2023 May Newsletter

Uncategorized

may 2023 newsletter
orange butterfly

Direct from Darryl

RuPaul will be hosting a fundraiser for our LGBTQ shelter in the coming months. Under normal circumstances, this would be just a fun event to raise a few dollars. In the current politically charged climate where people are searching for a reason to be offended, this is perceived as controversial. They contacted us to ask if they could host this event and if it was ok to tell people it was for us. I was saddened that this is even a question.

We proudly support our LGBTQ community. For those who do not know, this is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning. Sometimes it includes additional letters because not everyone fits into one of those categories. Everyone has the right to love who they love. Everyone has the right to dress however they want to dress. I own several kilts and enjoy wearing them to special occasions. In some states, that is now illegal. Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of my favorite movies, but it is now banned in some states.

Bad things happen when good people allow it. We stand against hate. We stand against bigotry and prejudice. We proudly support those who are discriminated against. I hope you will join us in our fight against injustice and discrimination.

Darryl Evey
Executive Director

Hope House

Soroptimist International of Victor Valley has begun their yearly project at Hope House. They have included the participants at Hope House and let them choose colors to paint their rooms. Soroptimist International of Victor Valley has also purchased bedding for the house. The bedding is colorful and makes Hope House a happy place for our participants to begin to be successful. Jo, one of the Soroptimists who also has painted characters at Molly Brown’s Cafe, is brightening up the Play Room at Hope House. Please reach out if you are interested in knowing more on Soroptimist International of Victor Valley and what they do please contact Tracey@familyassist.org for more information.

Thank you to Soroptimist for your help painting Hope House! We thank you so much for your support!

Our Financial Empowerment Advocate has been working with one of our participants that is in transitional housing. The participant has been earning money and working cleaning homes and different business. They started working on budgeting and saving and she was able to save $1000. She needed a stable vehicle to get around to the different locations she was cleaning. We referred her to a place where she would be able to get a nice vehicle to get her where she needed to go. She used the $1000 that she was able to save for her down payment on the car. Now she is working toward building up her savings fund again for her new home. We look forward to her continued success.

Our Domestic Violence 40-Hour Training kicked off on April 11th and we have 37 attendees. This year we have attendees from New York, Australia and Sri Lanka! If you weren’t able to attend this training don’t worry! We have a Spanish Domestic Violence 40-Hour Training coming in June this year, and another English one in October. Stay tuned for more details!

woman holding a paint bucket
three women painting a wall
three women painting a wall

Community Center

happy mother's day

We here at C Street want to wish all of the Mother’s out there a very big Happy Mother’s Day this month. Mother’s are a rare breed. We can hug away monsters, heal with a hug, make a meal out of scraps and a miracle out of nothing. Here’s to all the Mom’s out there…WE APPRECIATE YOU THIS MONTH AND EVERY MONTH!


A HUGE thank you to Amazon OTB2 for their donation of 2,000 pairs of men’s, women’s and children’s shoes! This is just amazing! This donation assisted all of our programs here at Family Assistance Program AND we were able to share some with our community partners: Rescue Mission, High Desert Homeless Shelter, Rock’n Our Disabilities, and Orenda. It was so great how Staff came together and handled this massive donation…what a great day!!

group of people
several pallets of boxes of shoes
free notary services

Don’t forget, the C Street Community Center 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.

The Community Center held a Tacos and Taxes event on April 18, 2023 hosted by Assembly member Juan Carrillo! We were able to assist 15 people with tax preparation and many more with resources and taco plates from Aguilar’s Tacos. We had resources available from TODEC, Molina Healthcare, Family Assistance Program’s Open Door, Partners Against Violence, Inland County Legal Services and more. It was a great day in Old Town Victorville.

tax preparation booth
tax preparation booth
tax preparation booth

Open Arms

family assistance program booth

The month of April Open Arms was able to attend 3 different resource fairs with Borrego Health, Operation New Hope, and Cal State San Bernardino Women’s Center. For the month of May we are looking forward to attending a resource fair with Young Visionaries and attending the monthly Faith Based Network Luncheon.

For Cinco de Mayo we hosted a fiesta, where clients were able to enjoy tacos, play games, and paint. Our updated group calendar can be found on our Facebook page, Family Assistance Program Open Arms. Stay connected with us on Facebook to keep up with all the great things happening here at Open Arms.

woman playing jenga at booth
people approaching booth

Open Door

two people at booth

One of Open Door’s clients successfully received her diploma. She was so excited that she completed such an amazing accomplishment. We have another client that is in her 2nd term for her LVN license. She’s excited that at the end of her accomplishment, she’ll not only be making good money but helping people.

Open Door would like to congratulate Angel Magallanes from C.A.S.E who was awarded by the Love Program, Women of Color for her achievements in San Bernardino County. Congratulations Angel. Bernadette and Ebony tabled the event and let everyone know what Open Door/ Family Assistance Program does for San Bernardino County.

Open Door will also be at Magdalena’s Daughter Youth Human Trafficking walk this month. We table there events to bring awareness on Human Trafficking. Open Door will also be part of Option House’s 40 hour state certification domestic violence training.

Open Door will be hosting another 40 hour State Certification Human Trafficking Training, it starts May 23rd and ends June 13th.

Register Here – opens in a new window

If you have any questions please contact bernadette@familyassist.org

human trafficking training flyer

FAM Spot

fam spot logo

With warmer weather coming, our Drop-In Center has been the go-to place for our youth! We have been facilitating many different groups, such as substance abuse classes, anger management classes, finance, LGBTQ+ support, and more are being added to our calendar. The advocates are also engaging the youth in hiking and helping in our community garden, Youth have enjoyed our weekly Mojave Narrow trips to see a new scenery and just enjoy that time away.

