SHARE Center Welcomes First Clients

BACS has moved in the first “cohort” of un-housed residents to the brand new SHARE Center in Salinas, CA! Our team, all from the Salinas community, welcomed the first 22 clients on Memorial Day.

Three families with children under 18 came indoors in our first group of residents, as well as 8 single adults. 86% identify as Latino/a/x. As a low-barrier program, we welcomed residents with mental health challenges, chronic health conditions, and physical disabilities. 72% have been experiencing homelessness for more than 2 years. For all of these residents, and every person who comes after them, BACS is going to do “whatever it takes” to help them find housing.

The SHARE Center is a beautiful and spacious location, including a reception, waiting room, staff spaces, health clinic, counseling offices, library, a commercial kitchen, a multipurpose room, pet kennels, outdoor dining area, children’s play areas, and bedrooms with 100 beds, including family rooms.

“We are so honored to bring BACS’ deep commitment to the “whatever it takes” philosophy to the Salinas community,” says BACS CEO Jamie Almanza, “we have a mission to serve and are so grateful to the community that has done so much to welcome us.”

Preventing Homelessness in Hayward

In response to COVID-19, and the massive strain it put on community members who were already living paycheck-to-paycheck or at-risk of homelessness, BACS partnered with City of Hayward to provide rent relief within weeks of the Shelter In Place order. Homelessness prevention is a huge need, in addition to services helping individuals and families who are currently experiencing homelessness, and BACS is a local leader in housing solutions for anybody who needs help. We created an online portal in 30+ languages for easy access, and worked directly with residents and landlords to stabilize housing crises. This was crucial to the Hayward community, and helped 670 families.

All funds have been expended, and community members are now referred to Alameda County’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program. There is clearly a significant need for this going forward, and we appreciate progressive and impactful Hayward City Council, Mayor, leadership, and other community members are advocating: let’s house Hayward.

Fremont Housing Navigation Center – 6 Month Report

After our first 6 months operating the Fremont Housing Navigation Center, we are proud to share the success of each of the 21 Fremont community members who are now living in permanent housing, and are no longer experiencing homelessness! We will keep working with every single person who stays with us to continue making this impact. You can read the City of Fremont’s full and transparent report online here.

One participant shared his story with the City of Fremont, who lost his housing and his mother in the same year. BACS assisted him with counseling and a lot of encouragement to not give up and use the opportunity at HNC to overcome the long-term obstacles he had been facing. He is now living in a studio in Oakland and working on stabilizing financially and saving for his future.

We are very hopeful, with vaccinations becoming more prevalent and COVID-19 cases decreasing, that we can bring in residents at full capacity within the next 6 months.

Wellness Centers Re-Open & Summer Events

We are so excited to share that our Wellness Centers are now open at 100% capacity, with some COVID safety measures (incl. masks, social distancing, & temperature checks). The soul of the Wellness & Housing Hubs is the community our members create each day, and we are so enthusiastic about the revitalization of our neighborhood as we see the Bay Area’s health improve.

In celebration of this, Towne House Wellness Center is hosting weekly “Wellness & Community Summer” events every Friday. We will uplift and celebrate the spirits and the struggles and the strength of our community with a DJ, barber, food, massages, and more – our full service partnerships and wellness centers create welcoming community space for all neighbors, housed or unhoused. For people who are often excluded, legislated against, discriminated against – you are welcome.

Teens Fundraise to Welcome Home Newly-Housed Neighbors

The incredible BASIS Independent Fremont Junior Honor Society and the entire school fundraised nearly $3,000 to help welcome home our Fremont community members who are exiting homelessness.

These future leaders visited our site, learned about their neighbors in need, and talked to our team – bringing these beautifully wrapped gifts of full cookware sets along with them. These cookware sets will be housewarming gifts for the people we move into housing, and have already helped 4 people moving out to set up their new kitchen!

CEO Celebrates 10 Years with BACS

This month, we are celebrating our CEO Jamie Almanza for her 10 year anniversary with BACS!

