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BACS Connections September/October 2019

October 17, 2019

Caring Community Member & Foundation Leader Leans in Further to End Homelessness

Jackie Downing, a major BACS supporter and advocate, used her recent milestone birthday as a fundraiser towards an incredible goal – to buy a trailer (not the driving kind but the kind that will be parked in a permanent residence with a lease) for a family struggling with homelessness! Jackie has a strong and vocal community, who so quickly surpassed the goal that BACS was able to buy and renovate two stationary trailers!

As BACS knows, ending homelessness requires opening ourselves up to all kinds of permanent solutions – BACS does not buy mobile homes/RVs for clients because that lends to increasing homelessness – BACS only supports homes that can be parked permanently at a residence with a legal lease in hand. In fact, BACS is starting a ‘trailer-buy-back’ program where we can pay an unstably housed resident money for their trailer, help them gain permanent housing, and then repurpose the trailer on a permanent piece of property for someone that is living outside/on the streets.

Jackie says, “Housing is the solution to homelessness and I believe we can solve this crisis if we all do whatever is in our power… This trailer will serve as a stable form of housing as BACS helps their clients get back on their feet and secure even more permanent homes.”

Everyone at BACS is sending a huge shout-out to all of the 20+ people who donated to get two families off the streets before winter begins, and to Jackie, for mobilizing the community for such an impactful birthday gift!

Amber House Grand Opening

We were thrilled to welcome our elected officials, supporters, neighbors, and community partners to celebrate the grand opening of Amber House Crisis Center! Many thanks to Karyn Tribble, John Steinfirst, and Councilmember McElhaney for being our guests of honor and speakers, and the offices of Supervisor Carson and Supervisor Chan, as well as the California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHFFA).

Amber House is a short-term residential alternative to psychiatric hospitalization, or support following hospitalization, for individuals in active psychiatric distress who need support to cope and heal. Amber House is embedded in the community, and speeds up recovery while creating a long-term plan for wellness.

Expanded Full Service Partnerships Serve Record Numbers

The original ‘whatever it takes’ program, BACS’ Full Service Partnerships (FSPs) are celebrating a great year following our expansion in 2018!  FSPs support individuals in every aspect of their life, breaking mental health, housing, and community barriers that hold people back.

BACS’ FSPs were expanded to include teens, people experiencing chronic homelessness, older adults, and people re-entering the community from prison/jail – all of our community members who need the most assistance. In the last year, our FSPs helped more than 335 people!

Oakland Community Block Party

BACS had a great time at the 4th Annual Oakland Community Block Party at Verdese Carter (Sunnyside) Park! Organized by Alameda County Public Defender Brendon D. Woods and County Supervisor Nate Miley, the block party had food, clothing, and bike giveaways, health screenings & public health information, voter registrations, criminal records repair services, a DJ, face painting, and more. It was a beautiful day out in the Oakland community.

Celebrating Long-Term Successes

This month, BACS is celebrating the 2 year anniversary of our Housing Navigation programs, a major expansion to BACS’ housing & homeless solutions work. Our Housing Resource Center, Housing Education & Counseling, and Landlord Liaison programs opened in 2017, and work with the people who need the most support. Learn more about BACS’ Housing Navigation here.

BACS is also celebrating the 5 year anniversary of the Hope Intervention Program (HIP), a prevention and early intervention program for youth, which opened in 2014. Learn more about our Prevention & Early Intervention programs here.

To all of our staff and partners who make these programs possible, happy anniversary, and congratulations on all your hard work!

Employee of the Month

This month, Brianna Gabriel is the Whatever It Takes award winner, with our Re-Entry team! Brianna’s colleagues nominated her, saying that “countless clients reach out to team members to sing her praises, and she receives thank yous and updates from clients long after they’ve graduated from BACS programs.” Brianna says BACS’ work matters because “we provide a tangible opportunity that helps our partners to re-connect, re-focus and re-claim their lives. We as an agency and individually have the ability to empower our partners in creating a plan to alleviate certain obstacles and barriers, and to help them re-define hopelessness into hope and dream deferred into a beautiful reality.”

