COASTSIDE HOPE

As a one of eight core service agencies designated by the County of San Mateo, Coastside Hope's aim is to reduce the level of poverty and the severity of its impacts, while creating a future full of opportunities for low-income residents. Our approach is to increase long-term food, housing, and economic security through stability and opportunity. We support our clients in obtaining the necessities to build a stable foundation with personal and economic security. Upon this foundation, we provide our clients with opportunities to improve their quality of life through empowerment and self-sufficiency.

We provide necessities in the form of food, clothing, housing & utilities assistance, applications for government food, cash and health coverage benefits, referrals, and other support when neighbors need it most. We also provide opportunities in the form of free citizenship classes, immigration support, tax preparation services, job placement and vocational training referrals, along with referrals to partner programs that connect our clients with a variety of relevant support services.

Our efforts are designed so neighbors can achieve security in all facets of their lives with an opportunity to achieve more. We recognize that strong communities are built when neighbors prosper together.

Coastside Hope understands the multidimensional nature of poverty. As such, we provide an array of programs and services that focus on improving food, housing, and economic security in line with our mission: Necessities for Today, Opportunities for Tomorrow. Coastside Hope uses this approach as one type of program is not sufficient to reduce the impact of poverty and because of the strong correlation between each of these insecurities. We also partner with adjacent service organizations to expand the services provided to our clients, leveraging our location in the heart of Half Moon Bay as a hub to connect our clients with a variety of relevant support services.

While serving over 5,000 neighbors annually, representing nearly 2,200 households, we take great pride in supporting the most vulnerable segments of our community, including families, seniors and people of color. Twenty-five percent of the neighbors we serve are children,15% are seniors, 87% are people of color/Latinx, and 20% overall are farmworkers. Strong communities are built when neighbors prosper together.

Our most frequently used service meets a necessity for today: food. In fiscal year 2023-2024, we provided over 536,687 pounds of food to our neighbors. Food is provided free to clients, but eligibility is restricted by income.

Our key food programs are:
1) Emergency and supplement food pantry: The main users of this pantry are families with children. New clients visit the pantry during their first visit to the office. Regular clients may visit the pantry each week. Our pantry is stocked with fresh healthy produce, frozen & refrigerated foods, and shelf stable foods.
2) Weekly Senior Brown Bag food distribution: This weekly program provides fresh healthy produce and proteins to 135 seniors weekly.

Non-food services vary widely, depending on the needs of the client. Services providing necessities for today include:
1) Emergency Rental and Utility Assistance programs stabilize families and prevent homelessness when a temporary financial crisis arises.
2) Application assistance for CalFresh (food stamps), Medi-Cal (Medicaid), unemployment, and other programs to help clients navigate complex systems.
3) Personal Hygiene programs to provide basic household necessities such as soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, or toilet paper as well as a twice-month mobile hygiene service offering showers and laundry services onsite.
4) Domestic Violence & Abuse Survivor programs to empower survivors of domestica violence and abuse with counseling, emergency housing, and legal assistance
5) Inclement Weather and Emergency Disaster Response programs to provide support to our neighbors when major events occur.
6) Referrals to other agencies give clients access to services we do not provide, including shelter referrals and homelessness prevention services.

Services creating opportunities for tomorrow include:
1) Free Citizenship Classes: Coastside Hope offers free citizenship classes every Wednesday night. Citizenship creates opportunities for tomorrow, fulfilling life-long dreams for our neighbors.
2) Immigration services: Our BIA accredited immigration paralegals have over 30 years of collective experience and are trusted on the coast.
3) Free Income Tax preparation services help clients file their taxes in a timely and accurate fashion. Our tax volunteers prepared around 500 tax returns annually helping to secure much needed tax refunds for low-income neighbors.
4) Our Holiday Adopt-A-Family and Back-to-School Backpack programs provide new clothing, gifts, backpacks and school supplies to support families and students.
5) Digital navigation, form completion and translation services to help neighbors through applications and empower them to use digital tools to improve their opportunities.
6) Referrals to other agencies give clients access to services we do not provide, including job placement and vocational training.

Our client base consists mostly of the working poor, employed in the fishing, agriculture, service, and hospitality industries. We also help low-income seniors, the homeless, and other neighbors in need.

All services are provided on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, national origin, age or disability.

We strive for our clients to come back to a place where laughter is possible; defeat becomes determination, and hope is rekindled.