Office: 760-843-0701
24/7 Hotline: 760-949-4357
I had the great joy of spending Saturday with a group of young people who are going to be our next generation of leaders. Our Youth Leadership Summit brought together a group of young people to learn from some of our current leaders and learn to use their voice to make sure our community will continue to get better.
We started the day hearing from Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh as she told us about being an immigrant and attending school without knowing English. She described how adversity can turn into strength and her path to representing 1 million people from the Inland Empire in Sacramento. We heard from Assemblymember James Ramos who told us about growing up in a mobile home on the reservation and living in poverty. He continued to work hard and get an education before moving into public service. Both of our elected officials excited the young people and helped them feel they can make a difference and they can be successful.
We had some great workshops from other community leaders. Scott Nassif from NAPA Auto Parts gave them advice on how to find and keep a job through listening and engagement. Kim Lewis from Lewis Advocacy explained how to put your ideas into legislation. Overall, this group of young people spent their Saturday working to improve their futures.
We closed the day hearing from Jevon Wilkes, the executive director of the California Coalition for Youth. He told his story of living on the streets of Los Angeles and knowing their had to be something better. He volunteered with the Youth Advisory Board and then worked his way to becoming the chairperson. He used this platform to speak with our legislators and demand that they consider the needs of young people living on the streets. Now, as the executive director, he is a regular speaker at legislative hearings. Legislators now come to him for his input. Every person in the room was listening and dreaming that this could be them some day.
Many of the young people came away excited for their future. They were able to speak with leaders who lived through poverty and are now successful and in positions to make real changes. These young people care about our community and about their peers. I came away excited for the future of our community. We hear and see so many negative things that it can become depressing. Seeing young people who give up their Saturday to learn how to make our world better gives me hope that it will be better.
Our future is looking bright.
Darryl Evey
Executive Director
We are so happy to announce the return of our annual Dreams Come True Gala! Save the date, October 15, 2022.
This is our annual fundraiser and all proceeds will go towards down payment assistance for Family Assistance Program clients and staff. The money raised at the gala will empower Family Assistance Program to transform people’s lives with home ownership.
Join us for a fun masquerade ball at the Hilton Garden Inn with cocktail hour from 4:30 – 5:30pm and dinner starting at 6pm. Enjoy music from the amazing BOK, photo booth fun, and a silent auction.
Sponsorship opportunities are available, email Angela if you are interested.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We will have our annual Break the Silence Walk on October 5th beginning at 10 AM and ending at 3 PM. This will be at our Administration office at 15075 Seventh Street. We are inviting everyone to join us. Please wear Purple to support Domestic Violence. If you are not up for the walk come and hang out with us for the day.
We are inviting organizations who would like to have an information booth with Community Services at the event. Water and snack donations will be appreciated.
Please contact Tracey or Sylvia at 760-223-7787 or by email tracey@familyassist.org or sylvia@familyassist.org
Family Assistance Program received a review on Google that mentioned our long time staff member, Sylvia. Sylvia truly cares about helping people and it shows in what she does every day. Thank you Sylvia for going above and beyond to always help those in need.
Summertime is upon us and in the High Desert at the C Street Community Center we are feeling the temperatures increase! We have added sunblock to our hygiene bags that we hand out every Wednesday during our Clothing and Hygiene Give-Away…speaking of Clothing and Hygiene Give-Away, we need your help! The C Street Community Center needs men’s clothing donations of all sizes. If you have any men’s clothing that you would like to get rid of please contact Cristina at crisitna@familyassist.org.
We are proud to announce that on June 30, 2022, we had 20 attendees earn their Certificate of Domestic Violence Advocacy!!! Another great training in the books, and another group of Domestic Violence Advocates training by Family Assistance Program that span across the Country. This year we had attendees from Connecticut, New York, and Michigan, as well as many from Northern California and within our own County. Family Assistance Programs congratulates these 20 Advocates and can’t wait to see the great work they do! Jobi would like to thank all of the Family Assistance Program Staff and community partners that take the time to present, without you this would not be possible.
The Open Door has been attending different events and facilitating trainings this month. One of The Open Door’s Empowerment Advocates is Myeesha and she has been busy! At the Sheriff’s Academy training, 120 new cadets were trained on how to approach and treat a human trafficking victim. She spends time educating the new cadets on when they are coming in contact with victims, they are not criminals. Myeesha is a powerful speaker, the Sheriff Academy asks for her to come back multiple times a year.
Open Door is working with Dignity Health on upcoming Human Trafficking training to educate their staff on the signs of a victim of Human Trafficking. Myeesha once again did a great job on the Dignity Health World Day event. She did a presentation on Who, What, and How the Open Door helps victims of Human Trafficking. Spreading the word on Human Trafficking has been extremely successful this year.
