A pet is family, no matter where you live – including for families experiencing homelessness. Last week, Bay Area Community Services (BACS) and BirchBark Foundation (BBF) announced a new partnership to provide veterinary care, support services, and supplies to the pets of people on their way from homelessness to housing at the SHARE Center.

The partnership kicked off with at event at the SHARE Center, building a “tree of hope” decorated with words of love and meaning made by people impacted by their pets and all people who have needed hope during challenging times. Peace of Mind Dog Rescue and SPCA Monterey County also joined the event to honor the partnership and the supports they will offer such as kennel and behavior training, volunteers doing veterinary appointment transport, and the joint veterinary care with BBF through Peace of Mind Dog Rescue’s Harry and Jaynne Boand Clinic.

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The mental health system of care can be complicated – which is why BACS has started the Sacramento Crisis Navigation Program (CNP). We are supporting community members with behavioral health needs who are in the middle of a crisis, at the emergency room, by being side-by-side to help them navigate available resources to find ongoing services and stability.

Some of the people we serve may have been through this cycle before (from emergency room to a referral to ongoing behavioral health services), but without the warm handoff and individualized coordination they slipped through the cracks. [Read more…]

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.”

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Bay Area Community Services (BACS) is community-based in the deepest sense of the word.

In 1953, our founders heard the call of the community, and stepped up to respond to poverty and institutionalization – what held back people with mental illness and frail elders. For nearly seven decades, BACS has created community centers and employment programs, crisis mental health programs, and programs determined to end homelessness, pulling together advocates, experts, and innovators to break down these barriers.

We are grassroots, from deep East Oakland to Vallejo to Richmond to San Francisco. We are embedded, engaged, and listening. We have a responsibility to hear the call of our vulnerable community members.

To create this Strategic Plan, BACS’ participants, board members, funders, staff, and community supports partnered together to understand systemic gaps, individual needs, and agency strengths and opportunities. As we set our strategic priorities, we heard from thousands of community members of their struggles – generational poverty, policing, racism, disability, injustice, trauma. 99% of BACS clients are extremely low income; more than 80% are people of color; more than 80% are experiencing behavioral health challenges. [Read more…]