2018 Wrap-Up

In 2018 the Alameda Park Collaborative gained significant traction as both a growing service to the community on the streets as well as a formal partnership of local advocates.

One of the biggest gains of 2018 was the addition of Dr. Enrico Manlapig from Westmont College and his research team to the Alameda Park Collaborative team. As of this year, Enrico and his team have been working diligently to develop and begin piloting a comprehensive measurement and evaluation project for the weekly mealsharing at Alameda Park. Enrico’s team debuted an app this fall that the collaborative has been using to track services provided, interactions, and more both for the sake of awareness and quality improvement. This year, the survey was able to track that there were an average of 27 volunteers at the mealsharing on a weekly basis with over 3000 meals served. We anticipate the final version of the evaluation tool will be ready to launch in the first quarter of 2019.

Additionally, this year the Alameda Park Collaborative steering committee met for the first time. Comprised of partners from Because of Hope, Ocean Hills Church, Montecito Covenant Church, Westmont College, Salvation Army, Laguna Blanca High School, and Showers of Blessing, this group has begun to set goals for reunification strategies and park infrastructure improvement in 2019.

The Alameda Park Collaborative is also making a big push for volunteers for the 2019 Point in Time Count. Taking place Jan 24 from 5am-8:30am, the Point in Time count is the County’s chance to gather a census of all of SB County’s population living on the streets. This data is essential for service provision for those without homes - the numbers discovered are used to prioritize services, grow county resources, and more. If you’d like to volunteer, please sign up here.

We hope you’ll come out and join us on a Thursday evening at Alameda Park in the new year!