Social Support and Social Action Organizing in a “Grey Ghetto”: The Tenderloin Experience

Abstract

The Tenderloin Senior Outreach Project (TSOP) is presented as a case study of effective community-based organizing among the isolated elderly in one of America's large “grey ghettos.” Based on the theoretical underpinnings of social support theory and Freire's “education for critical consciousness,” the Project has attempted to address the interrelated problems of poor health, social isolation and powerlessness endemic among the elderly in Single Room Occupancy hotels. The Project's metamorphosis is traced from a university-sponsored community development effort to a community-controlled organization focused on broad social action objectives. The transference of leadership from health education facilitators to indigenous elderly leaders within the hotels is examined, as are some of the strategies employed in increasing Project visibility, preventing burn-out, and facilitating replication in other areas.