In July 2021, Homeless Children’s Network (HCN) developed the Community Innovations Mini-Grants Program funded by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Dream Keeper Initiative to provide Mini Grants throughout the Black community. HCN is excellently qualified to give small grants to individuals and organizations and to advance social justice to create community innovations for marginalized populations within the Black community.
In 2022-2023, HCN began to focus on providing Mini-Grants to the homeless community. HCN provided this revolutionary funding model to support community healing. This program embodies HCN’s Afri-centric model by integrating strategies that are trauma-informed, love-informed, focusing on resilience, and addressing barriers to accessing resources and basic needs in San Francisco’s Black community of unhoused individuals.
Through intensive community engagement and outreach efforts, HCN collaborated with shelters, Black-led community organizations, and received referrals from the broader city-wide Dream Keeper Initiative to identify those needing support (i.e., individuals experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness). Grantees who were selected for a mini grant could receive between $500 and $5,000 to be used towards supporting their plans to achieve secure living conditions.
The reports highlight each program's methodology, key findings, and spotlight our impact through the voices of program participants and our HCN team. Graphics and graphic representations of each program's essence and impact were done by Rio Holaday.
Learn more about Homeless Children's Network at: hcnkids.org/impact
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