Office: 760-843-0701
24/7 Hotline: 760-949-4357
As we enter into the holiday season, I encourage everyone to take a step back and think about our community. Some children will be sad because they did not receive the “hot new toy” that is on everyone’s wish list. Other children will be sad that they did not receive anything. Some will hope Santa brings them everything they requested, while others will hope that it does not get too cold that night because sleeping in a car is not very warm. Some parents will worry about whether the turkey will be too dry, while others will worry about whether the soup kitchen will be open and if they will be able to feed their children on Christmas day. Please take a moment to be grateful for what you have.
A few years ago, we had a boy come to our youth shelter on Christmas Eve, just after midnight. At 16 years old, he understood that his family was not perfect. Holidays frequently devolved into drunken yelling and fights. That year, it was worse, and he ran away during the Christmas Eve fight. Some of the local people living on the streets directed him to our youth shelter. We had a couple of presents for him in the morning, then spent the afternoon at Dave and Busters (they are open on Christmas Day), and then a movie that evening. The next day, we were speaking, and I asked how he was and if he had a fun Christmas. He gave me a big smile and said it was the best Christmas he had had in years. He held up his arm and said, “look, no bruises!” I was feeling sad that he was in a shelter, but he was happy that he was safe. It is all about perspective.
I hope that you all enjoy the time you have with family and friends.
Our offices will be closed on Thursday 11/23 and Friday 11/24 in order for our staff to enjoy the holiday with their loved ones. In case of an emergency, our hotlines are answered 24/7:
Domestic Violence 760-949-4357
Homeless/Runaway Youth 909-335-2676
Human Trafficking 909-333-7476
This month we celebrated Veterans Day and want to say thank you to all of the Veterans! We are deeply grateful for the men and women who have served our country, and we are proud to have veterans among our own employees. Your service and dedication to our nation are an inspiration to us all.
Hope House staff put together a spooky Halloween party for the children at Hope House. The children were all able to pick out costumes that were donated. Everyone played games like musical chairs and danced and sang to music. The children were able to take part in a cup cake decorating contest. The staff at Hope House came together and purchased pizza for their meal. Everyone also was able to have nachos, and of course, everyone received candy.
The staff at Hope House ensured the children enjoyed their Halloween and the event helped everyone forget what brought them to Hope House. We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!
Hope House staff also attended High Desert Second Chance’s Annual Trunk or Treat event. Lori and Shawna decorated the truck and set a table up with the program’s information. They handed out candy to the thousand trick-or-treaters who were in attendance.
This Christmas, we’re excited to announce our “Adopt a Family for Christmas” program to support families in our domestic violence shelters and programs.
You can make a real difference this holiday season by granting a wish for a family in need. Join us in making their dreams come true! If you cannot adopt a family this holiday, feel free to donate! We are also accepting donations of the following items: hygiene Items such as shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair brushes, makeup, feminine hygiene items, new bath towels, and toys! We will also be accepting canned and boxed food donations. They can be dropped off at the Hope House Empowerment Center 15201 Eleventh St Suite 100 Victorville.
Please feel free to contact Tracey tracey@familyassist.org or Sylvia sylvia@familyassist.org (760) 843-0701
Spice up your generosity by donating a brand-new toy (valued between $10.00 and $20.00) and enter to win our Sriracha gift basket. Every toy donated goes directly to families in our domestic violence shelters and programs.
Scan the QR code for registration or you can email DJ at davidf@familyassist.org.
Don’t forget, the Family Assistance Program is still offering FREE Notary Services! This service is available Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please call Jobi at 760-843-0701 for more information or email her at jobi@familyassist.org
We also provide FREE Restraining order services by appointment only. For more information contact Diana at 760-843-0701 or diana@familyassist.org
We also offer FREE weekly classes from anger management and parenting to domestic violence and so much more. For more information please contact Ahea at 760-843-0701 or ahea@familyassist.org
During the month of October, Open Arms hosted a resource fair for the community and saw much success from this event. There was a total of 20 vendors and roughly 50 community members who joined us during the event. It was a great opportunity to see the community come together and share resources.
