emotions to be expressed in the music.
The performance in New York City was broadcast live to the Santa Rosa jail via Zoom.
The students’ pieces were the culmination of about nine weeks of work through a program called Music for the Future, which teaches incarcerated individuals about live music, composition and the life and compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven. The underlying goal is to help them gain skills to better themselves so they don’t return to jail after being released.
The music was played in no particular order. The inmates were composers in this moment and looked down at their music to follow the movements. Some twiddled their thumbs, gripped their faces with their hands and bounced legs in anticipation. Some teared up. Some smiled when the crowd clapped.
Eleven students were selected for the class. Each was already enrolled in Five Keys, a nonprofit charter school that offers high school and some higher learning courses in the jail. Each actively participated in classes.
They learned the basics in week one. They had written a short piece of music by the end of week three.
Since then, they wrote nonstop and stayed committed to class. Only one had to leave because of an infraction.
That was an accomplishment. And on March 25, they celebrated.
Five Keys gives Californians of all ages hope, high school diplomas, and job skills
“She saw something I never saw in myself. For the first time in my life, someone believed in me.”
In the fall of 2024, Ezekel Ferguson, 34, is poised to graduate from college with a triple degree in psychology, sociology and English. His next stop: a new job he’s recently landed in human resources, and he’s gung-ho to continue his education and pursue a graduate degree in that field.
“I never, ever imagined this path for myself,” says Ezekel, a Long Beach, CA resident who is juggling full-time academia at Compton College and job as a truck driver that pays the rent and undergrad tuition. “I didn’t think I was good enough.”
He supported himself working at McDonalds. But he says, “I woke up one day and knew I had to make more of myself.”
That’s when he tried to find employment at a higher level, only to be told time and time again that he needed a high school degree.
He remembers being “especially discouraged and worried about my future.”
That is where providence stepped in.
“I was sitting in a lobby of some building applying for a job, when I was told I couldn’t be a candidate because I didn’t have a high school diploma,” he says.
That’s where Five Keys Schools and Programs came into play. Five Keys “just happens” to operate one of its high schools in the same building where Ezekel was seeking to find employment — the Rancho Dominguez America’s Job Center. The San Francisco-based Five Keys is an accredited charter high school that is breaking down barriers for more than 30,000 at-risk and in-risk individuals across California.
“I was really upset and frustrated when this woman approached me, Miss Margot,” he says. “She turned out to be a teacher with Five Keys and told me about their high school diploma program. She was so kind and saw something I never saw in myself. For the first time in my life, someone believed in me.”
In 2014 Ezekel enrolled in the free Five Keys program that is missioned to help adults graduate from high school or receive their GED in order to strengthen career opportunities and future wages. Juggling full-time work as a trucker and his studies, it took Ezekel several years to earn his high school degree.
But in 2017, he walked across the stage at his Five Keys high school graduation to the cheers of a crowd, including “Miss Margot,” Margot deGrave, now principal for eight Five Keys high school sites in the Los Angeles area.
“He was such a cool kid,” Margot, who has taught and worked with hundreds of students remembers Ezekel as a standout. “He has such a positive attitude even though he had such a rough journey. Like so many of our students, he faced so many challenges and had to drop out and re-enroll eight or nine times. But he preserved and made it. Even though he struggled, he never gave up. It is such an honor to witness someone who has truly been so motivated to create a brighter future for himself.”
In 2019 Ezekel received his associate degree in business administration and behavioral sciences from Compton College. With a couple of English courses left, he is poised to transfer to Cal State Long Beach from Compton college and finish his bachelor’s degree next fall.
“Miss Margot and the Five Keys team were with me every step of the way,” says Ezekel. “They were always there and even still reach out to see how I am doing. My goal is to have a career in human resources and I would love to work for Five Keys to help others in the same way they helped me.”
Get to know Ezekel better in this video.
San Diego NGOs Assist Ex-Offenders in Reentering the Workforce.
Ex-Offender Being Released by Police
Photo by: Perry Eastman
Written by Perry Eastman
Published on News Break
California has a recidivism rate of 46%, indicating that many individuals who have served time in prison return to jail or prison. However, numerous San Diego County charitable organizations are providing resources to help break free from this cycle and enter the workforce.
Nonprofit organizations offer various services to help individuals overcome work barriers and transition into society, such as job training and mentoring programs.
Tracy Holt, a former prisoner, emphasizes the importance of employment for success and reducing California's high recidivism rate.
Holt is responsible for maintaining highways, landscaping, and trash abatement, as well as serving as a backup driver.
Holt, a Navy veteran, has successfully reintegrated into society through San Diego's Five Keys Schools and Programs, which offer transitional jobs to ex-offenders.
Holt, who was released from jail after 20 years, faced significant challenges in finding work after being released. He emphasized the importance of a job, stating that his chances of returning to jail are higher without one.
The Five Keys Schools and Programs, in partnership with eighteen other nonprofit partners in San Diego County, provide temporary employment to individuals who have been out of the workforce for a long time or have a background in the education system, helping them find permanent employment or rejoin the education system.