Congratulations Brianna, and thank you for everything you do for the BACS team!

Start a Career with BACS

BACS services are always expanding, and we are currently recruiting! Check out our career opportunities on our website, and learn more about what makes BACS special.

BACS welcomes people of all backgrounds and expertise to apply. Even if you have never worked in the mental health or homeless solutions fields, but you are inspired to make a change, reach out to BACS – we have many training and entry-level positions.

BACS provides benefits and perks like: fully covered medical/dental/vision/life insurance, tuition reimbursement for loans and tuition, clinical supervision hours towards licensure, internal growth opportunities, and more! BACS also works with a wide variety of populations, and has many opportunities for learning and advancement.

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Tagged With: donate, oakland community block party, uplifting news

BACS Connections August 2019

August 30, 2019

BACS Throws Out First Pitch for Oakland A’s

The Oakland A’s and Kaiser Permanente announced BACS is the recipient of the inaugural Kaiser Permanente Community Excellence Award! As part of this recognition, BACS received special on-field recognition on before an A’s vs. Yankees game, and BACS Executive Director Jamie Almanza threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

“We are proud to recognize BACS with the inaugural Kaiser Permanente Community Excellence Award,” said Oakland A’s President Dave Kaval. “BACS was selected because of their big and bold initiative to end homelessness in Oakland.” Thank you to the Oakland A’s and Kaiser Permanente for honoring BACS and inviting us to join the game – go A’s!

Keep Oakland Housed

Keep Oakland Housed (KOH) has finished its first year!

1,812 families stayed in their homes, and 1,812 units of affordable housing were preserved – rather than falling into homelessness.

Compared with the vast spending on housing solutions after someone is homeless, this is strong evidence that an upstream intervention was a crucially missing component in the housing system of care.

KOH is a partnership between BACS, Catholic Charities, and East Bay Community Law Center, funded through: The San Francisco Foundation, in partnership with the City of Oakland, Kaiser Permanente, and generous philanthropists.

Lemonade for the Homeless

Lemonade fundraisers: Prisha Nag, Melanie DeLeon, Madison Kurtz, Noor Dharni, and Avery Olsen (not pictured)

“We wanted to give back to our community for our final 8th grade project. We realized the main problem in our community was the rising number of homeless people in the Bay Area. So we decided to raise money and donate our proceeds to the trusted Bay Area Community Services, and we thought holding an old-fashioned lemonade stand was the best way. We had a great outcome, many of our friends came. Many of my neighbors made very generous donations… We raised over $235 dollars, and we were extremely proud and wanted to continue. I lead another team this summer to raise more money, and I am still doing whatever I can to help my community.” – Prisha Nag

Rapid Response to Homelessness

BACS is expanding our Street Outreach & Rapid Response programming – and we are excited to announce that Markos Gonzalez will be leading this innovative initiative!

There has been a clear need over the last year to increase capacity, expertise, and reach for clients who are in the community and do not yet have access to services they need.

Markos says, “The goal is to meet people literally where they are at and connect them to the services that will best address their individual and specific needs. Our main focus for each interaction will always be to successfully connect individuals to services and at the very least, inform them of how to access the support they may need most. We want people to know that someone on the BACS team will be there to support them when they are ready.”

Jamie Almanza, Executive Director welcomed Markos, saying “BACS has learned from its recent partnership with Kaiser Permanente –  we can quickly and immediately scale our work so that we are rapidly responding every time someone who is homeless needs our help. This new position – and Markos in it – will be able to create the quick response to our communities who need our help.”

Invest in Your Community

You can help BACS make a difference for the folks that we help in many ways!  Donate Your Car/Truck: BACS has a program to help you get that vehicle donated in a way that helps our homeless folks. Learn more online, or email us with questions. Shop Amazon: You can also help BACS if you buy things on Amazon, by going to smile.amazon.com and choosing Bay Area Community Services (BACS) as your charity of choice. Every little thing you can do helps people in need.  Donate on BACS’ Website:  You’ll be glad you helped folks who need a little boost or a big boost, and you can make that happen.

