Professional Services in South San Francisco

Connect the Dots helps nonprofits, shelters, and low-income housing properties reduce their environmental impact by retrofitting their buildings. It supplies conservation materials and tools, implements frameworks and support structures for future action, and tracks water and electricity usage to ensure organizations see the immediate results of their environmental efforts. The financial savings incurred can help these organizations allocate funds to fulfill their missions. Since its inception, Connect the Dots has greened 116 facilities with 36 organizations, saving 8.7 million gallons of water, 843 pounds of waste diverted from landfills, and 158,000 kWh of electricity.

With a faction of former law-enforcement agents and licensed private investigators at the helm, International Spy Shop stands as a mecca to surveillance and security with its arsenal of custom equipment and investigative services. Clients can detect and eliminate bugs, hidden cameras, and worried mothers hiding behind computer monitors with the staff's professional advice and the equipment brimming from the shop's shelves and display cases. If home surveillance is what a customer needs, the shop's staff can equip them with a bevy of digital recorders, nanny cams, and vehicle surveillance systems. Customers can also take investigative matters into their own hands by enrolling in the shop's private investigation classes, and fend off intruders after Dux Ryu Ninjitsu training sessions. An airsoft shooting range allows clients to practice their marksmanship and compete with friends, and younger private eyes can practice their secret-agent skills with tricks, toys, and spy gear.

Hamilton Family Center works to transition more than 300 families into permanent housing every year and prevent its clients from becoming homeless with a comprehensive array of housing solutions and support services. The organization places families with sustainable income into permanent housing and provides shallow-rent subsidies and support services to help them achieve stability. Furnishings help turn the new houses into livable spaces, and monthly food boxes, job training, health screenings, financial-literacy coaching, and afterschool activities for children foster a community atmosphere and encourage personal advancement. After placement, case managers and family therapists work with the families to maintain their housing situations and rebuild their lives.

As a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco partners with families, community volunteers, and donors to build affordable homes for residents with low incomes in San Francisco and Marin, and on the Peninsula. To date, the organization has built more than 160 homes, with 36 new dwellings currently under construction.

Other projects include the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. Through this program, Habitat Greater San Francisco works alongside community partners and residents to respond to community-identified needs, whether that means refurbishing a youth center, repairing a resident's roof, or creating a community garden.

Junk King’s red trucks travel to houses around the country to clear homes of clutter while maintaining environmentally safe practices. Friendly haulers give customers a call when they're en route, then cart away anything except hazardous materials, including garden clippings, outmoded furnishings, and cursed Cadillac trunks. The refuse rangers sort through everything they take away, donating what they can to charity, recycling what they can’t, and even sweeping up when the job is done. So far, Junk King has saved 908 tons from entering landfills by striving to recycle more than 60% of what they collect. All appointments are scheduled within two-hour time frames, often with same- or next-day service.

The Spark Program addresses the nation's dropout crisis by connecting students from underserved neighborhoods with professionals who help motivate them to succeed academically and professionally. Each student identifies his or her dream job, and Spark matches the student with a mentor who has that job and can provide a one-on-one workplace apprenticeship. During the fall or spring session, students work on a specific project with their mentors at their workplace once a week for two hours after school. Additionally, students attend an in-school Leadership Class, led by a school staff volunteer, where they learn professional skills such as resumé writing and public speaking. Each session culminates in a Discovery Night, where students present their projects.

To date, Spark has provided more than 1,500 apprenticeships to middle-school students across the United States. Nearly all participating students come from neighborhoods where dropout rates exceed 50%, but Spark's alumni data show that apprentices have significantly higher graduation rates from high school, improved academic performance and attendance, and fewer suspensions.