By Bay City News.
A San Francisco nonprofit has organized an outreach this week to help homeless women in the city in hopes that the city government will appreciate the special needs of this population.
Community Forward SF, an agency that helps people experiencing homelessness, will provide assistance Tuesday to homeless women in the Tenderloin and South of Market (SoMa) neighborhoods.
The organization has been trying to spearhead the creation of a women-only shelter space in San Francisco. Shelters can be dangerous and violent places for anyone experiencing homelessness, but especially for the most vulnerable people and women.
According to Community Forward, in a survey of homeless women conducted by the California Policy Lab, a research group associated with the University of California, 80 percent of homeless women reported abuse or domestic violence as the cause of their homelessness. .
Each year, up to 6,000 women and non-binary individuals experience homelessness in San Francisco, Community Forward SF said.
“Women are often invisible among the homeless population,” said Sammie Rayner, chief impact officer at Community Forward SF in a statement released by the organization. “This outreach event will be an opportunity to directly show care and offer tangible help to women in need, while demonstrating the urgent need for more services to civic and philanthropic leaders.”
The day will also be an opportunity to collect data on the needs of women experiencing homelessness, the organization said. For example, Civic Center Plaza is a “hot spot” for human trafficking, Community Forward said, and women who are victims of that exploitation “deserve services designed for their unique needs.”
The disclosure will take place on Tuesday and will begin around 3:30 p.m. For more information, visit communityforwardsf.org.
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