HAMILTON FAMILY CENTER ANNOUNCES:

NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BETH STOKES

SAN FRANCISCO: Hamilton Family Center (“Hamilton”) announces the appointment of Elizabeth (“Beth”) Stokes as its new Executive Director.  “We are very excited to have a person as experienced in her industry and as accomplished as Beth take over the leadership of Hamilton,” said board president, Elizabeth Lefever.  After a thorough search for a new executive director, the Board of Directors of Hamilton determined that Ms. Stokes is the best person to take over the leadership of the San Francisco based organization, which, with her help and guidance, has grown to be a nationally recognized leader working to end family homelessness.

Ms. Stokes has worked for Hamilton for more than eight years, through its growth into a leader of Housing First and eviction prevention programs.  She was instrumental in implementing Hamilton’s First Avenues: Housing Solutions for Families, which is designed to move families into permanent housing as quickly as possible, while at the same time assisting at-risk families to avoid eviction.   Before coming to work at Hamilton Family Center, Ms. Stokes worked for Compass Community Services and San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness.  She received both her B.S.W. and her M.S.W. in Social Work from San Francisco State University where she focused her Master’s Thesis on how to measure effectiveness in organizations.

Upon being appointed, Ms. Stokes said, “I am extremely proud and honored to be named Executive Director of Hamilton Family Center, one of the most respected and innovative family shelter and permanent housing organizations in San Francisco and throughout the country.”

Helping to solve family homelessness has been Hamilton Family Center’s mission for more than 20 years.  For the past 22 years, Hamilton has served homeless families, and more recently, individuals, and has developed innovative programs in response to their needs.  The Hamilton Board believes that Hamilton Family Center has grown and developed into a mature organization that will continue to thrive and expand through the leadership and efforts of many individuals, in order to help to end the economic and social problem of family homelessness.

First Avenues and Hamilton Family Center were proud to accept An Award from the National Alliance to End Homelessness on April 26, 2007.

“Hamilton Family Center is transforming itself from an organization focused on sheltering homeless families to one that ends homelessness for families, and in the process is also causing a change in the way the City of San Francisco is approaching the issue. First Avenues: Housing Solutions for Families, launched on July 1, 2006, was the first Housing First for families program in San Francisco, focusing on rapidly re-housing families into permanent homes.”

“The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, mission-driven organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. The Alliance is a leading voice on the issue of homelessness. The Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy solutions. We work collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity, leading to stronger programs and policies that help homeless individuals and families make positive changes in their lives. We provide data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide.”

http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/1617

Mayor Newsom & Hamilton Family Center Announce Launch of New Program
First Avenues – Housing Solutions for Families

Hamilton Family Center staff members Salvador Menjivar and Beth Stokes, along with Hamilton board member Pamela Cianci, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and HSA Director Trent Rohrer held a press conference at City Hall on July 10^th to announce the launch of First Avenues – Housing Solutions for Families. Clients Dee Hunt, Josh Davis, and Josh’s 9-month old son Barnabas, were on hand as well. The press conference was very successful! KCBS Radio aired a spot about First Avenues several times. In addition, The Chronicle, The Examiner, and The San Francisco Sentinel ran stories in their July 11, 2006 editions!

Helping to solve family homelessness has been Hamilton Family Center’s long-standing mission for 21 years. Continuing in this tradition we launched First Avenues – Housing Solutions for Families on July 1, 2006. The new program is designed to move families into permanent housing as quickly as possible while at the same time assisting at-risk families avoid eviction.

At the press conference, Beth Stokes, Associate Director of Hamilton Family Center said: “We created this program in hopes of providing permanent solutions. In the last two years, we have implemented a small scale Housing First pilot project. Right now we have six families receiving temporary rental subsidies. With the launch of the full program, we plan to roll out an additional 70 temporary rental subsides over the next 12 months.”

The Mayor also spoke. “Our plan to launch a broad homeless family system redesign is being realized today with First Avenues - Housing Solutions for Families. In utilizing the ‘Housing First’ approach which is now a housing model for the rest of the country, what we have done for single adults we can achieve the same level of success for families."

Links

www.sfgate.com
www.sanfranciscosentinel.com