Pop-Up Care Village Toolkit
LavaMaeˣ releases its Pop-Up Care Village Toolkit, teaching homeless service providers how to host one-stop “villages” that bring a variety of critical services to the street.
The Pop-Up Care Village
LavaMaeˣ created Pop-Up Care Villages in 2017 to mobilize partners and bring services such as clothing, case management, healthcare, haircuts, and more to the street.
We designed this program to not only increase access to services, but to create a joyous setting with the goal of creating a cohesive, positive sense of community. While providing showers with Radical Hospitality-- our philosophy of meeting our guests with extraordinary care-- is at the heart of how we started, our Pop-Up Care Villages are LavaMaeˣ at its best.
It’s a celebration with guests, volunteers and partners sharing conversation, hugs, love and laughter with one goal in mind – dramatically improving access to critical services for our unhoused neighbors.
Pop-Up Care Villages soon became a huge success. We’ve hosted 43 villages serving over 10,110 guests in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and one at SXSW in Austin, Texas. We did it with the help of 185 different service partners and more than 1,680 volunteers.
The model caught on, and requests from other organizations wanting to host their own villages came pouring in. Project Pearls, a non-profit that helps impoverished children in the Philippines, came to LavaMaeˣ for guidance and hosted their first one in November 2019. Melissa Villa, Founder and Executive Director of Project Pearls reported back to us saying,
“We held our first Pop-Up Care Village and we partnered with a center who already provides daily meals and showers to the unhoused. We offered haircuts, grooming, a ‘boutique’, nail care, medical care, dental care, puppet shows, arts and crafts, and a play area. I am just so excited to share this with LavaMaeˣ!”
Developing the Pop-Up Care Village Toolkit
Due to increased requests from service providers wanting to host their own Pop-Up Care Villages, we knew that developing a toolkit had to be our next course of action. And thanks to the generosity of SiteLab Urban Studio, who worked with us on our previous Mobile Hygiene Toolkit, we’re happy to announce that the Pop-Up Care Village Toolkit is now available!
“This toolkit will help all communities bring service partners and volunteers together to meet guests where they are, help them eliminate obstacles, and boost their resilience and self-worth.” Said Kris Kepler, CEO of LavaMaeˣ, “It creates a tangible, visible environment that reflects the highest in humanity, compassion, communion and optimism.”
Pop-Up Care Villages in the midst of a global pandemic
The need for street-based services four our unhoused neighbors were always in critical need, but COVID-19 has only exacerbated this grim reality. And yet, the need to maintain physical distancing is critical in not only fighting the virus but also for the safety for our guests, staff, partners, and volunteers. Our original Pop-Up Care Village model brings hundreds of people to one place, which is why we suspended them in March of 2020.
Knowing that the virus is here to stay, we looked at a new “mini” model and updated protocols that brings fewer partners, but makes us able to reach new communities.
“We've traditionally hosted our Pop-Up Care Villages in large spaces, hosting up to 500 people. With the "mini" Pop-Up Care Village model, we can go to smaller neighborhoods throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and maintain physical distancing and safety protocols, while simultaneously serving guests alongside multiple partners to provide critical resources.” Said Kris Kepler.
This new model will be a key aspect to our free Pop-Up Care Village consulting, highlighting that small acts can make a huge impact on the lives of our unhoused neighbors.
Get Started!
Want to learn more about hosting a Pop-Up Care Village in your community? Sign-up or log-in to our free community platform LavaMaeˣ Connect to download the toolkit and get our expert support!
Special Thanks To
We could not have created this amazing toolkit without the generosity of SiteLab Urban Studio. We Lava you!