I Am Project HOME – Emmanuel Sofolawe
Emmanuel Sofolawe is not particularly comfortable being interviewed about his communications work in support of Project HOME’s mission.
He would prefer the focus stay on his frontline colleagues who are connecting with Philadelphians experiencing homelessness or providing essential services to our residents.
His work as Communications Coordinator is worthy of attention, though. Emmanuel’s extensive skills help us to increase donations, both monetary and in-kind; to recruit volunteers; to amplify our advocates’ voices; and to ensure the success of our social enterprises. And that just barely scratches the surface.
What Emmanuel really aims to do through his work is to inspire the belief that we can end homelessness. He firmly believes it’s possible. He’ll keep working until you believe it too.
His concern and care for folks experiencing homelessness predates his September 2017 start at Project HOME, though. He can still remember what his mother told him as a young boy when he expressed a desire to help.
“One day, you are really going to bless these people,” he remembers her saying.
He held her “affirmations” close and, while working overnight at several Center City hotels as a valet and a doorman, he began to build on them.
Emmanuel credits a seasoned overnight hotel colleague, Art, with normalizing respectful engagement—and identification—with the folks looking for help among the ever-changing pockets of hotel guests. Emmanuel needed no special prompting, though; he builds relationships by nature.
Over time, he learned their names, where they were from, and their struggles. He helped defuse situations where others would have called the police. Emmanuel’s good intent was innate, but he honed technique through observation.
“Observing how [Art] would talk to people; they were friends,” Emmanuel said. “He would laugh and joke with them, help them, pull them aside and talk with them.” He always engaged, never dismissed.
He coupled those experiences with his existing empathy and deep listening skills and applied them to his interactions with folks rarely afforded those simple dignities. He mourned with one man who had recently lost a sister and missed his family. For others, he acknowledged their struggle and validated their frustration with a system that had failed them.
He saw their humanity and shared in it.
But he needed to do more.
Emmanuel came to Project HOME having developed commendable communications skills while working in the nonprofit field and as an owner of his own graphic design business. He can do it all: graphic design, photography, and communications strategy. He launched Project HOME’s Instagram account, maintains all of Project HOME’s social media communications and has developed several videos, including the most recent Giving Tuesday Video. The most important skill he brought with him, though, was his existing connection to the mission.
The people we serve are always at the center of the work he does. As are Emmanuel’s colleagues. Over the last year, he has embraced a growing leadership role in our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, lending his voice to ensure his peers have the best possible working environment.
“The idea that there is a brighter side to things—that is a reality to me. And I think the work that Project HOME is doing accentuates that,” he said. “That belief [that homelessness can be solved] is so real. And it is evident in the people we serve, and in the individuals who are working at Project HOME.”
