Education & Collaboration

National Night Out

The City of Richmond celebrated the National Night Out 2009 (NNO) on Tuesday, August 4th with the NNO Kick-Off at the Target retail outlet in Richmond. Saffron Strand, Inc. participated in the Kick-Off as a community partner, supporting the Richmond Crime Prevention Program and encouraging Richmond neighbors to get to know each other, including the homeless people in their midst.

Like previous NNOs, the annual event August 4th also encouraged Richmond residents to build open, communicative relationships with the police, employ crime prevention techniques, and “build and rebuild” Neighborhood Watch programs.

Homeless persons and others with very low incomes who visited the Saffron Strand booth confirmed that Saffron Strand’s solutions for the homeless are urgently needed in Richmond and other communities of Contra Costa County.

Iron Triangle Community Picnic

Saffron Strand, Inc. attracted much interest from members of the Richmond community through an exhibit at the 17th annual Iron Triangle Community Picnic (ITCP) at Nevin Park on July 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It was a beautiful, sunny day at the recently refurbished park. Saffron Strand participated along with dozens of other exhibitors, including commercial vendors as well as local health and social service providers.

Richmond’s mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, addressed the crowd with a warm welcome to start the picnic. She noted that Richmond has a very diverse community which is a good cause to celebrate. The Richmond police department put on a show with its K-9 unit. The dogs and their handlers impressed community members with demonstrations of their skills. Vendors offered food and beverages, kids swarmed the playground, and many basketball games were going at once.

Saffron Strand used the occasion of ITCP to seek more feedback from homeless persons about the need for our unique solutions to their problems. Almost all the homeless people who attended ITCP reported that were willing to work without pay to learn job and social skills even though many had been unemployed for long periods -- in some cases for many years. Like others among the homeless, those at ITCP told us that Saffron Strand’s solutions for the homeless are urgently needed in Contra Costa County.

San Francisco LGBT Pride 2009

As in any other human population, a significant number of homeless persons in the Bay Area may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transsexual. Saffron Strand, Inc. welcomes all homeless adults to explore what we have to offer members through our social skills and job training programs. So, we jumped on the bandwagon, when Saffron Strand Board Member Joe Escobedo invited Saffron Strand to participate in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28th, in downtown San Francisco.

This year’s parade theme – “In Order to Form a More Perfect Union” – fits the Saffron Strand ideal of engaging everyone in the development of better communities. A professional hair stylist and make-up artist, Joe is the owner of The Glam Box, a trend-setting salon located in Oakland, with many clients throughout the Bay Area. Joe invited Panache The Spa, along with Saffron Strand, to hang banners on The Glam Box float and help out during the miles-long parade route.

The parade started rolling at 10:30 a.m. at Market and Beale Streets and crossed the finish line hours later downtown at Market and Eighth Streets.

Project Homeless Connect 4

The debut of Saffron Strand, Inc. services for the homeless took place at Project Homeless Connect 4 (PHC4), organized by Contra Costa County health services, and held on June 17th at the Civic Center in Richmond.

We recruited 12 volunteers who are owners and employees of local small businesses in the personal care and wellness industry. These volunteers included Saffron Strand Board Members and Advisors who operate businesses such as salons, spas, and barber shops. We arranged for our volunteers to provide their best professional services to West County homeless persons at PHC4 free of charge.

Saffron Strand provided hair cuts, manicures, pedicures, and massages continuously for a period of 6 hours (9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.), serving more than 100 persons. The stage area of the auditorium, where Saffron Strand volunteers worked, was the busiest and most popular area.

Many wonder whether there can be any “new solutions” to homelessness. As Contra Costa County’s 10-year plan to end homelessness stated in 2004, there are nearly 100 housing and service programs of all types to help the homeless in Contra Costa County. In view of all the current government and private homeless service offerings, wouldn’t any additional effort be redundant, amounting to a waste of time and resources? How could another non-profit offer anything new?

However, in its debut in the Richmond Civic Center at PHC4, Saffron Strand proved there are new solutions. We offered valuable personal services not specifically designed for homeless people. We improved their wellness, dignity, and self-esteem on the spot and gave them objective affirmation from others of their value and attractiveness as individuals. These objective results immediately improved their work-ready capability and employability.

As homeless persons at PHC4 told us, Saffron Strand’s new solutions for the homeless were urgently needed in Contra Costa County. They told us that Saffron Strand services were not redundant to other services offered at PHC4 now or available at large in the county. Most encouraging was the indication that homeless people who attended PHC4 were willing to work without pay to learn job and social skills. This approach is unique to Saffron Strand: Voluntary unpaid work of homeless members in support of the organization in order to improve their employability outside the organization.

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