Our TAY housing program has also seen great success this past month, successfully housing two youth participants and helping change their housing status. Community Action Partnership hosted mobile showers twice a week at Open Arms, allowing for more members of the community to participate.
Our Youth Coordinated Entry System meeting will be held in November. The first one was on the 8th and the second will be on the 22nd from 10 am to 11 am. Please join us to share resources and help house our youth in San Bernardino County.
The Youth Advisory Board, YAB, will be hosting its monthly meeting on December 1st from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm at 323 W. 7th St. San Bernardino, 92401.
October was filled with spooktacular activities and remarkable achievements. Our clients enthusiastically embraced various Halloween activities, including pumpkin carving, cookie decorating, horror movie marathons, and engaging in artistic endeavors. The true highlight, however, was the remarkable progress our clients made with the majority now gainfully employed and actively pursuing their personal goals.
With the assistance of our dedicated staff, one client underwent a gender-affirming haircut, significantly boosting their self-confidence and comfort in their own identity. One client has been active in volunteering, with their latest contribution cold calling on behalf of Planned Parenthood.
At the core of Welcome Home’s mission is education. Our staff remained actively engaged in various training programs, including Case Management and Motivational Interviewing. Additionally, we had the privilege of hosting Angela Olivares, an HIV & AIDS Outreach Educator from DAP HEALTH (Desert AIDS Project). She visited our shelter to discuss HIV and destigmatization.
Angela is leading an instructive series that provides clients with valuable resources, including free testing kits, dental dams, and resources. She has access to a mobile testing van that screens for gonorrhea, HIV, syphilis, hepatitis, and chlamydia. Our ultimate goal is to empower participants to make informed, healthy choices.
Our staff also had the opportunity to attend the Family Assistance Program’s annual Dreams Come True Gala on Saturday, October 7th, hosted at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center in Victorville. The event featured an inspiring guest speaker, Yvette Abreo, who serves as the Agency Life Coach for the Family Assistance Program.
Welcome Home remains steadfast in its commitment to expanding its presence in schools, non-profit drop-in centers, and community-based programs to promote LGBT resources like Stop the Hate.
For more information about Stop the Hate, please visit www.StoptheHateCA.org – opens in a new window or contact Welcome Home at WelcomeHome@FamilyAssist.org.
Houseless LGBT youth aged 18-24 are encouraged to reach out to WelcomeHome@FamilyAssist.org, where they will be connected with resources and added to a waiting list.
There has been a lot going on at Open Door. Our very own Caroline, being contracted at the CFS office as a Domestic Violence Counselor, has been working with a family that had their children removed from their home. Caroline began to work with the parents by providing DV education with them on a weekly basis, checking on them throughout the week, and creating a safety plan with them. After providing these services and continuing to stay connected with these parents, they have now been granted unified visits with their children.
Kimia has been working with a client she met at The Goodwill workshop. This client is a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault. Within two weeks we helped her with mock interviews and sent her job leads and training flyers and she was able to find a job at Burlington Coat Factory! It is part-time but it’s permanent work. She will be starting this week. We are so excited and proud of her.
Christmas is around the corner! If you or anyone you know would like to adopt a client in our Human Trafficking program, below is a link for Open Door’s Amazon Wishlist. It is easy, you just click on the link and choose what you would like to buy for one of our clients, and it ships to the Open Door office. Or if you would like to drop anything off please contact Bernadette at Bernadette@familyassist.org
The month has just begun, and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for our youth here at My Place! While they continue their stay here, we want them to have educational outings, and visiting the California Science Center is perfect for that! The clients enjoyed learning about different ecosystems, animals, biology, and air and space. This was a first for some of our youth and we hope it won’t be the last! Staff also took our clients to Hesperia Lake Park where they got to enjoy nature, walking around, and feeding the ducks. Clients also enjoyed the Apple Valley Civic Park with our staff’s dog where they roller skated through the park. Being outdoors and taking in fresh air has been helping our youth tremendously along with our groups.
Our art wall keeps on getting new additions from our clients as we have them come in and show how talented they are. We have helped youth complete their Food Handlers permit in hopes they can begin looking for jobs. We continue to do Case Management to help them achieve the most while they stay at My Place. We create a safe environment for youth, and it’s become a comfortable safe space for them. We cannot wait to start decorating the shelter with our youth for the holidays!
