Dear Friends, In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the late Harper Lee offers a penetrating look into human nature, prejudice, justice, and compassion. One of the many profound lessons within its pages is voiced by its young narrator: “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” I agree with Scout. Even here in Silicon Valley, where wage gaps and housing prices so sharply separate the poor from the wealthy, I believe that, fundamentally, we are all just folks. We work hard. We struggle with our demons. We try to overcome our challenges. We love. And whether we are Google executives or single moms living on the streets, we try to make tomorrow just a little bit better than today. And it can be better — as long as we don’t have to go it alone. I’m grateful for our Community Working Group (CWG) supporters. By your actions, you show the extremely low-income individuals and families we serve that they are not alone in their efforts to make tomorrow better. Every moment you volunteer, every pair of socks you contribute, every dollar you donate, matters. With your generous response to our fall fundraising appeal, we are more than halfway to our goal of raising $75,000 to address our most immediate funding needs, and I trust that our spring appeal will take us the rest of the way. Whether you are a longtime friend, a recently returning supporter, or brand-new to our organization, your message is clear: every CWG client can hope for a better tomorrow, because none has to go it alone. With gratitude,

John Barton Board President Community Working Group

Coming Together. Creating Opportunity.

When we hear about homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But those who support CWG’s efforts to help extremely low-income individuals and families live in safe, suitable homes do more than wring their hands. They act.  Volunteers from high schools and universities, corporations, faith organizations, service clubs, and the broader community help Opportunity Center (OC) residents and drop-in clients by serving meals, delivering educational workshops, providing after-school tutoring, hosting celebrations, offering health coaching, and more. Community members spent almost 10,000 hours volunteering at the OC in 2015!   Community members also donate items such as clothes, food, toys, and toiletries to 801 Alma and the OC. In 2015 more than 400 low-income children and teens received holiday gifts, selected by their parents from the OC’s Toy and Teen Shoppe; while low-income families received more than 300 presents at 801 Alma’s Holiday Resident Appreciation Event.

Last but not least, CWG donors provide financial support that is critical to our work to keep low-income residents at the OC, 801 Alma and Alma Gardens in their homes. Financial gifts enable us to protect the affordability of homes at our three complexes, provide rent subsidies, keep the service centers at the OC up and running, and continue our efforts to combat homelessness and sustain the health of our community by providing affordable homes and supportive services.

Moving Forward, One Step at a Time

For extremely low-income people fending off homelessness — and the despair that goes with it — getting and staying housed is no small feat. Accessing social security or disability payments, managing personal health issues, trying to learn new life or career skills, getting a new job — it can seem like an uphill battle.  But every step forward is good news! For our community, it means an enormous cost savings: every person who escapes homelessness saves our region a minimum of $60,000 in services per year — and thousands more if the individual was chronically homeless. For the individual and his or her family, it means the safety and dignity of a home, and a move toward a brighter future.

100% of extremely low-income Opportunity Center residents who were engaged in active case management stayed in their homes in 2015.

99.5% of Opportunity Center residents  who actively worked with their case managers  maintained their source of income  during 2015.

23 Opportunity Center drop-in clients transitioned into permanent housing in 2015.

Last year  20 Opportunity Center drop-in clients got jobs!

Thank you to the variety of community members and service organizations — especially LifeMoves (formerly InnVision Shelter Network), our service provider at the Opportunity Center, and Eden Housing, our partner  at 801 Alma Family Housing — who joined us in our work and helped clients take many steps  forward last year.

Your Chance to Spring Into Action

Your support makes all of CWG’s work — building homes that extremely low-income families can afford; maintaining the properties to keep them safe, functional, and attractive; helping sustain the provision of critical services; and providing rental subsidies — possible.  Please continue helping us in our fight against homelessness! Watch your mailbox for our spring appeal, scheduled to arrive in late April!  You can help change the world for a person in need. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

Community Working Group | 650-299-8700 | cwg@communityworkinggroup.org  www.communityworkinggroup.org