Dear Friends of SAY,
As we enter into 2010, I want to thank you for being part of a community that knows how to work together to care for our most vulnerable community members: our youth and children.
We have learned that SAY, in collaboration with the Seneca Center, has been chosen by Sonoma County to build a large Wraparound program. This program will allow 12 kids who are in placements such as foster care to return home to their families. They will receive services such as family coaching and family therapy to help them come together again successfully as a family. The youth will also have opportunities to become involved in sports, arts and other recreational programs. The prospects here are very exciting. Our goal is to return up to 24 youth to their families and provide them with the full support of a comprehensive wraparound program.
SAY’s Functional Family Therapy program (FFT) will be a major part of the Wraparound Program. SAY has been providing FFT to troubled youth in Sonoma County since 2000. Every dollar spent on Functional Family Therapy saves the community $28.00 in public intervention costs1. Since it began, SAY’s FFT program has had the lowest recidivism rate of any program funded by the Sonoma County Department of Probation.
The following stories demonstrate SAY’s success in carrying out its mission: to be a community leader in providing support, opportunities, and hope to children youth and families.
A young woman was removed from the custody of her parents because of extreme abuse and neglect. She first came to SAY to heal the emotional scars that she carried. Later, she came to live at the Tamayo House, SAY’s home for transitional age youth. Like many of the residents there, her prior residence was a foster care home. This remarkable young woman quickly learned how to take responsibility for herself and steer her future in a positive direction. She is smart, articulate, and engaging. She now has a great job and is also going to college. Her future looks bright. Many people with a background like hers succumb to self destructive behaviors and became a drain on society. In contrast, she has lifted herself out of the negative behaviors that were handed to her by her parents and is becoming a gifted communicator and a positive agent of social change. I am grateful to know her, and to be part of a community that helped her become a talented community leader.
I was recently sitting with a young man who was crying tears of joy during a painful gang tattoo removal procedure. He seemed anxious to leave. The case manager asked him what was going on. He said, “My wife’s in labor and I want to be there to watch my son being born.” As he was walking out of the treatment room with the case manager, he turned and said, “What a wonderful thing [to do]. Now on my son’s birthday, I can tell him that on the day he was born was the day I got my old tattoos removed. And I can tell him on his birthday that he changed my life, and now I have a new life with him.” I am thrilled about being part of community that decided to give him a second chance. Thank you to Kaiser and Southwest Community Health Center for helping SAY to remove that last visible reminder of gang identification from 88 individuals this year.
SAY served 6,584 individuals last year. Housing was provided to 173 individuals. 11,000 meals were served to homeless youth. And we helped 300 youth find jobs.
SAY’s Youth Employment Center has earned the highest service performance index score of any program working with high-risk youth since the first funding cycle of the City of Santa Rosa’s Measure O funds became available. Social Advocates for Youth and a wonderful team of community partners employed 165 low income youth in Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley as part of the Summer Jobs Program. This team included the following: The Workforce Investment Board, The Sonoma County Water Agency, The Sonoma County Human Services Department, The Sonoma County Office of Education, and New Ways to Work. The youth did ecological work while earning wages paid by President Obama’s stimulus funds. SAY’s Youth Employment Center helped find 135 other youth paying jobs in nonsubsidized work programs. Having these individuals engaged in meaningful work was an important factor in helping Sonoma County reach its lowest juvenile hall population rate that anyone can remember in recent history.
I am grateful for the support that community members provide and the encouragement you give to youth who face great challenges in their lives. In this time of decreased government spending on human services, your continued support is immensely appreciated.
We, as a community, are helping some of our more disadvantaged children reach their potential, and we, as a community, can all take pride in their accomplishments.
Thank you for your continued support to SAY and the children, youth, and families we serve.
Warm regards,
Tom Bieri,
Executive Director
P.S. While we gratefully receive all gifts, those of $100 or more can help us make a substantial impact right away! And with our new pledge program, you can make a large gift and spread payments over 10 months. Please send your gift today.
