Heart and Home Collaborative

Heart and Home Collaborative is a seasonal shelter that provides a warm place to sleep, essential resources, and supportive community for 15 unhoused women in the greater Palo Alto community. Through a series of conversations with members of Palo Alto’s unhoused population, Stanford students established the shelter in 2012. It now operates in partnership with various local faith communities. Heart and Home Collaborative is unique because it prioritizes respect for shelter guests, participatory decision-making, and meaningful friendships among clients and volunteers.

Heart and Home’s core leadership team involves long-term engagement with the process of administering a nonprofit and expanding its capacity. Being on the core team is a yearlong commitment with individual roles and responsibilities that are essential to the shelter’s smooth operation and long-term sustainability. These roles include: Supplies Director, Recruitment Director, Special Events Director, Logistics Director, Campus Partnerships Director, and others.

Service required by group to fulfill a Cardinal Commitment: Students serve as officers for Heart and Home for three quarters and volunteer at the shelter on a weekly basis.

Cardinal Commitment Mentor: Heart and Home student leadership