Ending Senior Homelessness in Oakland

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

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

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.

Kaiser Permanente Awards BACS a Grant to Bring Healthy Living to Our Supported Independent Living Sites!

BACS was awarded a $20,000 Healthy Eating, Active Living grant by Kaiser for our Supported Independent Living Houses for people living with behavioral health needs! This will enable us to invest in our housing sites with healthy activities so that the individuals living there are exposed to health and wellness.

BACS provides six affordable housing sites for adults who have behavioral health issues and are at risk of becoming homeless, and will use this grant funding to promote healthy lifestyles, including breaking the cycle of poor nutrition that many homeless individuals experience.

BACS would like to extend our gratitude for Kaiser Permanente for this grant, and for promoting healthy living for the most vulnerable members of our community.

“Power of Faith” Event

Jamie Almanza, MBA, BACS’ Executive Director, was invited by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson’s office to speak at the September “Power of Faith” event. This event was designed to “highlight and celebrate the work of faith-based organizations, as well as bring together faith-based organizations and community members to collaborate to amplify our collective work in the community.”

Jamie participated in a panel on homelessness and housing with our local faith-based community. On behalf of BACS, thank you Supervisor Carson for the invitation, and thank you to our very own Housing Coordinator, Mike King, for blessing the event with your presence!

Volunteers Build Garden Boxes at Woodroe Place

BACS would like to extend a huge “thank you” to volunteers from Beacon Health Options – Laura, Lori, Sam, Gina, Laine, and Sarah – who spent a Friday afternoon building garden boxes at Woodroe Place!

Our volunteers came and learned more about our Crisis Residential Treatment program, then made a permanent impact by starting our gardening project off right. BACS’ vision is for participants to get involved in gardening, and to use the seasonally rotated foods grown in the garden as part of cooking groups. The Beacon volunteers built 8 garden beds, and were happy to work with one of our interested participants.

Employee of the Month

BACS is delighted to honor our wonderful nursing staff by recognizing both Erin Tolva and Sunita Suman as our Employees of the Month for October!

Both Erin and Sunita were nominated by their peers to appreciate the integral role they play in our programs. Here is what our staff had to say:

Erin is such an incredible asset to our programs. She is smart, she is dedicated, and her training as a nurse is invaluable to our participants. Erin is an advocate for our participants, she works hard in the community, and she is an endless morale booster for her team members! Her hard work inspires all of us to work harder. With Erin, you can always trust that client care comes first.

Sunita embodies the spirit of Woodroe Place. She routinely responds to the needs of the house and the residents without hesitation or prompting. She is the consummate team player and has been observed to step in to support her team even outside her job duties. Sunita is the first staff to point out the strengths of the residents that we work with and she is often observed by her team to hold the hope that some of our most challenged residents will do better. Sunita also has a very sharp sense of humor that keeps her team light on their feet!

Congratulations, Sunita and Erin!

HIP Annex Revitalization Project

BACS’ Hope Intervention Program, which provides mobile outreach and crisis intervention services to youth age 16-24, is planning an artistic revitalization project for one of Towne House’s many welcoming spaces!

Volunteers will be creating a mural or another large-scale design project, and making the space perfect for youth to chill, get focused, and accomplish their goals.

If you are interested in helping with this project, call the HIP main line at 510-593-5629.

Join Our Cause

Do you want to join BACS in our mission to uplift under-served individuals and their families by doing whatever it takes? The community has asked us to provide more services than ever, based on need. In 2016, help us make this possible!

Donate

Donate to BACS online by clicking here, or via mail to 629 Oakland Ave, Oakland, CA 94612.

Or, donate gently used blankets, canned goods, and other items to our housing programs. Email us to learn more.

Work Here

BACS services are always expanding, and we are currently recruiting! Check out our job opportunities.

Learn more on our website or by calling 510.613.0330.

BACS Connections June 2019