The San Diego Workforce Partnership and other organizations are collaborating to offer comprehensive services to individuals who have served time behind bars, highlighting the importance of workforce partnerships in the community and economy.
The California Workforce Development Board has awarded a $5 million grant to the San Diego Workforce Program, aimed at providing job programs through reentry works services. Young stated that these individuals are capable of completing the task and deserve our support and assistance.
According to Young, the award will enable the nonprofit organization and its local partners to provide transformative services to people such as Tracy.
Tracy exemplifies our values, and we have the tools to support individuals like him in making significant changes in their own lives and others.
Young highlights Tracy's story as a testament to the transformative power of organizations like the San Diego Workforce Partnership and Back 2 Work, while Holt emphasizes the importance of available resources for success. Tracy is pursuing a commercial driver's license to secure a permanent, full-time position.
Rocio De La Fe contributed to this Article.
San Diego nonprofits help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into workforce
Posted on: CBS8
Author: Rocio De La Fe
Published: 9:17 AM PST February 24, 2024
Updated: 9:17 AM PST February 24, 2024
Through their partnership, the organizations combine their resources to provide wrap-around services tailored to the needs of formerly incarcerated people.
SAN DIEGO — The most recent state report shows California’s recidivism rate is at around 46%, that’s the rate that former incarcerated individuals find themselves back in jail.
Several nonprofits in San Diego County are helping many people break that cycle by equipping them with the tools they need to reenter the workforce.
From job training to mentorship programs, these nonprofit organizations offer a wide range of services to break down barriers to employment and help create a smooth transition back into society.
“A job is a key element in success and not becoming a statistic of the recidivism rate that California has," said Tracy Holt, who has rejoined the workforce after serving time in prison.
Holt now works as a backup driver and also spends his time performing litter abatement, highway maintenance, and landscaping.
Holt, a Navy veteran, has successfully reintegrated into society thanks to the support of San Diego’s Five Keys Schools and Programs, which offers transitional employment to formerly incarcerated individuals.
After serving two decades in prison, Holt says he faced significant barriers to employment after his release.
“There’s always the uncertainty of what’s going to be next. And a job is the most important. Without a job your odds and chances of going back are greater than if you have the stability," said Holt.
The Five Keys Schools and Programs works closely with a network of 18 other nonprofit partners in San Diego County, including Back 2 Work and the San Diego Workforce Partnership.
“It’s very difficult when you have been out of the workforce for x amount of years or even have a background," said Kimberly Castillo, with Back 2 Work. "We support in providing essentially a temporary employment while they look for permanent employment or rejoin the education system."
Through their partnership, the organizations combine their resources to provide comprehensive wrap-around services tailored to the needs of formerly incarcerated people.
“The workforce partnership is very important when it comes to the vitality of our economy and our community," said Tony Young, Interim President and CEO, San Diego Workforce Partnership.
Recently, the San Diego Workforce Program received a nearly $5 million grant from the California Workforce Development Board. The money aims to bolster employment services through its reentry works services.
“We want to support these individuals and they have all the ability to do the work. They just need our support," said Young.
Young says the grant will further help the nonprofit and its regional partners to provide life-changing services to individuals like Tracy.
“Tracy really embodies what we’re about. We have resources to help individuals like Tracy really make a different not only in his life but in the lives of others," he added.
Young says Tracy’s story serves as a testament to the transformative impact organizations like Back 2 Work and San Diego Workforce Partnership can have.
“It made all the difference in the world there’s no way that I could’ve made it without the resources that was made available to me," said Holt.
Tracy is currently working to obtain his commercial driver’s license which will help him take the next steps into a full-time, permanent career.
After controversy, Mission’s tiny homes to open early April at 16th St. BART plaza
Posted on Mission Local by XUEER LU FEBRUARY 23, 2024, 6:50 PM
Construction site of Mission Cabins, also known as "tiny homes", on Feb. 23, 2024. Photo by Xueer Lu.
Mission Cabins, a village of 60 tiny homes serving up to 68 adults experiencing homelessness, hopes to open by the end of March at 1979 Mission Street next to the 16th St. BART plaza, and to begin services in early April.
The city recently awarded a two-year $2.9 million a year contract to manage the site to Five Keys Schools and Programs, a nonprofit. Five Keys also manages the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center, a site for shorter stays for people with substance use disorders.
Steve Good, president and chief executive officer of Five Keys, said that the nonprofit will be offering 24/7 services such as property management, case management, cleaning inside and outside of the site, room checks, and maintenance. “It’ll be pretty comprehensive services not just for the site,” Good added. “But also to be good neighbors with the community.”
On Friday, the former parking lot was busy with activity: trucks and workers were going in and out transporting construction materials, some white cabins and metallic bathrooms had been installed, and eight-foot poles for the fences had gone up.
Across from the site, at Capp and Adair streets, some 10 neighbors stood in a circle with city staff for a community meeting to go over a draft of an agreement with the Healthy Streets Operation Center and Departments of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Public Works, and Police.
