Our Work

All our projects stem from community partner needs that we identify through assessments and ongoing conversations. Our model of impact follows 4 steps:

Projects

We have a slate of ongoing projects with community partners working on homelessness. Our projects tap into Stanford's expertise and resources to plug gaps that community partners face in programing and resources. Use the link below to see a showcase of our projects.

Project slide deck

Publication Showcase

Perceptions of providers and unhoused patients on access to eye care in Santa Clara County: A qualitative study

Original study by SHEP medical students Jay Liu and Michelle Chang. Published in Optometry and Vision Science.

Community Partner: The United Effort Organization

Perspectives on eye care barriers differ between low-income patients and vision care providers. Comparing these views provides valuable insight into strategies for addressing disparities in underserved communities, especially in regions with significant income inequality and opportunity gaps. The aim is to identify obstacles that prevent individuals who are unhoused, have low income, or are publicly insured in Santa Clara County from accessing basic refractive eye exams and corrective glasses.

Project Showcase

Co-developing a substance abuse treatment program with LifeMoves

Recovery Incentives Program, featured in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Community Partner: LifeMoves

Substance abuse is one of the biggest obstacles to unhoused individuals transitioning into permanent housing. In collaboration with LifeMoves and substance use recovery counseling agencies (Caminar and El Centro), our team has built the Recovery Incentives program: spanning four LifeMoves shelters to support clients going through substance use care, using research-backed contingency management protocols. By offering positive reinforcements to clients for consistently engaging in substance use counseling, the program has boosted engagement in recovery services across shelters and helped some clients manage their substance use and enter stable housing.

Leading up to the Recovery Incentives program, we spent a great deal of time understanding client and staff needs at shelters. By tapping on Stanford's medical expertise, our team created and administered a comprehensive substance use assessment. The goal of the assessment is to guide substance-use related conversations with clients to generate referrals and motivate engagement with programs supporting behavioral health. The assessment was developed in consultation with LifeMoves case managers and medical literature (e.g. the DSM V criteria). Subsequently, the Stanford team worked on delivering the assessment at a shelter site. We hope that the data collected can inform the incredible work that the LifeMoves team is doing.