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Signal Boost - At The Crossroads
May. 29th, 2010 04:34 pmSo, I know most of my flist has about as much money lying around these days as I do (i.e. none at all), but in case any of you have a few spare dollars and are looking for something to do with it, I'd like to put in a good word for At The Crossroads, a non-profit that works with homeless youth and young adults in the Mission and Downtown districts of San Francisco.
ATC isn't a huge charity, but with the resources they have, what they do is pretty awesome. They mostly work with kids in their late teens and early twenties who are underserved and overlooked by a lot of traditional programs for any number of reasons - because they are too old for CPS or kids' programs but don't feel comfortable going to programs for adults; because they are drug users or dealers, gang members, or sex workers and thus get taken in by the cops instead; because they aren't considered homeless or don't think of themselves as homeless since they are couch-surfing/living in motels/living in abandoned buildings/living in their cars, not sleeping on the streets. They also focus a lot on direct community outreach - ATC staff take backpacks full of supplies (sandwiches and candy, toothpaste, soap, clean socks, condoms and lube, etc) out onto the streets at night to give out to kids in their target groups. If people are comfortable or willing, they do one-on-one counseling and referrals to other social service agencies.
I found out about ATC through my work. Back in the fall, the company that runs the call center here on campus did a fundraising challenge with all its participatory schools to try to raise money (from the student employees) for local charities. When that went really well - and when we found out that the program was founded by a Stanford grad, always a bonus - we decided to stick with them. Today a group of us went down to give them the check for the money we raised in our spring drive, and then stayed a few hours to do some volunteer work, mostly addressing/stuffing envelopes for their quarterly mailer. I'm always a little wary of these kinds of programs, having been on the receiving end of a particular kind of well-meaning condescension that can come with it in the past, but I didn't get any skeevy vibes off them (in the admittedly brief time I was there). I think they have a good attitude and a good approach, and if you have the chance, you should definitely check them out.
Okay, I promise the PSA's over! And Doctor Who reaction/review will be up as soon as my episode actually finishes downloading. ;P
ATC isn't a huge charity, but with the resources they have, what they do is pretty awesome. They mostly work with kids in their late teens and early twenties who are underserved and overlooked by a lot of traditional programs for any number of reasons - because they are too old for CPS or kids' programs but don't feel comfortable going to programs for adults; because they are drug users or dealers, gang members, or sex workers and thus get taken in by the cops instead; because they aren't considered homeless or don't think of themselves as homeless since they are couch-surfing/living in motels/living in abandoned buildings/living in their cars, not sleeping on the streets. They also focus a lot on direct community outreach - ATC staff take backpacks full of supplies (sandwiches and candy, toothpaste, soap, clean socks, condoms and lube, etc) out onto the streets at night to give out to kids in their target groups. If people are comfortable or willing, they do one-on-one counseling and referrals to other social service agencies.
I found out about ATC through my work. Back in the fall, the company that runs the call center here on campus did a fundraising challenge with all its participatory schools to try to raise money (from the student employees) for local charities. When that went really well - and when we found out that the program was founded by a Stanford grad, always a bonus - we decided to stick with them. Today a group of us went down to give them the check for the money we raised in our spring drive, and then stayed a few hours to do some volunteer work, mostly addressing/stuffing envelopes for their quarterly mailer. I'm always a little wary of these kinds of programs, having been on the receiving end of a particular kind of well-meaning condescension that can come with it in the past, but I didn't get any skeevy vibes off them (in the admittedly brief time I was there). I think they have a good attitude and a good approach, and if you have the chance, you should definitely check them out.
Okay, I promise the PSA's over! And Doctor Who reaction/review will be up as soon as my episode actually finishes downloading. ;P