Ground Honoring Day, Sept 30th 9:30am-4pm
Ground Honoring Day, Sept 30th 9:30am-4pm
For more info, text: (510) 282-0396 or email: TinyVillageSpirit@gmail.com
Saturday, Sept 30th
175 23rd Street, Richmond, CA
Work: 9:30am to 12:15pm
Community Lunch: 12:15pm to 1pm
Ground Honoring: 1pm to 1:45pm
Work: 1:45 to 4pm
Speakers~Interfaith Blessings Food & Drinks~Merch to Buy!
Mission
The mission of Tiny Village Spirit is to work to end the crisis of homelessness through engaging communities in constituent-led development of decent, dignified emergency housing villages and in community organizing for systemic change toward creating housing justice.
About
Tiny Village Spirit is a new SF Bay Area-based project that has developed as a response to the emergency shelter crisis and the giant need for housing justice in California, the US, and globally. We are both promoting the construction of tiny house villages as an innovative model for addressing the housing crisis and are also engaged in community organizing of village residents and allies to create systemic change toward garnering the resources needed to end homelessness.
Programs
Tiny Village Spirit carries out its mission through work in two program areas:
1) Tiny House Village Construction and Promotion
2) Community Organizing to Create Housing Justice
Tiny House Village Construction and Promotion
Jumping off from our experience leading the creation of Oakland’s award-winning first legal tiny house village, Youth Spirit Artwork’s 22-unit Tiny House Empowerment Village, which engaged over 4,000 volunteers, fourteen schools, and twenty-eight businesses, Tiny Village Spirit is involved in both efforts to lead communities in constructing tiny house villages, and also in assisting groups in varied stages of that work. Our model focuses on villages being deeply led by the constituents being served and village construction by community volunteers, bringing congregations, schools, businesses, and other partners together to find innovative solutions to the emergency shelter crisis. Harnessing art and creativity is fundamental to our efforts, as is constructing high-quality, aesthetically beautiful spaces beloved by residents.
Richmond Tiny House Village Farm and Garden Project
Tiny Village Spirit is currently engaged in leading the creation of the Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm and Garden, a seven-agency collaboration doubling the number of dedicated emergency housing units serving young people, ages 18 to 24, in Richmond, CA.
To receive our Overview email: tinyvillagespirit@gmail.com
Core collaborators in this partnership include Richmond Police Activities League (Lease Holder and Culinary Jobs Training Lead), Rebuilding Together East Bay Network (Administrative Lead), Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (Congregation Organizing, Volunteer Food), SOS Richmond (Security Jobs Training Lead), Hope Solutions (Property Management and Case Management), and USF Architecture (Architectural Planning).
Our goal is to increase the number of emergency housing units serving Richmond youth from twelve to twenty-four, and in doing so, also pave the way for more tiny house villages serving unsheltered people in Richmond and Contra Costa County. This project has a move-in goal of July 2024.
The Capital budget for the Richmond Village is $976,536, with funds being raised from individuals, private foundations, businesses, congregations, and religious funders, as well as government sources. To contribute to our new gofundme campaign, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/richmond-tiny-house-village-farm-and-garden
Steering Committee and Working Groups
A twelve-member Steering Committee made up of youth, as well as executive staff from partner agencies and key professional volunteers, is leading the Richmond effort. As with our Oakland project, fourteen volunteer Working Groups will be mobilized working on varied elements of the project.
Tiny House Village On-Line Directory
The Tiny Village Spirit team is currently creating a directory of Tiny House Villages serving unsheltered people around the US and surveying villages on their needs related to collaboration and learning. There are over eighty villages either in development, under construction, or completed now around the country, and new projects are springing up nearly every month. Our team is surveying characteristics of villages, including sizes, populations served, and funding sources, among other variables.
Community Organizing to Create Housing Justice
Tiny Village Spirit is committed to mobilizing its project volunteer base not just to build dignified and beautiful emergency housing but to create the long-term systemic changes needed to end the crisis of homelessness. All of our Tiny House Village construction is/will be linked to work to pass needed legislation to increase affordable housing resources, partnering with existing non-profit organizations. Volunteers will be encouraged to serve as allies with tiny village residents in campaign efforts, engaged in dialogue and creative actions together.
The Tiny Village Spirit project is an exciting program that trains unsheltered and other underserved and socially marginalized young people, ages 16 to 24, in Community Organizing to create justice. Guided by our Coordinator, Sally Hindman, the young people from Tiny Village Spirit are leading the project by carrying out the necessary steps and activities to create the Tiny House Village in their community. This year their focus is the Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm, and Garden.
The youth-led model utilizes the Tiny Village Spirit’s Community Organizing Training Program. As part of the program curriculum, they meet weekly to learn public speaking and how to write grant proposals, carry out Gofundme campaigns, organize community events, gain needed supporters, and learn the basics of non-profit management, including creating project budgets and running a project to make community change. Weekly Steering Committee meetings, neighborhood community meetings, and public speaking in front of congregations, NGOs, schools, and funders are all organized and led by the youth participating in the 14 Working Groups that create the Tiny House Village. They gain experience working with diverse agency partners, including partners they may not always agree with.
Young people engaged in Tiny Village Spirit’s Community Organizing Training Program are involved in all of the Working Groups creating the Richmond Tiny House Village Farm and Garden, including the development of the Village’s Program Model, its Murals Working Group, planning art for the Village, the Bikes Working Group, developing the Village biking program, and the Yurts Working Group, building our kitchen-dining room and community space, among others. Young leaders help organize and lead Build Days with volunteers to construct the Village and work with congregations to provide food for volunteers.
Community Organizing trainees take their project step by step from start to finish, and by doing so, they learn how to carry out a campaign. They determine how to deal with setbacks and challenges and discover first-hand the amount of work needed to win!
Through the Community Organizing Training Program, young people gain the skills, experience, and self-confidence to carry out their own future community development and systemic change campaigns!