Join SHEP

The Events Committee will work with the Community Directors to:

• Represent SHEP at various tabling events at the start of the academic year
• Plan 1-2 all-campus service events per quarter to engage the campus community
• Identify and invite relevant speakers/guests for panels
• Plan 1 social event per quarter to foster community within SHEP
• Plan Special D in Spring

We're seeking students who are...

• Organized
• Responsible
• Willing to learn

Time Commitment: ~10 hours/quarter

Community Directors: Amber Bansal (abansal2@stanford.edu) and Taryn Boonpongmanee (tarynb@stanford.edu)

The Stanford Housing Equity Project is seeking students to join the executive team for our Child and Family Programming! This project centers on teaching child, adolescent, and family health workshops at a local family shelter. Volunteers may also assists with supervising field trips for children living at the site, and distribute trauma-informed picture books to families. Executive Team members will facilitate volunteer recruitment, help create workshop curriculum, coordinate volunteer teachers, and foster a meaningful partnership with our community partner.

Estimated Weekly Commitment: 3-5 hours/wk, one academic year

Community Partner: LifeMoves Georgia Travis House

Project Director: Jeanette McKellar (mckellje@bc.edu)

We're developing an approach to support and improve substance use care for unhoused clients, partnering with LifeMoves, the largest provider of shelter services in Silicon Valley. LifeMoves estimates that 70% of their clients have untreated substance use disorders, which often poses a major barrier to securing and keeping housing. We've designed and developed a "Recovery Incentives" program across 4 shelter sites, which has enrolled over 110 clients in a contingency management treatment approach — where clients receive monetary incentives for engaging in substance use counseling services and for negative urine drug tests. The program is actively enrolling at Peninsula Healthcare Connection, and we are working with our community partners in Santa Clara County to scale this approach to improve treatment engagement and positive health behaviors. We’re actively looking for support in program implementation, research and evaluation, and policy outreach! Folks with interests in grant writing, community needs-finding, qualitative and quantitative research expertise are especially welcomed.

Project Objectives:

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the Recovery Incentives program 
• Support program implementation, development, and improvement 
• Identify community needs and opportunities for expansion 
• Pursue grant funding to support community-partner work 
• Conduct policy outreach and support responsible program scaling

Community Partners: Peninsula Healthcare Connection, LifeMoves, Caminar

Project Directors: Naseem Moussa (nmoussa@stanford.edu), Lupe Gomez-Martinez (ggm6@stanford.edu)

Ideal Skills & Experience: Grant Writing, Clinical Experience, Qualitative (ethnographic) and quantitative (data analyses of populations over time) Analyses

Estimated Weekly Time Commitment: flexible, no more than 10 hours per week. Remote work options.

Additional Info: This San Francisco Chronicle article highlights our 2023–24 Recovery Incentives pilot through the story of a Montgomery Street Inn client.

Interested in serving on the frontlines of the housing crisis? Gain first hand experience supporting our neighbors’ path to secure long term, safe housing by supporting United Efforts Organization (UEO)’s approach to community led case management. Join UEO at Hope's Corner in Mountain View on Saturday mornings from 8am to 10:30am. Over time you will have the opportunity to lead clients’ search for housing and other essential benefits. The fellowship is a service-based educational experience in case management. You’ll work as a volunteer case manager with our community partner and work with other fellows on a project to improve operations within the fellowship and a project on maintaining housing and employment with clients.

Project Objectives:

• Longitudinal mentoring of students to take on case management roles within UEO, working one-on-one with clients 
• Combination of in-person and remote volunteering: housing searches, record clearances, data auditing 
• Complete a fellowship project to support UEO case management services 
• Great opportunity for students wanting more in depth, extensive experience with volunteering and client-oriented work

Time commitment: 3-5 hours/wk, 3 quarter commitment

Ideal Skills and Expertise: Basic computer literacy is required. Knowing another language is a plus!

Community Partner: The United Effort Organization

Project Directors: Ann Vu (antvu@stanford.edu), Esme Oliva (olivae@stanford.edu)

Our unhoused neighbors have higher prevalence of blurry vision and eye conditions, yet they face extensive barriers to receiving eye care and accessing glasses. E4E connects unhoused participants with vision care that is trauma-informed, street-level, and free. We partner with community organizations to host pop-up clinics in Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, and Milpitas.

