We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Max Moscoe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Max below.
Alright, Max thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?
To have the most effective homelessness response system, stakeholders need to listen to the real experts on homelessness: People experiencing homelessness!
Everything The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF) does is based on listening to those we serve. Our flagship program, Workforce First, was developed after spending the better part of a year interviewing unhoused people, asking them what they needed and what they felt was missing from the homelessness response system in Austin.
Since then, we have built a transition shelter complex called the Esperanza Community. When we first arrived at the site, there were nearly 200 people staying there with limited resources or service provision. Before implementing programming or developing the land, we conducted an intensive needs assessment. We interviewed over half of the population on site, again asking, “What do you need? How can we help?” The responses from these interviews informed our work at the site, and also gave way to helping the people living there set up a self-elected and self-governing Leadership Comittee that advocates for the wants and needs of residents of the Esperanza Community.
Max , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF) is a nonprofit whose mission is to transition Austin’s homeless neighbors into engaged community through shelter, opportunity, and support. We do this by offering emergency shelter, extremely low-barrier work opportunities, and case management to people experiencing homelessness in Austin, TX.
In 2017, TOOF was born out of a desire to find new and innovative approaches to serving Austin’s homeless community. TOOF’s inception began with a robust case study of the subjective needs of the population it was looking to serve. In our first year as an organization, TOOF engaged with hundreds of unhoused people, asking what they felt was missing from the homelessness response system. Our work is built on kinship, mutual respect, and collaboration – all of our programming and services are designed in partnership with the people we serve.
Our most recent endeavor is to build the Esperanza Community, a non-congregate emergency shelter complex in East Austin. Esperanza’s low barrier and trauma informed nature makes it a unique and integral part of Austin’s continuum of care. The physical shelter and associated services are designed to respond to the needs of people who have not engaged with, or been adequately served by, more traditional shelter services. Potential community members include people experiencing chronic homelessness, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people with pets, couples, among others.
Community members are offered not only physical shelter, but a safe environment where they can move into the next phase of their housing journey. Through a variety of social outlets, wellness services, and work opportunities, the Esperanza Community sets the stage for people to learn the skills needed to build and engage in community wherever they are.
In 2023, TOOF served over 500 individual clients, helped 200 people move into safe and stable housing, paid $920,000 in earned income to people experiencing homelessness who would not have otherwise had an opportunity to work, and removed 830,000 lbs of trash out of green spaces in Austin through our Workforce First Program.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
An understanding of trauma, and self-care so that you can deal with absorbing the trauma of the people you serve.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
TOOF puts a heavy emphasis on hiring people with lived experience with homelessness. 41% of our staff have some type of lived experience, myself included.
In my early late teens and early 20s, I struggled with addiction and mental health issues, and struggled to stay housed. I spent a lot of time crashing on couches, living out of cars, and occasionally camping outside around the West Coast where I grew up.
My story, as a cis white man from a fairly well off family (who was very willing to help once I was willing to receive help), is very different from that of many of TOOF’s clients. There are people all over the country and the world that are struggling with mental health issues, addiction, poverty, medical problems, and all these other things that people consider to be the “cause” of homelessness. Why aren’t they homeless? It is because they have a community that rallies around them in that watershed moment in their lives, and lifts them up. Sometimes it is family, friends, neighbors, a church… It comes in all forms. So people who are unable to navigate these moments and end up homeless find themselves in a position where their support system has completely broken down.
As I got into recovery and started seeking proper medical attention for everything going on with me, I was able to reconnect with my family and start a new life in Austin, TX with their help and some good luck. I worked in the restaurant and music industry for several years and began honing my communication skills managing bands. Eventually I befriended Chris Baker, who was just starting TOOF at the time and wanted my help with communications. The rest is history!
Contact Info:
- Website: toofound.org
- Instagram: @toofound
- Facebook: @toofound
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/40758190
- Twitter: @toofound
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theotheronesfoundation129