Just in time for the cold winter months, Safe Organized Spaces Richmond (SOS) has moved its services indoors to a new space along Harbour Way where it can help unhoused residents such as Mary Ramirez with whatever they need most.
Ramirez, who is transitioning into permanent housing in the Hilltop neighborhood, said warming centers make a difference for residents when temporary shelters, such as the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP), are not open.
What was previously known as the Warm Hand Center, a makeshift operation underneath the Interstate 580 freeway inside of an RV, has moved to 32 Harbour Way and will be open on Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Mondays and Fridays we would have to leave (GRIP),” Ramirez said. “When they (SOS) left I was wondering where they moved to because the center always helped if you needed socks or warm clothes they would have it for you.”
Having a physical building, according to SOS Executive Director Daniel Barth, now provides more room to serve unhoused residents like Ramirez during extreme weather — to warm up when it’s freezing outside or to cool off on hot days. And it serves as a blank canvas for the organization to provide other services, whether that be pop-up acupuncture and massage therapy clinics or employment resources.
“This whole place, what we are calling it, is ‘Safe Harbor,’ ” Barth said. “The notion is having a safe place and that it’s street level.”
Barth said they were contacted about the Harbour Way location by a local property owner who had heard they were looking for a space to rent.
According to Janny Castillo, director of workforce operations for SOS, the Harbor Way location will make it logistically easier to connect unhoused residents with city and county services near downtown Richmond.
“It is close to the social services, close to the shelter, and it is within walking distance where it’s not off the beaten path,” she said. “I expect this to be bumping within three months especially if we run and get them with our shuttle service.”
Castillo said that SOS has a shuttle that visits various encampments in west Contra Costa County — such as the South Second Street encampment or the San Pablo Dam Road encampment across the street from Raley’s. The hope is that residents will tell one another about the new location.
“It’s peer accompaniment. Meeting folks where they really are,” she said. “It’s absolutely critical that they know where to send folks. In all sincerity, we are the spoke so folks come to us so we can send them back out to the existing resources.”
Castillo said the community is concerned about how the Trump Administration will impact Richmond’s undocumented unhoused residents and wants to know how SOS can connect them with services and support.
She said one group of undocumented residents who share a home told her they’re afraid of what might happen if Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes to Richmond, a sanctuary city.
“I was calling 10 to 12 places and only got two responses,” she said, describing her frustration with finding someone who could answer their questions. “It’s already a crippled system to say the least. We are going to need more expertise, local attorneys. I can already see it coming.”
The move indoors also allows SOS to continue offering unhoused individuals a “motivation for personal change,” Barth said, adding that the center will build upon the already established relationships that SOS has.
“The fact is that we have known folks in some of these encampments for upwards of seven years,” he said. “We don’t have to establish relationships. We have the relationships. We just now need to act with urgency.”
Ultimately, Barth said the goal is to have a “place of respite” that provides safety and preserves dignity.
“The street level means that it is very accessible and that people here know that it is a friendly place and welcoming,” he said, adding that although other organizations partnered with SOS to bring services to their prior location, the new space will allow SOS to make services more “robust.”
“I see this open space as moveable and modular,” he said.
Currently, the space, inside a nondescript single-story white building with a concrete block facade and a roll-up door, holds a tent and some tables and has a corner set aside for stored clothing donations. Barth expects to soon add donated furniture and sees a future where they are open daily.
One such organization looking to partner with SOS is the Fountain Project, which offers free acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, occupational therapy, osteopathy, and life coaching primarily to the unhoused and those who lack economic resources to afford healthcare.
The Fountain Project has operated down the street from the warming center at the LifeLong William Jenkins Health Center for the past year but will be hosting sessions at the SOS location on Fridays, according to Angela Madonia, project manager.
Madonia said offering the Fountain Project’s acupuncture and chiropractic services at the center will complement SOS’s Job Readiness Program.
Stop by the new Safe Harbor
SOS is hosting an open house and breakfast at its new location, 32 Harbour Way, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Feb. 14.
“It gives them a sense of ‘Oh that feels better’ or where they can work on something like grief, pain, digestion,” she said. “First things first, if you’re in pain it’s really hard to do a lot of other things. There are some people with sciatica pain or chronic pain who feel better after a couple treatments.”
Both Castillo and Barth also see the space as a place where housed neighbors of the warming center can become familiar with their work. There will be an open house and breakfast from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Valentine’s Day.
Castillo hopes that the warming center can also be used as a resource to benefit the local senior community across the street at the Harbour View Senior Apartments. So far, Castillo has donated a number of laptops to local seniors and hopes that SOS volunteers can offer garbage pick-up services for those who can’t get to the nearby Richmond dump.
“Hopefully we can exchange services,” she said, adding that community outreach to neighbors will be crucial to their success. “The businesses, the graffiti and illegal dumping. Those are the visuals that come to mind (regarding places like SOS) so of course people push back, but behind all of that are people.”
Thank you.