Abundant Grace

The Coastside Clean Team (CCT) provides paid opportunities for participants to engage in meaningful work for a three-hour session, 4 days per week as well as for additional special encampment cleanup work days when necessary. The CCT provides an easy re-entry to regular work and community connection. CCT crews pick up litter and debris from beaches, neighborhoods, parks, and coastal trails. In 2022 the CCT collected 139,000 pounds of trash.Abundant Grace Coastside Worker is in a unique position to affect real change in the homeless community as a result of the deep connections and ties we have within the Coastside homeless community. Not only does the organization have a direct relationship with people in the encampments; we also have a strong record of transformative programming and a positive reputation in our local community.

Full Circle Food Justice (FCFJ) hires participants twice weekly to grow fresh, organic produce at the farm as part of our job-readiness training. In 2022, AGCW Farm Program participants planted, tended, and harvested 19,000 lbs of fresh produce, which was given away for free to low-income families at our Workforce Development Center and through other food distribution sites on the Coast. FCFJ includes regular farm days that any participant can show up for, and we ensure that each participant has a successful day by assigning them tasks that they can complete. As they attend more sessions, we build on the skills participants have learned and give them more complex jobs with more responsibility, eventually asking them to teach other participants. This strategy builds self-confidence and empowers participants to engage in their work, to feel connected, and ideally is a springboard for employment outside of AGCW.

Our Workforce Development Center (WDC) is the hub of all our services, and of homelessness services in the area, so we intentionally craft a space that is inviting, inclusive and supportive. It offers a wide range of resources including access to the kitchen, showers, laundry, food, clothing room, laptops and WiFi access, limited storage and mail service, resume building, job searches, housing application assistance, community programming, and social events. We also provide space for case management services and for medical services through a partnership with the Street Medical Team. We offer personal care items, bicycle repair, and more. The WDC houses our administrative offices and is the meeting point for all of our employment programs. It is also the site of our twice-weekly farmstand produce distribution, where we give away fresh, organic produce from our farm program partnership with Potrero Nuevo Farm.

Community Gifting Outreach seeks to assist program participants with unexpected emergency needs. We offer gift cards, basic needs support and medical, legal-document, and vet bill assistance, or help with whatever pressing needs occur in our community which might not fit neatly into another category.

The Conservation Crew was developed to create a work program to engage people experiencing homelessness in meaningful work that focuses on environmental stewardship. Potrero Nuevo Farm is a 300-acre farm and wilderness property that provides the perfect outdoor classroom where we teach environmental studies, with the goal of fostering personal reflection on ones own impact on the planet. Participants benefit from expert guest speakers and hands-on work projects in the areas of conservation, native plant and wildlife management, and climate change. Concepts and skills taught include general land stewardship, human impact on the environment, carbon sequestration, riparian zone awareness, marine plastic pollution prevention, habitat restoration and leave-no-trace policies. The Conservation Crew has successfully planted hundreds of native plants and removed non-native species; we work on creek and pond restoration, erosion control, and preserving wildlife.

We offer 5 rounds of the Farm Apprenticeship each year, and each round consists of 6 weekly sessions. Each participant selects a project to complete on the farm, studying subjects like irrigation, greenhouse management, herbs and flowers, pest control, and more. In addition to completing their individual project, apprentices participate in training sessions led by expert guest speakers in topics like mindfulness, accountability, and personal responsibility. Finally, each participant works on a series of goal-setting sessions called Future Authoring; this is an incredibly powerful part of the apprenticeship, as many of our participants have never been asked or challenged to set goals for their own lives. We have seen some amazing goals come to fruition in this dynamic program. This year we are expanding on two new focus areas of the Apprenticeship: nutrition and value added products.