The LavaMaeˣ Pop-Up Care Village Model in Action
January 19, 2022
Accessible streetside care offered in a festival-like atmosphere meets multiple needs, boosts spirits and creates community
A celebration with guests, volunteers and partners sharing conversation, hugs, love and laughter isn’t what most people associate with programs for people experiencing homelessness. But that’s what LavaMaeˣ-designed Pop-Up Care Villages (PUCVs) provide, with one goal in mind—dramatically improving access to critical services for the unhoused.
These events, based on a model the global nonprofit launched in 2016, bring providers from throughout a community together to give guests free services such as showers, haircuts, massages, medical and dental care, legal advice and employment assistance. They often include free clothing and other essentials, plus live music and good food.
“I love PUCVs. They’re joyous. They create a venue where organizations that normally don’t come together can connect. They’re a moving experience for the service providers and volunteers. And they can produce lasting benefits for guests,” says LavaMaeˣ CEO Kris Kepler, who notes that LavaMaeˣ’s own PUCVs in downtown Oakland in 2022 yielded more than 550 referrals to housing, mental health and employment aid.
Since creating the PUCV model, the mobile shower pioneer has hosted 54 PUCVS serving over 11,500 guests. The real impact is much broader, though: LavaMaeˣ has mentored eight organizations through PUCVs in nine cities in the U.S., Canada and the Philippines. In addition, the organization’s comprehensive PUCV toolkit, available in the global LavaMaeˣ Connect community space, walks do-it-yourselfers through the model step by step. Below is a sampling of how local streetside service providers have run with the concept in their communities.
BeHeard Movement founder Evan J. Dougoud with Pop-Up Care Village staff in Tulsa, Okla., July 28, 2022. Credit: BeHeard Movement
BeHeard Movement: PUCV creates a splash in Tulsa, surpassing expectations
When BeHeard Movement in Tulsa, Okla., held its first PUCV on July 28, 2022, the event unleashed a flood of recognition and awareness. Using the toolkit, the provider of mobile showers spent two months planning the experience, which brought together 580 guests, 67 partners and 55 volunteers. When it rained that day, Evan J. Dougoud, BeHeard’s founder, thought that would seriously dampen turnout. Instead, people poured into what he describes as a huge neighborhood block party. City council members, local media, Starbucks, Walmart, food trucks, ministerial organizations and a neighborhood association all gathered for food, music, donations and an array of services including laundry, massages, showers, bike repairs, food stamps and more. When the DJ played the “Cupid Shuffle,” about 50 people jumped up and danced.
Dougoud says it was the first time all these community organizations and supportive city officials had come together in one place. “It was like a breath of fresh air, the energy,” he recalls.
That day, service providers placed two guests in transitional housing, paired others with case managers and connected veterans with veterans’ services. The momentum BeHeard, Tulsa’s only Black-led nonprofit serving unhoused residents, gained from the successful PUCV helped it earn the Nonprofit of the Year award from the Tulsa Regional Chamber group Tulsa’s Young Professionals. In addition, the 27-year-old Dougoud was named a Tulsan of the Year by Tulsa World Magazine.
Looking ahead, he hopes to hold five events annually. Dougoud says the event reinforced BeHeard’s own identity—using “soul work and social work to benefit the community”—and he believes the PUCV collaboration will help BeHeard appeal to funders. Having implemented the toolkit’s surveying technique, BeHeard found that all 580 guests said they would be more likely to take advantage of services after having had a shower. The event’s exit survey indicated that guests had been connected to three or more services that day.
Aspire of Life Pop-Up Care Village guest getting a haircut by an event service partner in Omaha, Nebr., August 13, 2022. Credit: Aspire of Life
Aspire of Life: PUCV connects a nonprofit to its city’s service provider ecosystem
Founded during the pandemic, Anis Apovo’s nonprofit organization, Aspire of Life, started out feeding people in the streets. When team members began asking unhoused residents what they needed or wanted most, “jobs” was a consistent answer. That led Aspire of Life to think about the need to shower before work. While researching how to provide showers, Apovo found LavaMaeˣ and he knew right then that this was his solution.
He joined its one-on-one mentoring program, which in turn inspired him to hold a pop-up event in Omaha, Nebr. The PUCV concept appealed to him as a way to raise funds, create buzz for Aspire of Life’s mobile shower and laundry trailer, and provide “a lot of services at the same time and place.”
Aspire of Life’s August 13, 2022, PUCV, held in the parking lot of a church that was already offering free meals, brought together 7 community partners, 12 volunteers (several of them first-timers) and 126 guests, who were able to get haircuts, phone and online services, clothing, medical services, and food and drink. Three guests landed new jobs with a temp agency that Apovo works with, and the host church and Aspire helped them find transportation for their commutes. Apovo plans to hold five PUCVs annually as Aspire continues to work on providing healthy meals, clothes, hygiene supplies, job skills and employment opportunities each week to people experiencing homelessness.
BeTheChangeYYC staff offering resources at their Pop-Up Care Village in Calgary, Alberta, September 27, 2022. Credit: BeTheChangeYYC