10News Leadership Award Winner Robert McElroy

In 2000, Robert McElroy received the 10News Leadership Award on behalf of Alpha Project as the Outstanding Non-Profit of the year. Robert McElroy is the Founder and President of Alpha Project, a non-profit human services organization offering numerous programs to the homeless and serving over 4,000 men, women and children each day.

McElroy started the Alpha Project in 1986 as a simple project offering work opportunities for homeless men. In 1991, Alpha Project began operation of the Neil Good Day Center on behalf of the City of San Diego. Since then, the Day Center has served as the intake facility for the agency’s many programs throughout the City and offers a full-range of services to the City’s homeless population. Each year approximately 100 homeless men and women access employment through the Day Center by enrolling in one of Alpha Project’s transitional employment programs. Alpha Project also offers numerous services such as affordable housing, residential substance abuse treatment, supportive housing for people with special needs, recovery, youth mentoring, etc.

Since receiving the 10News Leadership Award in 200, Alpha Project has set up emergency homeless shelters, also known as the Winter Shelter Program, that operates from November through mid-April. Not only does it provide a venue for the homeless to wait out the cold weather, the program allows the homeless to meet with drug counselors, job counselors and case mangers for supportive housing services. There is internet access that allows the homeless to write their resumes, and reconnect with family members, leading to a possible return home. McElroy and the organization maintain the belief that by bringing the homeless the resources they need, they are encouraged and empowered to overcome the circumstances that brought them there, and will eventually be able to break the homeless/poverty cycle and not return to the shelter again.

Today, McElroy and Alpha Project continue to forge ahead, helping those who seek to create a better quality of life for themselves, and expanding their services to help the homeless get out of the poverty cycle.