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Oakland A’s & KP Award BACS for Community Excellence

August 19, 2019

The Oakland A’s and Kaiser Permanente are pleased to announce BACS (Bay Area Community Services) is the recipient of the inaugural Kaiser Permanente Community Excellence Award. As part of this recognition, BACS received a special on-field recognition on Thursday, Aug. 22 before the A’s won against the New York Yankees. 

“We are proud to recognize BACS with the inaugural Kaiser Permanente Community Excellence Award,” said Oakland A’s President Dave Kaval. “We created this award with Kaiser Permanente to honor community members and/or organizations who have shown extraordinary support and contributions to help build a more vibrant Oakland community. BACS was selected because of their big and bold initiative to end homelessness in Oakland.” 

[Read more…]

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Tagged With: community excellence award, oakland athletics, oakland homeless

BACS Connections July 2019

July 29, 2019

Going Paperless: BACS Milestone

BACS is excited to share that our Intensive Case Management team is pioneering paperless client charts for the agency! This is a huge milestone for BACS, as it will reduce time spent by staff on paperwork, cut down on the carbon footprint and paper waste, decrease necessary storage space,  increase efficiency, and cut costs, allowing more time and resources to go to BACS clients.

Congratulations to our ICM team, which has paved the way by piloting many BACS innovations throughout the years, on the successful implementation! We look forward to watching each program go through this process until the very last program has no more paper charts. 

Dr. Porshia Mack Joins BACS Board

BACS’ Board of Directors is delighted to welcome its newest member, Dr. Porshia Mack. Dr. Mack has 13 years of experience with non-profits and FQHC programming, and worked for LifeLong Medical Care for 9 years.

Dr. Mack is currently the Chief Medical Officer at a FQHC, where she is committed to advocating for under-served individuals and ensuring quality of care. We are so excited to have her expertise and oversight!

Two New Housing Programs

BACS opened the North County Housing Resource Center, serving Berkeley, Emeryville, and Albany. We are so grateful for the community support that allows us to continue on the work towards ending homelessness in this region.

BACS is also replicating our Berkeley program, the Pathways STAIR Center, in Hayward. BACS is bringing our signature rapid re-housing services that help people transition from encampments into permanent housing, with mental health and job supports to help the housing ‘stick.’

BACS Leaders Emerge

This month, we are celebrating and congratulating three excellent BACS team members who  will use their talents to have an even greater impact on the agency and the community! Ann Marie Ramos, Eric Johnson, and Terrell Hegler  were all recently promoted. Ann Marie is now leading the charge for our Oakland Housing Resource Center, and we are very excited to have her in that role.

Terrell is moving into a new agency wide position, overseeing all property management functions throughout the agency while also continuing his work with the Keep Oakland Housed Program.

Last, but certainly not least is Eric Johnson. Eric has been promoted to program manager of the Stair Program in Berkeley.

Staff Appreciation BBQ

BACS celebrates our wonderful staff members each year at our Annual Staff Appreciation BBQ! This year, we celebrated the 240+ staff, and their friends, family members, and pets who help lift them up and make BACS special. Our team celebrated each other and the hard work each person has done over the last year. BACS is fortunate to have an incredible, talented, and dedicated staff. Thank you to everyone who came!

Program Anniversaries

BACS is celebrating the anniversaries of two of our programs: IPS Supported Employment (2013) and OPC (2011). OPC provides outreach, housing and financial support, mental health and care management, substance use, and primary care to individuals who are homeless and have mental health issues. IPS provides job placement services to help individuals with complex needs find competitive, satisfying, and sustainable employment to uplift them from poverty.

Invest in Your Community

Micah square

Our work has profound individual and community impacts. Every person that comes to BACS for help can achieve stability, move off of the streets, get a job, live safely with their mental health issue, or stay out of jail. And for each of those success stories, our community gets better. We see fewer people living on the streets or in poverty. We spend less on emergency medical services. We see less of our tax money going to prisons. Your investment in BACS, and in the people we help, transforms our community.

