about boss | about cot

About the BOSS Community Organizing Team

Empowered Individuals means Healthier Communities

The Community Organizing Team (COT) is a project of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) (www.self-sufficiency.org), a 33-year old Alameda County nonprofit organization that fights poverty and homelessness by providing housing, health care, and economic development programs. COT is dedicated to advocacy, organizing, community education, and leadership development with our low-income constituents.

COT activities include:

• Educating the public and homeless community on avenues available to becoming self-sufficiency, community involvement, voter education, and more.

• Skill-building and leadership development for low-income participants to increase civic and democratic participation.

• Community building and networking activities designed to break isolation and forge supportive interpersonal and community ties.

• Computer education training at BOSS shelters.

• Connecting the homeless community with social service providers.

Support us as we mobilize to protect the basic and life-saving safety net for the homeless and poor. "Create Peace at Home" is a coalition of local organizations who have banded together to protect and increase resources for the homeless and poor.

If you have comments or questions or simply need more information use the contact information available at the bottom of every page.

About Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS)

BOSS’s mission is to help homeless, disabled, and poor people achieve health and self-sufficiency, and to fight against the root causes of poverty and homelessness. Founded in 1971, BOSS was established to serve the homeless mentally ill who emerged on the streets following hospital closures. The Hillel Streetwork Project, as it was then called, mobilized resources to provide counseling, benefits advocacy, and information and referrals. BOSS has sustained this tradition of active responsiveness to community needs, developing new programs and creating resources, as well as working to change the systemic factors that create poverty and homelessness. Today, BOSS operates multiple sites that pursue our strategies – Housing, Health, Economic Development, and Social Justice. For more information visit www.self-sufficiency.org.

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