During these winter months, when it is extremely cold at night, the safety of our homeless community is a major concern for us at SAY. To help keep our youth safe, from December through March 2017 we are opening an overnight shelter program in downtown Santa Rosa to give emergency...
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Last week eight youth graduated from SAY's Fall Work-readiness Program. Prior to graduation they presented on their internships, crew work, and their chosen career path, including their next steps. Students shared about becoming firefighters, plumbers, cosmetologists, careers in psychology, and more. Favorite quotes from the day: “Now I just gotta get...
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How many 12-year-old business owners and philanthropists do you know? There aren’t many, but Sadie Asker is one of them. She started her own lip balm business, Lips For Living, and has been donating 10 percent of the sales to SAY. Sadie decided to donate after she and her mother, Brandi...
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This update comes from Sorrel Allen, our Sunflower Garden Youth Supervisor: It’s been a sunny, hot, and beautiful summer in the Sunflower Community Garden. Our first tomatoes are ripe on the vine at last! The pollinators are plentiful. Our heat loving crops such as corn and peppers are growing boldly; we can...
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Last night, the Santa Rosa City Council voted unanimously to draft a Homeless State of Emergency, with Vice Mayor Tom Schwedhelm suggesting that the emergency will only truly end when Santa Rosa's homeless numbers reach functional zero and all people have access to shelter and housing within a short time...
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The SAY College and Career Readiness team in partnership with the Sonoma County Office of Education just completed coordination of a valuable externship program with three teams of teachers from area schools. Teacher externships offer a unique professional development opportunity connecting the classroom to the workplace. They provide an experience...
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Lace up your sneakers and join runners around the world in running for SAY this summer! Atlas was founded by students in the Masters Program at Hult International Business School. Atlas recruits corporate sponsors make their donations possible, turning workouts into dollars for charity. The students were inspired to work with SAY after Cat Cvengros,...
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Homeless people often tend to be literally overlooked, and the stigma of being homeless is very real. When approached by someone asking for money (panhandling) our first suggestion is always to treat people with compassion. Make eye contact, smile. You can say no to a request for money by simply saying “I...
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June marked the kick off of one of the busiest times of year for our Career Services Teams - we interviewed, hired and trained 95 young people to work in jobs this summer. Our youth came in to the SAY Finley Dream Center for a two day HR and training...
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Dioselina grew up learning to hope, dream and love, despite not knowing if there would be food on the table each night. “My parents always told me and my brother that without education, we would continue to live in poverty. We both worked hard to get straight A’s, and my career...
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