Samaritan House

Client and food services: in fy23, we served 26,485 clients with 472,785 services, including financial assistance and essential services, including, food, shelter and healthcare. We filed tax returns for 225 individuals, resulting in $244,118 in federal/state refunds, $63,388 earned income tax credits (eitc), as well as $78,577 in child tax credits (ctc) and additional child tax credits (actc). The food & nutrition program continued its food distributions, as well as provided 4 million pounds of food, including more than 583,790 bags of groceries, collectively totaling more than 4.85 million annual meals to 10,224 families (22,667 individuals). Food costs offset an average of $1,858 per household, valued at $18,996,897. In addition, our program was honored with ca resource recovery association's 2023 outstanding edible food recovery program award for diverting 1m pounds of surplus food from landfills to support our food-insecure neighbors. Samaritan House served 2,445 families, including 4,949 youth & teens, in 2023's holiday program. Kids closet distributed 20,576 items of new and slightly used clothing to kids and teens, as well as nearly 236,735 diapers to babies and toddlers in need. The back-to-school program distributed 3,500 new backpacks filled with grade-appropriate supplies, ensuring that children started the school year on track and focused on learning. In addition to expenditures listed here, Samaritan House also serves as the fiscal sponsor for the chronicle season of sharing fund, and distributed $ 1,445,064 to low-income families in emergency financial assistance on behalf of seven core service agencies serving san mateo county.

Free medical and dental clinics: the free clinics of san mateo and redwood city provide medical, dental, vision and mental health services at no cost to medically underserved residents of san mateo county. Clinic patients are uninsured and unable to afford 'out-of-pocket' healthcare costs, such as premiums, copays or deductibles of coverage. In fy23, the clinics served 8,067 patient visits with the help of 102 volunteer professionals. Both clinics rely on a volunteer-based model of service, including volunteer medical professionals, such as physicians, nurses, dentists, nurse practitioners, interpreters, and other clinical and administrative staff, to operate the clinics. Volunteers contributed 4,988 volunteer hours in fy23. Launched in 2016, Samaritan House's food pharmacy program was the first in California. At each of our two clinic locations, patients with diabetes fill "prescriptions" for free nutritious food. Through our food pharmacies, we distributed 24,239 bags of food. Providing primary and preventive care to the medically underserved and uninsured not only benefits those receiving the care, but also accrues benefits to the community at large. Vaccinations reduce the spread of infectious diseases in a community. Keeping residents healthy improves the workforce and economy. Having a primary source of care reduces dependence on hospital emergency room visits at considerable cost savings.

Shelter services: Samaritan House's shelter services significantly increased in fy23 with the opening of its third shelter, el camino House in san mateo. During the fiscal year ending 6/30/2023, a total of 54,666 nights of shelter were provided to 534 unduplicated individuals throughout the year across all three of our shelter programs. Our expanded shelter services program is an integral component of san mateo county's housing crisis resolution system offering short-term, emergency housing with supportive services to swiftly transition clients into permanent housing. Services encompass nutrition; intensive case management; housing location services; counseling; medical, dental, behavioral health care; educational programming; linkages to federal, state, and local benefits; employment assistance/job training; legal services; life skills training; substance abuse treatment services; and supportive services.

Homelessness prevention services: homelessness prevention services target families in crisis and at imminent risk of becoming homeless. The program provides rental and deposit assistance, utility assistance, transportation and other critical needs in order for families to stabilize their housing situation. As lead core service agency for the county, we are responsible for the procurement and processing of all financial assistance for the region's network of seven core service agencies. In fy23, we distributed over $5,786,103 direct emergency financial assistance, including rent, utilities and other critical needs to 1,435 families (3,874 individuals) who were at risk of homelessness providing an average of $4,032 in financial assistance per household..

Diversion & coordinated entry system:since 2017, Samaritan House has been under contract with san mateo county human services agency ("hsa") center on homelessness as the operator of the county's diversion and coordinated entry system (dces), closely partnering with numerous government agencies, core services agencies, homeless outreach providers, domestic violence providers, correctional facility, medical facility, and other identified providers to deliver services. Over the past three years, the dces referral network has had a 30% surge, increasing from 8 to an impressive 18 agencies. In fy23, dces served 2,778 individuals countywide.dces aims for functional zero homelessness integrating a coordinated framework centered on housing crisis resolution, including preventing homelessness through diversion, as well as a standardized process for accessing homeless services for individuals and households experiencing homelessness. The program leverages unhoused clients' resources and resiliency to secure housing arrangements with a shelter placement as the last resort. This strategy prevents homelessness for people seeking shelter by helping them identify immediate alternate housing arrangements and, if necessary, connect them with services and financial assistance to help them return to permanent housing. Samaritan House (1) oversees initial screening of unsheltered households, (2) provides shelter diversion to those currently unhoused or at imminent risk of homelessness, (3) conducts standardized assessments, and (4) facilitates interim housing placements. Collaborating closely with hsa, we manage matching and referrals for housing interventions, striving to improve the lives of san mateo county's working poor and their families by addressing systemic inequities, alleviating poverty, and creating socio-economic benefits.

Worker resource center:the worker resource center (wrc) matches temporary laborers with potential employers. Managed by Samaritan House and funded by the city of san mateo, the wrc opened in 2003 with the goal of providing a safe place for employers and employees to meet. In fy23, 483 clients were matched to 5,452 jobs. Additionally, we provide esl classes, computer learning, community engagement, training on basic maintenance and landscape services, employment services and referrals. During covid, the wrc became the rallying point for the day labor community. To meet the surge in need, the wrc model pivoted from a day labor site to a social services agency, addressing food insecurity, medical fragility, housing stability, and financial security.