The draft proposed a list of policies to ease concerns previously raised by nearby residents, as well as some parents at Marshall Elementary School, a K-5 public school located adjacent to the site.The city agreed that the Capp Street entrance and exit to the cabins will only be used for emergencies, any tents on the sidewalk in front will be immediately reported to 311 by staff, and HSH will create an incident dashboard to track service requests and 311/911 calls.
“I’m happy to see them add in a lot of the things that we requested,” said Naomi Fox, PTA president at Marshall, listing more items such as a minimum of three perimeter inspections daily, and collecting litter around the site. “It’s happy to see a step in a positive direction.”
A man who gave his name as George, who has been living on Adair Street since 2002, asked about the program’s opening date.
“I’m going to say April 1 but it might shift,” said Emily Cohen, deputy director for communications and legislative affairs at HSH. It might shift depending on where we are with construction.”
The preparation for move-in, Cohen said, has been an ongoing process: Outreach workers from HSH have been quietly identifying a list of over 100 people who have been living for many months in nearby encampments. They plan to invite 10 to 20 people per week into the site until it reaches full capacity. Upon moving into the tiny homes, guests will have access to on-site bathrooms, showers, community space, case management, and up to two meals a day.
“We will literally walk people over with the outreach team if they’re in an encampment or if they’re just like an individual hanging out in the street,” Cohen said.
Cohen emphasized the role of Santiago Lerma, Supervisor Hilary Ronen’s former legislative aide and the director of Mission Streets Condition Response. Ronen promised Lerma’s participation last October in a community meeting where she was bashed by residents for quietly agreeing to the cabins. Cohen said Lerma would be out on the street on a “daily basis, leveraging city resources to address challenges.”
“I can’t stop somebody from smoking fentanyl on the street. But I can be out here,” Lerma said. “I can talk to people. I can communicate with Captain Harvey [of SFPD’s Mission Station] on a daily basis about things all around the Mission. I’ll be coming here every day.”
“I was worried but now I think it’s looking pretty good,” said Aaron Wojack, a resident who has been living on the block for two and a half years. “Better than the old parking lot.”
Five Keys: Incarceration Meets Aspiration
“Hope.” This overworked noun can read like a blasé greeting card shorthand to those who have no need of it. For Tammy Johnson – who spent 28 years in prison for a murder her abuser committed – “hope” was the high-octane fuel powering her decades of determined self-work. “We help everybody,” she says today with cheery swagger. Johnson is Program Director for Home Free, transitional post-prison housing for unjustly incarcerated women; an initiative begun in 2020 by San Francisco nonprofit Five Keys. In their own words: Five Keys provides traditionally underserved communities the opportunity to improve their lives through a focus on the Five Keys: EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT, RECOVERY, FAMILY, COMMUNITY.
Tammy, Five Keys Home Free Director.
But Five Keys’ inaugural mission began in 2003 with education as its theme, the nonprofit launching the first accredited charter high school in the U.S. to provide diploma programs for adults in California county jails. Lack of a high school diploma has long had a statistical correlation with incarceration and repeat offending.
“Recidivism drops by over 50% when a high school diploma is earned,” says Lisa Pitters, Chief Education Officer. Five Keys made high school graduation available to the imprisoned, in 2008 adding to their program of educational determinism by providing a path to both a high school diploma and vocational skills outside the jail system in underserved neighborhoods all around California. Today, more than 100 such community learning centers serve aspiring students of any age, background, or circumstance. “The education is self-paced,” says Pitters. “There are lots of single moms and people working several jobs. The teachers are really what make it so wonderful.”
Five Keys’ vital Home Free initiative was launched in 2020. “Home Free is a home for abused women, and women who have been human trafficked,” says Johnson. She adds plainly, “These are women who have defended themselves against their abusers.”
Thousands of women, nationwide, have spent decades in prison convicted of homicide in trials that didn’t allow them to present evidence of the horrific abuse they’d suffered. There were other unjust evidentiary problems. “Some of these women were at the scene of a crime under the coercive control of their abuser,” says Sunny Schwartz, co-founder of Home Free, describing Johnson’s own lockdown detour of 28 irretrievable years.
A belated change in California law led to commutations, and after decades in prison, women found themselves eligible for release. Incarceration follows a grand ceremony of gavels, bailiffs, sonorous speeches, and rules of order. No such decorum attends one’s release after being shut away for 30 years. A door opens and you walk through it clutching whatever you can carry. The prospect of beginning anew is Everest-like.
To these women, Home Free is not just four walls and a ceiling, but an instructive re-launch pad. There are workshops in financial and tech literacy, computer and job training classes, and a long-awaited embrace where counseling, healing – and an underpraised energy source called love – help women rebuild brutally interrupted lives; and self-regard.
“My abuser used to get other young girls,” Johnson says, “and I would take them and put them on the bus home. I would get beat up afterwards, but I never stopped. I always cared for other people, but I didn’t care for myself.” Johnson’s gorgeous smile is right around 1000 watts, and here it comes. “Now I do.”
Read the Original Article on The Giving List