User:Mooreanna12/Berkeley Food and Housing Project

Berkeley Food and Housing Project is a non-profit organization serving homeless men, women, and children in Berkeley, California. The agency manages four sites: North County Women's Center, Men's Overnight Shelter, Russell Street Residence, and the Multi-Service Center. BFHP is the largest homeless care provider in the East Bay.

History
The current Berkeley Food and Housing Project evolved from a small group of local churches providing emergency meal service to the transient youths who flooded the area during the Summer of Love in 1969. Initially, First Baptist Church of Berkeley began offering a meal service based out of their basement. University Lutheran Chapel and other local churches soon formed a partnership with First Baptist. In 1972, the meal service was renamed the Berkeley Emergency Lifeline. In 1984, the program was composed of several shelters operating out of Berkeley churches.

In 1986, the programs were consolidated and into a secular, incorporated organization called Berkeley Emergency Food Project. The City of Berkeley arranged to convert the basement of the downtown Veteran's Building into the Men's Overnight Shelter. In 1991 a women's shelter was founded at a building on Dwight Way, and in 1996 the Multi-Service Center opened on the ground floor of Trinity Church. The fourth location, called Russell Street Residence, opened in 2002 as a licensed facility serving individuals with mental illnesses.

Services
Most case management services are based out of the Multi-Service Center. Case managers assist individuals with housing searches, distribute funds from government programs such as the federally-funded Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), and provide emergency assistance. In addition, the 40-year old Quarter Meal service is based out of the Multi-Service Center. The meal, which used to cost a quarter and is now served free of charge, feeds 150 homeless and low-income individuals a day.

The Men's Overnight Shelter provides 53 beds a night, while the Women's Overnight Shelter provides 32 beds to women and children.

The Women's Resource Center provides meal service, financial planning assistance, employment counseling, and access to health care providers. In addition, the upstairs floors contain the Independent and Transitional House programs, which provide six-month communal living facilities to women and families transitioning into permanent housing.