Application for the fall cohort of our year-long (three quarters) fellowship are now open, and are due October 20th.

Project Objectives: 

• Operate pop-up clinics to connect unhoused individuals with free prescription eyeglasses 
• Conduct visual acuity screenings and provide readers at no cost 
• Refer unhoused community members to optometry appointments that meet their insurance and transportation needs
• Offer vision health education and resources in our clients' lived environment

Ideal Qualities: 

• A strong sense of humility and empathy
• Desire to improve vision care access for unhoused people in our neighboring communities
• Interest in learning about the unique medical needs of people experiencing homelessness (PEH)
• Willingness to abandon myths and preconceived notions about PEH, people who use drugs, and people with mental illnesses

Estimated Weekly Time Commitment: 4 hours/week

Community Partners: The United Effort Organization, Neighborhood Hands, Hope for the Unhoused, Heart and Home, Family Supportive Housing, CityTeam Grace Village

Project Directors: Riya Ramakrishnan: (riyar23@stanford.edu), Aiyanna Johns: (aiyanna@stanford.edu)

SHEP’s Policy and Advocacy team centers on helping to address root-cause issues surrounding homelessness and housing equity in the Bay Area, by supporting local organizations working on policy reform, advocacy, and similar work with knowledge and resources from Stanford. Doing so, we aim to complement the on-ground service work being done by other projects of SHEP and to help empower the next generation of housing policy advocates to take action on these unmet needs.

The fellowship is structured around a three-quarter long commitment with a local policy or advocacy organization in the Bay Area. Fellows work directly with their leadership team on their policy area of focus, producing a variety of deliverables, ranging from internally-facing evaluations of unmet needs or field-specific research papers to externally-facing presentations and speeches at local government meetings.

Project Objectives:

• Produce reports, presentations, and other deliverables for a Bay Area housing organization. 
• Research local housing issues that affect many individuals and communities. 
• Engage with community leaders and speak at local government meetings. 
• Learn from experts and contribute to long-term solutions. 
• Join a passionate team of students who care deeply about equitable housing.

Ideal Skills and Experiences:

• A passion for housing equity and public policy 
• A sense of humility and empathy 
• Willingness to commit to your chosen partner organization’s listed requirements for the project 
• Consistent availability for the Fall 2026, Winter 2027, and Spring 2027 academic quarters (with a mix of virtual and in-person work, depending on your project) 
• Research and policy experience are encouraged, but certainly not required!

Estimated Weekly Time Commitment: This position requires a minimum commitment of 2 hours per week for the duration of the project. Applicants should ensure they can reliably meet this weekly commitment alongside their other academic and work obligations before applying. We ask that fellows take this commitment seriously out of respect for our community partners.

Community Partners: One Degree, Palo Alto Forward, San Mateo County Housing Leadership Council, HomeFirst, United Way Bay Area

Project Directors: Eva Knowles (ekkno@stanford.edu), Kelly Du (kellydu@stanford.edu)

MED 219: Navigating the Housing Crisis Examine the causes and impacts of housing inequity and develop strategies for community-based solutions. Through classroom learning and service with The United Effort Organization, students gain hands-on experience in benefits navigation, case management, and centering the voices of unhoused individuals. 

Interested in teaching a course with us? Contact housingequity@stanford.edu.

We’re learning how communities can effectively resist gentrification and displacement outcomes from capitalization of urban greenspaces (e.g. community gardens, recreational parks, and urban forestry). Urban greenspaces are growing increasingly popular for their environmental benefits such as urban cooling, flood mitigation, and improved air quality. However, they’re also attractive for the housing market; developers, property owners, and real estate often capitalize upon the visual aesthetics of green spaces, gentrifying communities that are in urgent need of climate resilience.

To help cultivate equitable housing and environmental access, we’re conducting international focus group interviews with different organizations (e.g. municipal government, research non-profit, environmental law) to learn how different communities and community partners are mobilizing against gentrification. We’re also conducting a spatial analysis demonstrating the efficacy of different preventative strategies that will be helpful for partners both here in the Bay and beyond.

Project Objectives:

• Complete focus group interviews
• Prepare spatial analysis study (i.e. identify sites to spatially analyze)

Relevant Works: Here’s one model for how community members can participate in/lead greenspace planning. And here are some grassroot strategies that have been effective for preventing gentrification.

Project Director: Mavis Stone (mvstone@stanford.edu)