Join SHEP
We are actively recruiting dedicated, passionate students to join our team. Some project teams and fellowships may offer stipends. All other opportunities are strictly on a volunteer basis. All positions are filled on a rolling basis. Check this page periodically for updates.
For general inquiries or issues with joining the mailing list, email Haya hayab@stanford.edu!
How to Join a Project
- Sign up for our mailing list for more information about SHEP!
- View our project listings below. Once you find a project you're interested in joining, fill out the linked Google Form. The project lead(s) will be automatically notified by your submission.
- Optional: Send an email addressed to project lead(s) with subject title SHEP: [INSERT PROJECT NAME] and introduce yourself and/or add tell us any more relevant information!
Child and Family Programming
Recruitment info coming soon!
Eye 4 Equity Project
Our unhoused neighbors face extensive barriers to receiving eye care and accessing glasses. This project centers around running monthly clinics that connect unhoused individuals to free eyeglasses and local resources to receive an eyeglass prescription. We partner with three community organizations to host three clinics per month in Mountain View, San Jose, and Milpitas.
We are looking for students with a passion for health equity, a sense of humility and empathy, and enthusiasm for improving eye care access. Undergraduate and graduate students with weekend availability are encouraged to fill out the application linked below. Medical students apply here.
Ideal Skills & Experience:
- A passion for health equity
- A sense of humility and empathy
- Interest and enthusiasm for eye care equity
- Saturday or Sunday availability
Estimated Weekly Time Commitment: Flexible, 5-10 hours/per week
Community Partners: The United Effort Organization, Neighborhood Hands, Hope for the Unhoused, Heart and Home, Family Supportive Housing, CityTeam Grace Village
Project Leads: Riya Ramakrishnan (UG): riyar23@stanford.edu
Recovery Incentives Project
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 about 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, and we are working with San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties 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 qualitative and quantitative research expertise are especially welcomed.
Project Objectives:
- Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of program
- Program development
Community Partners: LifeMoves Shelter Sites [Various Locations across the Bay Area], Recovery Services organizations (El Centro de Libertad, Caminar)
Project Lead: Tony Liu (txliu@stanford.edu)
Ideal Skills & Experience: Qualitative (ethnographic) and quantitative (data analyses of populations over time)
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.
UEO Direct Service
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’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.
Commitment: 3-5 hours/wk, 10 week (1 quarter) commitment minimum
Project Objectives:
- Longitudinal mentoring of students to take on case management roles within UEO, working one-on-one with clients
- Remote volunteering: housing searches, record clearances, data auditing
- Time commitment: 2 hours/week, flexible and self-determined
- Great opportunity for students wanting more in depth, extensive experience with volunteering and client-oriented work
Community Partner: The United Effort Organization
Project Director: Ann Vu (antvu@stanford.edu)
MED 219/MED 139
MED 139: Child and Family Health Explore how children and families build resilience in the face of adversity. Learn how social supports—friendships, mentors, and community programs—help protect children and strengthen families. The course highlights the role of community partners in supporting vulnerable populations.
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.
Not Currently Recruiting
(check back soon!)
Policy and Advocacy Team
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.
Community Partners: One Degree, Palo Alto Forward, San Mateo County Housing Leadership Council
Project Directors: Riya Aghi (UG), Aravind Krishnan (M1)
Equitable Housing & Climate Resilience Project
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)