“It has been a remarkable 10 years for me and I can only sum it up in one way – it is our entire team – that has given me the tremendous learning, growing, stretching that we do every day. And the people we are charged to serve. There is more need than ever before… But more hope. For a day when every community member doesn’t have to sleep outside, or sleep inside a jail cell or psych bed – to get their basic needs met. BACS is strong and we are thriving.” – Jamie Almanza, CEO

Congratulations, Jamie, and we are very lucky to have you leading our organization!

Crankstart Foundation

We are thrilled to announce that Crankstart, a private foundation in San Francisco, awarded BACS a generous capacity-building grant of $2,500,000 over five years. This investment comes at a time when demand for our services is greater than ever and was awarded “in recognition of our outstanding leadership and dedication to doing whatever it takes to prevent and end homelessness.” Thanks to Crankstart’s flexible, multi-year support, BACS will be able to make critical investments in our staffing and infrastructure, while we continue to innovate and scale solutions in response to the most pressing challenge of our time. 

Oakland Teen Models Compassion

“Hi there, I’m Aidan, I am a seventh-grader here in Oakland. A couple of years ago I noticed so many homeless people in our community. I decide that for Valentines Day I wanted to make cookies for the homeless and had this idea of “Spread the love.” I have been making cookies for the homeless on Valentines Day for three years now.

This year I felt like I wanted to do more. At my school I did a donations drive to help our homeless population. I collected 4 huge boxes of items, and put together 40 hygiene kits! I feel deeply that everyone deserves a home, and I want to do everything I can to help those who don’t.”

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Thank you so much, Aiden (and Pilar)! This goes such a long way towards helping our community members who are currently unhoused. Especially feminine hygiene products, the “pink tax” makes it so hard to be hygienic and a women when you have few resources.

Covid-19 & Vulnerable Communities

BACS is doing everything we can to prevent Coronavirus from impacting our participants and staff. We are NOT stopping our work to end homelessness, or support people with mental health needs.

Our team is doing whatever we can to help people experiencing homelessness to decrease their risk during this outbreak. Hygiene and other precautionary measures are much more challenging when you are unhoused.

Please, donate to BACS today to help us minimize the risk for the most vulnerable community members!

We installed additional hand washing stations at four of our sites in Hayward and Oakland to protect people at our Housing Fast program locations, all of our sites are disinfecting surfaces hourly, and more precautionary measures per HUD recommendations for homeless service providers!

Recovery Expert & Advocate

Many thanks to Lee Davis, chair of the Alameda County, California Mental Health Advisory Board, for visiting with our staff & clients at Woodroe Place to share her expertise & experiences!

Lee is an inspiration, and we were honored to welcome her for the afternoon. She spent more than an hour sharing her knowledge with staff, and answering questions. Then, she met with our participants, and shared the message that it gets better. Thank you Lee!

Whatever It Takes Award

This month’s Employee of the Month is Kenneisha Wash, with the HEAT team!

Kenneisha says that BACS’ work matters because “Our agency helps to give humans another chance to grasp and redeem their lives back. We strategically build a life plan that formulates the power for each individual to succeed with the will to do so! We view our partners as delicate flowers that need a little extra TLC and with that they will bloom strong roots growing hope, independence and self sufficiency.”

Kenneish’s team and management nominated her for her fearlessness, her compassion, her advocacy, and her true belief in the “whatever it takes” motto.

 

BACS is hiring!

We have multiple job openings in throughout Alameda and Solano Counties. If you believe in doing whatever it takes to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness, then we want you to join our team!

Learn more & apply online. We pay 100% of employee health benefits and offer 30 PTO days a year, among other amazing benefits and perks. If you are an existing BACS employee, we offer an Employee Referral Bonus!

 

Annual Report 2018-2019

Throughout the year, we share unique stories, program updates, and highlight the great work our staff is doing. Now, BACS’ Annual Report is available online – and we can share the big picture!

BACS’ CEO Jamie Almanza says, “In this report, you will see why BACS is growing – because we have decided that no problem is beyond solving, no person is beyond helping, and that we are going to break down the barriers of stigma, racism, fear, or anything else that gets in the way of our community being able to thrive.”

