Fighting Homelessness Through Social Services, Job Opportunities – Downtown Streets

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On any given night, 38,000 individuals in the Bay Area are homeless, an increase of 35 percent since 2019.

That is why Tech CU is a proud supporter of Downtown Streets Team (DST), an organization committed to fighting homelessness through the dignity of work and the power of community.

DST invites unhoused participants (called Team Members) to clean city streets and parks by removing trash, cigarette butts, and needles. In return, DST helps them remove barriers in their lives…big things like finding housing or a job, to smaller things like seeing a dentist or setting up a bank account. Through the low-barrier program, Team Members develop soft skills like accountability, responsibility, and self-esteem.

Once Team Members can hold down a job, DST graduates them to the next phase called Streets Team Enterprise. DST hires Team Members at competitive wages to do highway and city beautification projects while still teaching practical job skills. After that, they graduate to external employment.

For both projects, DST provides a supportive community of peers, meaningful daily activity, and compassionate case management services. This gets the unhoused out of survival mode and into goal-setting mode, replacing barriers with opportunities. That’s the power of community.

Last fiscal year alone, DST removed over 8,300 barriers, more than any previous year. Since 2019, they’ve picked up over 22 million gallons of trash, 2 million cigarette butts, 178,000 needles, and served over 70,000 visits to our food closet.

Joe, a former Team Member from Santa Cruz, recently wrote, “I am now a husband, a father, and a business owner. Not bad for a guy who less than 5yrs ago was homeless cleaning up the city for stipends to eat with. Without D.S.T. I wouldn't be the best version of me. I would still be lost, confused, and alone. Believe that there is better for you. Believe that there are others like you whose lives have changed for the better. Most of all, BELIEVE in You!”

If you would like to help address one of the most important domestic issues of our day with an organization getting real results on the ground, please visit https://www.streetsteam.org/donate.