Donate to BACS online by clicking here, or via mail to 390 40th Street, Oakland, CA 94609. Make an ongoing impact by donating monthly.

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BACS Connections June 2019

June 24, 2019

Ending Senior Homelessness in Oakland

Victor N. receives his keys to his new home in Oakland. Victor is a veteran, and became homeless in January. He lived in his car, which made his health problems worse. After being hospitalized, he came to BACS and we were able to get him into housing. #HOUSED

BACS is partnering with Kaiser Permanente to house 515 homeless seniors in Oakland. This is a transformative change to how someone goes from homelessness to housing in the Bay Area.

“This partnership with Kaiser is a game-changer. So far, we have more than 250 seniors out of encampments, off the streets, and into permanent housing. With more programs like this, we are going to end homelessness in Oakland.” – Jamie Almanza

BACS is so grateful to Kaiser Permanente for funding this initiative, and proving that with flexible investment from our community, homelessness is a problem that can be solved.

Contra Costa County Welcomes BACS

BACS housing

Due to great community need in Contra Costa County, BACS is stepping in to sustain a crucial homeless program and two mental health programs after Anka Behavioral Health discontinued its services. BACS is now provides the Don Brown Housing Fast, Nierika House, and Nevin House programs. These three programs meet BACS’ mission, and support mental health and housing for populations that BACS has worked to uplift for more than 65 years.

After a very fast process, BACS stepped into these programs in June with zero interruption of client care. BACS is honored to work with the community, partners, and County of Contra Costa. To support this work, make a sustaining donation today.

Programs Celebrate Annual Successes

This month, BACS is celebrating 3 program anniversaries!

STAIR Center in Berkeley: In 2018, BACS partnered with City of Berkeley to open the STAIR Center – and in just one year, the 87 people are off the streets in Berkeley and in permanent housing.

Rosewood Place in Vallejo: Rosewood opened in 2017, providing community-based support to supplement or replace psychiatric hospitalization. This program helps hundreds of people each year, and saves taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Full Service Partnership (FSP): BACS’ first FSP opened in 2007 as the original “whatever it takes” program – and last year, we opened 3 more programs helping people who need it most. BACS’ FSPs break mental health, housing, and community barriers that hold people back.

Achieving Incredible Goals

Robert, a participant in BACS’ Supported Employment program and regular member of our Wellness Centers, recently completed a Biotecehnology Certificate Program at Ohlone College! Robert showed extreme dedication in reaching this goal, and his proud family joined him at his graduation to celebrate his achievement in completing the course, managing his wellness, and working full time. Congratulations, Robert!

Start a Career with BACS

BACS services are always expanding, and we are currently recruiting! Check out our career opportunities on our website, and learn more about what makes BACS special.

BACS welcomes people of all backgrounds and expertise to apply. Even if you have never worked in the mental health or homeless solutions fields, but you are inspired to make a change, reach out to BACS – we have many training and entry-level positions.

BACS provides benefits and perks like: fully covered medical/dental/vision/life insurance, tuition reimbursement for loans and tuition, clinical supervision hours towards licensure, internal growth opportunities, and more! BACS also works with a wide variety of populations, and has many opportunities for learning and advancement.

Invest in Your Community

Micah square

Our work has profound individual and community impacts. Every person that comes to BACS for help can achieve stability, move off of the streets, get a job, live safely with their mental health issue, or stay out of jail. And for each of those success stories, our community gets better. We see fewer people living on the streets or in poverty. We spend less on emergency medical services. We see less of our tax money going to prisons. Your investment in BACS, and in the people we help, transforms our community.

Donate to BACS online by clicking here, or via mail to 390 40th Street, Oakland, CA 94609. Make an ongoing impact by donating monthly.

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Tagged With: anka, kaiser, kaiser permanente, nevin house, oakland homelessness

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Due to great community need in Contra Costa County, BACS is stepping in to sustain a crucial homeless program and two mental health programs as a partner provider winds down.

To donate and help save these programs, or for media inquiries, email us.

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