San Mateo Program Opening

Have you ever had to recover from a major physical injury or illness? Can you imagine trying to get better while living on the streets?

That is where our new Recuperative Care program comes in. This pilot program will help homeless and housing insecure community members who have been hospitalized for a physical illness or injury, promoting long-term health and wellness.

People in need will have access to short-term residential support as they heal, care coordination, nursing support, mental health support, and more. This is our first program supporting San Mateo, and we are thrilled to be working with San Mateo County Health, Health Plan San Mateo, and the County of San Mateo.

Housing Navigation FAQ

BACS has many programs around the Bay Area committed to addressing homelessness. This work is always tied to community needs, and our advocates and supporters have helped us reach new communities in need. We address stigma and misunderstanding – which act as barriers to programs working to help – through transparency and sharing information. This month, we are sharing FAQs about our housing navigation program in Berkeley, the STAIR Center!

Kids Bike Lane: Breaking the Cycle

Bikes make life easier for people experiencing homelessness – with a bike, you have a free way of getting to and from services, job opportunities, and housing opportunities. Kids Bike Lane partnered with BACS, for the second year running, to donate bikes and provide that opportunity!

As part of their annual Big Bike Build, Kids Bike Lane donated 26 bikes to BACS clients who are in our housing fast programs. This is a huge deal for people living with behavioral health issues & exiting homelessness, to have that self-reliance of being on a bicycle, sustaining themselves through work, and contributing to the community… it has been a true blessing for every single person who received a bike. BACS cannot thank Kids Bike Lane enough!

Expert Volunteers Support BACS’ Leadership Development Series

Last month, two senior Genentech staff volunteered at BACS to uplift our leadership team! Tanja Powers, VP of Opthamology at Genentech, and Toni Pegues, Principal Manager of Field Excellence at Genentech, hosted a training session on leadership best practices, supporting staff, and holding courageous conversations.

Tanja volunteered in 2019 for the first in this series, and Toni brought her tremendous expertise in leadership development, plus her 20+ years of diverse experience (including sales & sales training management, marketing, project/vendor management, and more) to support our leadership team. Thank you, Toni and Tanja, and Genentech for sparing them for the day!

Ruby Turns 102 at BACS Adult Day Center

Ruby Lewis, a regular participant at BACS’ Oakland Adult Day Center, is celebrating her 102nd birthday! Ms. Ruby was born in Panama and moved to San Francisco in her 20s. Ms. Ruby was a nurse at Kaiser Permanente for decades, then continued nursing work as a volunteer after her retirement. Ms. Ruby stays active, and is very craft-oriented. Her daughter says “you will not see her without a knitting needle in her hand.” If she’s not knitting, she is doing crossword puzzles. We are so glad to celebrate this birthday with Ms. Ruby, and to help her stay active and engaged in the community!

Teen Does Whatever It Takes to Make Winter Better

When Kenneth Prabhakar and his brother Kevin became determined to help people experiencing homelessness, they were only 9 and 13 years old.

Year-round, every year, they they collect empty bottles and cans, bring them to the recycling center, and save the funds. Near the holidays, during the cold and wet season, they pool this money to buy brand new clothing for people experiencing homelessness.

BACS is inspired by Kenneth and the Prabhakar family, and very grateful for their continued support! Check out the full heartwarming story here.

Harborside Health Center

BACS is sending a major shout-out to Harborside Health Center and all of their clients & patients, who held a holiday fund drive to help our homeless community members! Harborside donated a percentage of their profits to BACS, and raised nearly $2,000. Thank you, Harborside, for making the holidays brighter for our clients experiencing homelessness!

HFSN anniversary

BACS is pleased to celebrate the 6 year anniversary of BACS’ Housing Fast Support Network (HFSN) program at the Henry Robinson Center!

We move people directly from the streets into the Henry, where they live for 4-6 months while our Housing Specialists work on permanent housing solutions. During this time, we help participants establish benefits, find employment, develop life skills, and more. 

Congratulations to the HFSN team and to each person who has successfully moved from the streets to permanent housing, and thank you to all our of community supporters!