SOS Richmond
OUR IMPACT
Since July 2021
Safe Organized Spaces (SOS) Richmond, a program of Rebuilding Together East Bay-North (RTEBN), collaborates with volunteers and the City of Richmond to provide outreach and support unhoused people who reside in homeless encampments across the City of Richmond.
SOS Richmond has been operational since 2019 and has a mission of improving public safety by providing essential care for those in need in our community.
IMPACT MAP
Encampments served and Services provided
(includes regular trash service)
(outside of regular trash services)
We service 20 different camps in the city of Richmond. The regularity of our visits depends on the size of the camp, but the total is 23 camp visits every week. The largest sites we service are the RV camp at Castro & Hensley St., and the RV camp along Rydin Rd. We visit each of these RV camps 5 times/week. These large camps are where we provide showers and bathrooms.
The main service we offer to all camps we visit is trash removal, which is incredibly important for health and safety, not only of camp residents, but the surrounding neighborhood. Through our regular trash pickups we’ve hauled over 300 tons of trash since July 2021.
SOS runs the Shower Power program. Personal hygiene is an essential component of health and safety. Our shower program is a high impact way to raise the quality of life for those experiencing houselessness.
- Ryden RV Camp: Tuesday & Friday 10am – 1pm
- Castro RV Camp: Tuesday & Friday 2pm – 5pm
Removing trash is an important way to make Richmond a safer, healthier, and more beautiful place. We offer regular trash service to 20 different camps indicated on our impact map, and our Street Team engages in other cleanups around the city.
We’re proud to have cleaned up over 300 Tons of trash from the streets of Richmond!
Running these SOS programs takes a lot of work. Removing trash, providing showers, and the rest of our services is rewarding work that current and former camp residents are uniquely qualified for.
SOS currently has workforce relationships with a total of 64 unhoused neighbors who are either active or are still eligible for further work to improve Richmond neighborhoods and encampments. SOS Employs 22 team members who are current or formerly unhoused encampment residents. These employees are helping to improve quality-of-life in encampments and neighborhoods where they live.
This employment has been an important stepping stone for our team members to find permanent housing. Already three team members have found permanent homes, another three are in recovery, and all our team members are benefiting from reliable employment through the SOS program.