Oakland A’s give BACS Social Justice Grant Award
The Oakland A’s Community Fund awarded BACS the $10,000 Social Justice grant award! This grant will support our social justice, neighborhood-oriented approach to mental health & homelessness services. As part of the award, we got to invite a big group of staff, people we serve, and their families/natural supports to attend the September 8th game against the White Sox. We loved being there for the home team win!
Girl Scout Gold Award Powers the Community
At the start of the pandemic, many public locations closed their doors – which meant that for people without housing, it was suddenly a huge challenge to keep their phones charged. Without a phone, it’s hard to apply for jobs, make medical appointments, look for an apartment, and access services and public health info.
A small team of ambassador girl scouts and high schoolers banded together and designed a project to provide more charging solutions to the unhoused across Fremont and the Bay Area. This project, led by girl scout Aparna Singh, placed a combination of permanent and portable charging solutions at BACS and other community organizations’ sites, to make using devices and gaining crucial information a bit more accessible to all. These charging solutions will allow people to have access to their devices even years after the pandemic has come to a close. BACS is so impressed with this Gold Star Girl Scout project – it’s a solar, eco-friendly design with practical and compassionate applications!
Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness
Health, Housing, and Integrated Services (HHIS) is helping the people served by Project Roomkey motels into permanent housing, rather than falling back to homelessness. With BACS support, more than 210 people have moved into permanent housing so far!
HHIS is a signature BACS “whatever it takes” program. We uplift the “whole person” by breaking the mental health, housing, and other barriers that hold people back. This community-based program helps high-acuity individuals on their unique journey to stabilize their housing and behavioral health needs across the 8 domains of wellness. BACS helps partners by coordinating subsidies and federal funding, provides and links with intensive case management, building natural communities of support around partners, helping clients locate quality housing and submit applications then negotiate and understand lease agreements, and help with long-term housing retention.
Beauty’s Bagels Feeds Thousands
The Temescal neighbor of our headquarters has been baking a way out of poverty since the pandemic started – donating more than 3,200 bagels to BACS! Whenever those delicious treats arrive, we are so excited to be able to offer a tasty local bagel to our partners experiencing homelessness, behavioral health challenges, and other complications when they visit our sites for services. The bagels are a big pick-me-up, and partners have shared that it feels like the neighborhood has their back.
CARF Awards BACS Highest Accreditation
CARF, the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, visited BACS a few months ago for an intensive survey of our sites, services, and outcomes.
CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. Typically done in-person, the 2021 survey was conducted virtually, and touched every aspect of BACS’ service delivery. Beyond the “point in time” that the survey captures, accreditation is an ongoing process, signaling to the public that a service provider is committed to continuously improving services, encouraging feedback, and serving the community. Seeking this level of accreditation is voluntary for organizations like BACS, but we take quality improvement seriously and are always looking to improve our services.
Representative Ro Khanna Visits Fremont
Last month, Fremont resident and CA-17th District Representative Ro Khanna visited our Fremont Housing Navigation Center! Fremont Mayor Lily Mei and members of the Fremont City Council joined BACS staff in giving a tour of the location and sharing the impacts of this rapid re-housing intervention. The site opened in October 2020, modeled after our other sites which have collectively housed more than 1,500 people!