Open Arms Street Outreach team has seen an increase in client intakes these past few weeks. We have successfully housed a handful of clients, assuring they are receiving proper services. A Street Outreach participant has been housed with the help of our rental assistance program. Clients have been enjoying our Substance counseling groups, finding the information useful to conquer any challenges they face.
Open Arms has been happy to continue our partnership with Operation New Hope, allowing our clients to optimize the services they receive. Our TAY participants have been connected with their education program, helping them get on track to receive a high school diploma.
All TAY participants were excited to participate in the Youth Leadership Summit on the 16th of this month; they enjoyed learning how to become young leaders.
Family Assistance Program in partnership with San Bernardino Valley College hosted the inaugural Youth Leadership Summit on Saturday, July 16th from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm. This event included speeches from keynote speakers California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, California State Assembly member James Ramos, and the Executive Director of California Coalition for Youth Jevon Wilkes. The speakers addressed the resources both locally and statewide for youth to advocate for policies that directly impact their lives. They spoke about the past, current, and future policies they’ve worked on to strengthen the resources and rights of youth in San Bernardino County and the State of California. Each speaker spoke about the personal commitment they have to youth voices impact our communities. Over 120 local youth aged 16 – 24 years of age attended this event to learn how you can advocate to fight against youth homelessness and other issues important to youth. It was an all-youth event, created by youth for youth. Forty-one percent of youth homelessness in California occurs in San Bernardino making this topic an important discussion for our community.
Thank you to all of our speakers for taking time to educate and mentor our youth. And Thank you to Scott Nassif, Town of Apple Valley, Town Council Member for taking time to educate young people about employment and leadership with his talk on Leadership in Employment, What to consider when you’re applying for work, and How to become a leader in your community.
The youth participants had the chance to talk in roundtable discussions about the issues that they face and how change could be implemented in our local communities. Participants came from as far as Barstow and Palm Springs to attend this event. We are looking forward to next year’s Youth Leadership Summit already!
Congratulations to the participant Alicia A., on graduating from the Next Step Reentry Housing Program! Alicia was referred to us in August of last year by her probation officer and came to us as a mother fighting every day to improve her life and to regain custody of her 14-month-old son Christopher, who was living with a foster family under CFS supervision. To make things even more difficult, Alicia was also battling for her life as a cancer patient. But you would never know she was ill by her vibrant zeal to overcome her current life challenges. Alicia immediately found a job and began to save money; her health concerns, however, began to affect her several months into her stay with us and she was forced to focus on her health and regaining custody of her son.
For months, Alicia struggled to gain back her health and at the same time never wavered in her determination and effort to reclaim custody of Christopher. During her time convalescing, she decided to pursue education to become a Drug & Alcohol counselor and is currently attending classes at a local college to earn her Drug & Alcohol Counseling certificate. Thankfully, after months of hard work with her health providers, she has been able to regain her health and is now cancer free!
While with us, she worked with Next Step Team case managers to create an environment at home that was safe for her son Christopher. Certain adjustments were made at our Wakefield Women’s home to demonstrate to CFS that the home was safe and appropriate for Christopher to live in with his mother. After a lot of hard work on Alicia’s part, she was granted custody of Christopher and was able to welcome him home at Wakefield Women’s home in Adelanto.
In February, Alicia had cause to celebrate as she had reached the end of her supervised probation as well as her time with Family Assistance Program. Unfortunately, one of the biggest difficulties she’s had is finding housing for her and her son. Thankfully, she was able to make arrangements to live with a family member temporarily, but she is still in search of a home that will accept her Section 8 voucher. She has applied for several section 8 associated apartments and is on the priority waiting list, but as adequate housing availability remains limited in the High Desert and San Bernardino areas, Alicia struggles to find anything at all. She desperately needs to find a home that will accept a Section 8 voucher.
If anyone is aware of any available housing in the High Desert or San Bernardino areas that will accept a Section 8 housing voucher, please contact Erick M. Barker at 760-669-9200 or email at ErickB@familyassist.org.
Family Assistance Program is offering rental assistance for youth ages 18-24 for the individual and/or their families who are behind in rent and those youth who are homeless and getting their first apartment. There is also a rental assistance program for families who are struggling to pay rent/mortgage and on the verge of losing housing. We also have a Domestic Violence rental assistance we have been serving for many years.
Qualifications:
Each program has different qualifications to be better assisted please give us a call at 760-223-7787 or you can email rentalassistance@familyassist.org
We are currently hiring full and part-time for many open positions.
Click here to see all of the open positions at Family Assistance Program:
If you are interested in applying for any of our open positions, email your resume to hr@familyassist.org
check out our open positions
Family Assistance Program envisions a community where each person has a loving, nurturing home life. We provide the tools necessary to create healthy interpersonal relationships, economic empowerment, and stable housing.
15075 7th Street, Victorville, CA 92395
Main Office: (760) 843-0701
Toll Free: (866) 770-7867
