BACS Connections April 2019

April 29, 2019

We’re Buying a House a Year to End Homelessness

BACS is stepping up to the plate to end homelessness. Some affordable housing projects are taking up to 10 years before move in, & can cost up to $600k per studio apartment built. While affordable housing developments are a major solution to ending homelessness for the most vulnerable, we cannot afford to wait 10 years.

BACS committed to buying ‘a house a year’ to end homelessness. We buy homes where the entirety of a six-bedroom house costs less than a newly built affordable housing studio, and are ready to move people in within 30 days – not 10 years.

We are opening up opportunities for a sponsor to name the house and leave a lasting legacy. Individuals, families, corporations, and foundations are invited to donate $100,000 or more to have a house named in their honor – and permanently end homelessness for 6 or more people. Contact us to learn more.

Major Donation from Salesforce

BACS is thrilled to share that Salesforce has made a major technology donation! Salesforce donated 50 Dell laptops to BACS. Thanks to Salesforce, our team is better equipped, and overhead that would have been allocated to technology can instead go directly into our housing & homelessness services, mental health services, and more. Quinn Lung, BACS Board Vice Chair, connected Salesforce with BACS.

This donation improves BACS’ ability to keep our staff with modern technology, while improving the ability of participants using our sites to connect online! Economic and housing opportunities are easier to access online, and technology improves access to healthcare, mental health care, and more. Thank you Salesforce!

Trans/Gender Inclusion at BACS

This month, BACS hosted a Transgender/Gender Responsiveness Training for our whole team! Kelsey Pacha hosted two days of training for BACS’ team to deepen our understanding of gender, with an emphasis on creating affirming social service, health, and employment systems as well as identifying barriers to accessing services for trans and gender expansive clients.

BACS deeply values integrity, accountability, community, and diversity – and being an agency that welcomes and uplifts all members of our community. Thank you to the Cultural Responsiveness Committee for their leadership in setting up this training.

Everyone, no matter your gender identification or orientation, is welcomed and celebrated at BACS.

Simply the Basics Changes Lives

Did you know that 67% of homeless community members have a preventable health condition? Without the resources that many people take for granted – like access to a sink – people living on the streets develop health issues. Things like dental issues, skin conditions, foot pain, and hypothermia, which can all prevent keeping a job or finding housing, and can lead to long-term health problems.

BACS’ partner Simply the Basics takes hygiene seriously, and has donated 2,600 hygiene kits, 8,900 feminine hygiene products, and 650 detergent packets for laundry over the last two and a half years.

Wellness Centers 50 Year Anniversary

Towne House

BACS is celebrating the 50 year anniversary of BACS’ Wellness Centers (originally called the Creative Living Centers)!

BACS opened our Wellness Centers in 1969 to fill a crucial need in the community: welcoming and accessible community spaces for individuals living with behavioral health issues. Our Wellness Centers offer classes and programs, skills-building, and behavioral health services. Our Wellness Centers have made a difference for thousands of people over the last 50 years. Learn more about our Wellness Centers here. Thank you to everyone who makes our Wellness Centers special!

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.

Simply the Basics & Health while Homeless

March 14, 2019

Simply the Basics takes hygiene seriously. Simply the Basics partners with BACS and other organizations to provide hygiene kits – including things like feminine hygiene products, toothpaste and toothbrushes, razors, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, and more.

[Read more…]

Simply the Basics Donates More than 13,500 Supplies!

February 8, 2017

In September of 2016, BACS posted about our new partnership with Simply the Basics. The mission of Simply the Basics is to provide for individuals, organizations, and communities their most basic needs with dignity so that they can focus on bigger goals.

Since our partnership first began, Simply the Basics has donated more than 800 hygiene kits, 6,500 feminine hygiene items, and 550 detergent packets. Total, Simply the Basics has given BACS 13,750 supplies, worth more than $10,500!

[Read more…]

BACS Connections September 2016

September 26, 2016

Simply the Basics – Our Newest Partner!

Simply the Basics is partnering with BACS! Simply the Basics donated more than 150 hygiene kits, as well as feminine hygiene products and laundry detergent! These products are so critical to the homeless participants we serve who have no other alternative to basic hygiene care when surviving on the streets.

The mission of Simply the Basics is to provide for individuals, organizations, and communities their most basic needs with dignity so that they can focus on bigger goals.

This donation empowers BACS to focus on our bigger goal – ending homelessness, permanently. Every year, BACS provides services to hundreds of over 1,000 individuals experiencing homelessness. We provide interim housing and rehabilitation services, while our Short-Term Housing team locates permanent housing. In the meantime, we provide mental health support, independent living skills development, employment support, respite services, and more.

To learn more about our amazing partner Simply the Basics, visit their website!

In-Kind Donation Drop-Offs

Your donations change lives!

Our 2016 Drop Off Dates for in-kind donations are Wednesday, October 19 and Wednesday, December 14.

Donations will be accepted from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 559 16th Street in Oakland. If you have any questions, please email Nora Daly.

Everything you donate directly impacts our mission – to uplift under-served individuals and their families by doing whatever it takes. Learn more about in-kind donations to BACS!

Our Programs Work Together to Change Lives

Daniel and Gina, 70 and 60 years old respectively, came to BACS in need of serious help. They were homeless, and did not have access to food, medications, or other services. Through the collective efforts of our dedicated teams in three programs, Daniel and Gina are no longer homeless and are receiving the services they need!

Read their full story, from homelessness to today, here.

Hope Intervention Program

BACS is pleased to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of BACS’ Hope Intervention Program (HIP).

BACS is the lead agency of a major pilot for Alameda County called TAY Triage and opened HIP, a prevention and early intervention program for youth, in 2014 to fill a crucial need in the community: mobile outreach and crisis intervention services to Transitional Aged Youth (TAY).

Our HIP team has made a huge impact on TAY in our community. Happy anniversary, and congratulations on all your hard work! Learn more about our Prevention & Early Intervention programs here.

Our team also just received a one year evaluation for the wonderful work we are doing. Some noteworthy statistics:

HIP enrolled 211 participants, and exceeded the program goal for enrollment by 110%! This means BACS was able to use our resources to help even more people.
93% of our participants have been discharged from our program, often with a warm hand-off to other services. Of our discharged participants, 87% had no psychiatric hospital facility admissions within 90 days of discharge, exceeding our objective!

Thank you to our partners who made HIP possible including the State of California through Senate Bill 82, Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services, Stars Inc. TAY Programs, and West Coast Children’s Clinic, as well as Alameda County’s Health Care Services Agency CAPE Unit who has conducted deep research on the program.

Employee of the Month

Bart Smid, Peer Counselor at Woodroe Place Crisis Residential, is our Employee of the Month for September!

Bart was nominated by his colleagues and leadership because of his commitment to the mission of BACS, and his daily demonstration and pursuit of the agency’s values. In particular, colleagues noted:

“Bart is the consummate professional. He engages residents at Woodroe with great integrity, welcoming approach and believes the best in people. He consistently encourages choice and fosters relationships with residents at Woodroe to build trust and encourage their growth. Bart has tremendous pride in the house and in his work. He is accountable and willing to share innovative ideas with his team.”

Bart says “the thing I like most about working at Woodroe Place is the support our team gives each other every moment of every shift, as well as the positive effect our program has on our residents mental health recovery. It feels great knowing that I play a partial role in our residents feeling better about themselves and their current situation.”

Congratulations, Bart!

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.