Fam Spot has officially been at its new location for two months now and we’ve already met our goal of gathering 100 returning client check-ins. Last week’s updates put us at 130 check-ins for the month of October, that’s including 26 new clients! While at Fam Spot, clients are receiving supportive services, completing community service, health navigation, substance abuse classes, and much more. Clients have shared in our bi-weekly survey that when they’re at Fam Spot they feel like we’re all family and feel completely safe, which is always amazing to hear. Management would love to extend its gratitude for all the hard work Fam Spot staff and TAY Case Managers have been doing. Our job is a labor of love and it takes a big heart to do so! Thank you for all that you do!
The team at the Stop the Hate Campaign against anti-LGBTQIA+ Hate Crimes and Bullying in San Bernardino has been off to a strong start in its first month! In the midst of launching our campaign, we have already been involved in responding to hate crimes in the community, both on an organizational level and on a personal level.
We’ve identified a few youth who’ve been victims of hate crimes in the past and are looking for support and counseling to process their trauma. Thankfully, our project can do just that! We are finding that many youth and young adults are not reporting hate crimes or bias incidents, so it looks like our project has its work cut out for us!
Oscar Lobos, our team coordinator, was written up in CSUSB’s monthly newsletter and was able to give a few shoutouts to Family Assistance Program:
Read the full article here:
Alumnus Oscar Lobos: Unwavering advocate for San Bernardino’s LGBTQIA+ homeless youth | CSUSB News | CSUSB
Oscar has taken the initiative in implementing the Direct Services aspect of our project and public presentations!
Earlier this month Caitlyn Krautzman, one of our team, was named one of the Inland Empire’s 30 Under 30! What a great accomplishment! Caitlyn has been helping us develop our marketing materials for this program.
Rudy Ponce from FamSpot has been actively reaching out to schools GSA (Genders and Sexualities Alliances) and those who want to develop a GSA, to provide training on bully-prevention strategies, safety planning, and offering wellness services.
Jamie Musser, one of our team is building a writing/journaling workshop that will integrate therapeutic crafts and meditation!
Jim “Bo” Bolas, Chief Program Officer attended the Stop the Hate Convening in LA at California Endowment and was able to address questions around the implementation of recently passed AB-449 (Hate Crimes Law Enforcement Policies) and the necessary integration of SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression).
The amazing Angela Sorrell-Herrera has been doing some heavy lifting and helping us create a page on our website for the Stop the Hate campaign. This provides a landing place for our outreach materials and allows us to post educational documents and resource information. Check out the work in progress: STOP THE HATE
We’re currently working with Gary Martin in our IT department to help us establish a hotline system to track client response to incidents of hate crimes and incidences of bias and bullying.
We know that incidents of hate and bias are prevalent in San Bernardino and often go unreported. Our challenge is to remedy this by providing support, prevention, and systems change and strengthening or developing efforts for rapid identification, reporting, and response.
Domestic or Relationship Abuse
Theft
Bullying
Physical or Sexual Attacks
Illegal Evictions
Hate Crimes
Mistreatment by the Authorities
Family Assistance Program is here to support and advocate for you. If you’ve been victimized or just need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to call us at 909-571-5659. Together, we can explore your situation, your rights, and find a path forward. Watch the videos on our website to learn more about how we can help you.
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
If you want to help the most at-risk members of your community, you can donate to Family Assistance Program:
Donate– Opens in a new window.
If you are interested in donating items or anything other than a monetary donation you can email angela@familyassist.org
Donate baked goods for our Dessert Auctions on 11/21 and 12/6 and help bring Christmas to children in need.
Contact misty@familyassist.org or call (949)592-2075.
The updated COVID-19 vaccine is now available. Everyone 6 months and older is eligible and should receive the vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 illness this fall and winter. The COVID-19 vaccine remains the best protection against COVID-19 related hospitalization and death. The vaccines are safe and hundreds of millions of people have safely received the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Ask your doctor or refer to MyTurn.ca.gov for more information.
If you are homeless and feel that your civil rights were violated by police or community official please click this link to fill out a form from the ACLU.
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
