Homeward Bound has a reputation for breaking ground in the path to end homelessness with programs that meet the challenges of this journey, and draw on the community support that fuels it, in new and interesting ways.
Our list of cool stuff includes: First Shelter Opened on a Decommissioned Military Base ; Creative Writing Workshops; an Organic Produce Garden; the First Nonprofit IPO; and Public Art by Mildred Howard.
First Shelter Opened on a Decommissioned Military Base
When Congress passed the 1994 Base Closure Act, it put homeless services at the front of the line for using surplus federal properties. The Marin community wasted no time in making use of this provision.
New Beginnings Center opened in 2000 as the first homeless shelter in the country built on a decommissioned military base. The distinction remains relevant as the rate of veterans among the country's homeless ranks continues to measure more than 25%.
More than 50 former bases now house homeless services, ensuring that these properties graduate from swords to plowshares doing important work on behalf of their communities.
Life at a homeless shelter may seem far from poetic, but Homeward Bound has found expressive writing provides a valuable tool for people seeking stability and ways to step forward.
"This class gives me time to meditate, write freely, write poems, write my feelings and experiences," wrote Jenine, a family shelter resident who participated in a weekly 90-minute workshop.
"As I do all of the above, I feel it has allowed me to focus better, relax, prioritize and put my thoughts into action regarding getting stable housing for my children and myself," she wrote.
Offered first at Mill Street Center and the Family Resource Center by resource counselor Robert-Harry Rovin, the workshops later expanded to include groups at New Beginnings Center with help from therapist and teacher Suzanne Maggio-Hucek.
"People seemed to welcome the chance to express themselves," Robert-Harry says. "It is so exciting seeing people starting to disidentify themselves as homeless, troubled, addicts, whatever, and begin to embrace themselves as creators."
Maggio-Hucek occasionally has described her experience with the group in an Internet blog, which includes excerpts like this: "We share stories of our lives and in doing so we open each other's eyes to something new, to a different possibility of what can be. Inside this home for those who have none, we're building a community." The blog appears at http://suzannemaggio.typepad.com/blogs/homeless_voices/index.html.
Visitors to New Beginnings Center cannot miss the 23-row organic garden along the driveway, which produces a year-round harvest ranging from lettuce to green garlic to Asian pears to broccoli.
This plot of abundance, tended with help from many generous volunteer groups, was not part of original plans for the facility. The suggestion to install it came from retired nurseryman Bob Tanem, host of the popular Sunday radio show "Bob Tanem in the Garden" on KSFO radio 560AM in San Francisco.
With help from donated compost, plants, fencing and irrigation equipment, Bob led the charge to turn the 5,000-square-foot stretch of former parking lot into a working garden.
As a believer in the "Plant A Row for the Hungry" program originated by the Garden Writers of America, Bob planned the garden to grow more than enough for New Beginnings Center. It succeeded in its first season by donating 400 pounds of produce to the Marin Community Food Bank.
The garden where "the homeless feed the hungry" was honored in 2001 with a Mantis Community Gardens Award, one of 12 recognized nationally as a charitable and educational garden that enhances the quality of life in the community. The award is sponsored by the National Gardening Association and Mantis, manufacturer of the Mantis tiller and other garden equipment.
From the beginning, the garden was designed to flourish without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. It includes birdhouses and other features to attract natural predators for harmful insects. These efforts were recognized in 2005 with the Marin County Integrated Pest Management Award by the county Board of Supervisors.
Beyond its capacity to provide food, the garden has become a treasured part of New Beginnings Center. It serves to educate residents enrolled in our Landscaping & Gardening Apprenticeship and provides produce used by students and staff at another job-training program, our Fresh Starts Culinary Academy.
Homeward Bound of Marin made philanthropic history when it launched the nation's first nonprofit IPO, an "Immediate Public Opportunity...to end homelessness" by selling fundraising "shares" to close financing for The Next Key Center.
Renowned investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway bought the first share to kick off the campaign during Affordable Housing Week in May 2007. Other celebrities followed suit as investors, including rock musician Sammy Hagar and San Francisco Giants pitcher Russ Ortiz.
Every IPO investor received a share certificate entitling them to an annual Keyholder Report detailing the progress of residents and will be welcomed to an annual shareholder open house at The Next Key Center, which opened in 2008.
The innovative campaign designed to let people "take stock in long-term programs to end homelessness" generated more than $760,000 in share sales to Marin residents, businesses and others, along with purchases made as far away as England and China. Shares are still available for purchase - visit www.IPOhomeward.com to place an order.
Other nonprofits have borrowed this idea to create IPO-style fundraising initiatives of their own. One example is the Canadian Women's Foundation who consulted with Homeward Bound before launching their IPO.
Public Art Work by Mildred Howard
Renowned Berkeley artist Mildred Howard created the sculpture at the entrance to The Next Key Center in Novato, which takes the form of a series of freestanding bronze keys in shapes progressing from bent to straight.
Ms. Howard committed to the project after touring the adjacent New Beginnings Center, and meeting an acquaintance who - unbeknownst to her -- was among the residents there. The work fulfills a city requirement for public art in all non-residential projects.
Design of the keys mirrors the progress envisioned for formerly homeless residents in the center's 32 studio apartments, while also making reference to the thing that our residents strive to possess: keys to their home and to their greater wellbeing.
In a broader sense, she says, the work explores several thought-provoking questions: What constitutes home? How is the feeling of home defined and redefined? Lastly, how is home forgotten, remembered and acquired?
For Howard, "the making of art, as well as the looking at art, both have wonderful healing and restorative powers. Time and time again I have witnessed the profound ways in which art has inculcated a sense of self-worth in those who have previously lacked confidence in themselves. A world without art, a world in which we as human beings are not making art, would indeed be a truly miserable place."
Her work has been added to collections at the Oakland Museum; the De Young Museum; the San Jose Museum of Art; the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, and other art museums. For more on her work, please see www.gallerypaulanglim.com.
Ms. Howard also joined with Lenehan Architectural Glass in Oakland to create the eye-catching front for the central counter in our community culinary center. Their design uses silverware donated by the public and an etched glass facing.
