10/28/09 – Mayor Gavin Newsom today marked the 5th Anniversary of Project Homeless Connect (PHC) by announcing that since January 2004, from combined outreach and housing efforts including the Care Not Cash, Housing First, Direct Access to Housing and Homeward Bound initiatives, a total of 10,133 homeless single adults have left San Francisco streets or the city’s shelter system for permanent housing.

“Project Homeless Connect is a cost-effective and efficient way to deliver services,” said Mayor Newsom. “The project is a catalyst for engagement and collaboration among city government, community volunteers, nonprofits, and business, and now in its 5th year, has proved to be a great success, helping us move 10,000 homeless people off our streets,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Project Homeless Connect began in October 2004, under the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsom, with fewer than 300 volunteers surveying the homeless in downtown San Francisco. Since then, more than 21,000 volunteers have helped provide services and care to more than 29,000 homeless and poor individuals.

Hundreds of corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies provide PHC and its clients with services such as dental care, eyeglasses, family support, food, HIV testing, housing, hygiene products, medical care, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, SSI benefits, legal advice, California identification cards, voice mail, employment counseling and job placement, wheelchair repair, methadone, needle exchange, and more.
PHC has proven so effective that it is serving as the model for similar programs in more than 221 cities across the U.S., as well as in Australia and Canada.

“We live in a city where we can continue to count on thousands of ordinary men, women and children stepping forward to help those less fortunate than themselves,” said Judith Klain, Director of Project Homeless Connect. “Project Homeless Connect exemplifies the community’s outpouring of compassion to help people who are in desperate circumstances.”

The sponsor of the fifth anniversary PHC is Blue Shield of California.

“As a not-for-profit health plan based in San Francisco, Blue Shield of California is committed to helping those in need in the communities we serve,” said Paul Markovich, Executive Vice President and COO of Blue Shield of California. “We have partnered with Project Homeless Connect for the past five years and are proud to continue to give to our community and help provide medical and social services to people trying to get back on their feet.”

For more information go to: www.projecthomelessconnect.com.