Huge thanks to Rudy for rocking it with the LGBTQ+ community at our local schools! TAY clients have been on a roll with achieving their goals one step at a time. In the past 2 weeks 5 clients have been able to obtain a job and one enrolled into school to become a CNA! We couldn’t be prouder of them all! We would also like to introduce Millie, our Victims of Crime Advocate, to our team. She has been able to help our youth by helping them understand their rights and providing resources as well as advocating for them to make sure they are heard. Our youth have been extremely grateful to have this new service provided for them. Keep going strong FAM Spot!

Welcome Home

san bernardino pride 2023 flyer

Welcome Home is excited for our upcoming Pride event on June 23rd! We are partnering up with Operation New Hope at their location from 11-3pm. There will be free medical, educational and housing resources given by queer friendly organizations.

TruEvolution will be offering free STI testing for those in need. This will be an excellent space to make connections to those in the LGBTQIA+ community. We are still looking for vendors and allies to come partner with us. For more info about the event email
welcomehome@familyassist.org or call our shelter at (909) 567-2123.

We hope to see you in June! Refer to the flyers and links provided below to learn more or sign up.

Pride Event Link – opens in a new window

san bernardino 2023 flyer

My Place

my place logo

This month at My Place our clients have been making great progress. We got a generous donation of shoes from our community center and every client got several pairs. Multiple clients have had job interviews and have made resumes for potential jobs. We have held life skill and educational groups to help our youth excel. There have been several outings including a trip to the Long Beach Grand Prix, a trip to watch a live wrestling event, lake trips and movie trips. We had a barbecue for Cinco De Mayo for our clients and celebrated all the accomplishments they have made. We look forward to the month of May.

Tiny Home Village

sponsorship chart for tiny home village

Save the date for our Fiesta on September 15th hosted by our amazing venue sponsor, Courtyard by Marriott in Hesperia. We will have food, drinks, music, raffles, and more from 5-11pm. If you would be interested in being a centerpiece sponsor or buy a table email vida@familyassist.org

Who will be the next to step up and sponsor a tiny home? You can be a part of the solution to end homelessness by donations to the tiny home village or by attending one of the fundraising events.
fiesta in the HD flyer

Hiring

yes we're hiring sign

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:

Open Positions

If you are interested in applying for any of our open positions, email your resume to hr@familyassist.org

Give

give jar

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

Thank Your to Our Community Partners

community partner logos

Join Our Team

orange butterfly

Join Our Team

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.

2023 April Newsletter

Uncategorized

april 2023 newsletter
orange butterfly

Direct from Darryl

Our newsletter this month is longer than normal because we have so much going on in an effort to strengthen our community. We have community events, fundraising events, and updates on the services we provide for our clients. As we enter spring, we are focused on all of the great projects we have coming up this summer. Hiking, camping, rock climbing, and rafting are all on the agenda for this summer. We will also be launching a program to address the health care needs of victims of crime. If everything goes smoothly with licensing, in May we will be having a grand opening for another youth shelter in San Bernardino.
 
May is also a time for legislative advocacy work in Sacramento. We will be taking a group of formerly homeless youth to learn about advocacy and meet with our legislators. Assembly member James Ramos will be taking them onto the Assembly floor to see where it all happens. Later in the month, some of our staff will be meeting with legislators to discuss issues related to domestic violence and some of the bills that will impact them. We are proud to connect our elected officials with people who are willing to share their life experiences.

Darryl Evey
Executive Director

Hope House

Thank you to everyone that has attended our Taco Tuesday fundraisers! We are inviting you to join us again on Tuesday, May 2nd at Miguel’s Baja Grill at 14480 7th St., Victorville, CA 92395. Come have some delicious food and drinks, buy raffle tickets and support a great cause. Your support helps further our mission in our domestic violence shelters and programs.

Thank you to everyone for your generous donations. We are always accepting donations and raffle prizes. For more information contact Sylvia 760-442-0649 sylvia@familyassist.org

Here is a letter from a participant that we helped with rental assistance and an emergency housing voucher.

screenshot of letter

Join us for Taco Tuesday, May 2nd from 5-8pm!

taco tuesday flyer

Rock’n our Disabilities Eggxtra Special Egg Trunk

Hope House attended Rock’n our Disabilities Eggxtra Special Egg Trunk. It was so much fun for Hope House staff to decorate the van and pass out candy and give resources out to the community. There was a lady who asked for extra fliers so she can put on her board of resources. She is from a local church and they do couples counseling. We also attended High Desert Second Chance’s Easter event.

The Financial Empowerment Classes have been a success, so much so we were invited to teach Financial Literacy at Hook Jr. High School at their Family Engagement Center on Tuesdays from 9am-10am for the parents of the middle schoolers.

Here is what one of the participants had to say:
“The first class was amazing 👏. I really connected with the instructor. She is so energetic and friendly. Hopefully through the rest of the sessions the class will increases and everyone will enjoy themselves.”

Thank you for helping us bring these classes for our families. We were also able to raise a participant’s credit score by 10 points just by her paying off one of credit cards.

trunk of car with easter gifts
Disabilities Eggxtra Special Egg Trunk

Easter Basket Drive

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Easter Basket drive! We were able to give an Easter basket to every participant in our programs. We had an amazing response from our community with so many donations. We worked together to make all the baskets and get them passed out to all of the participants. Thanks to all of these efforts, our participants felt loved and taken care of for the holiday. Your donation has demonstrated that we can all make a difference if we work together. We thank you again for your support! The joy that we have been able to bring to families in need is immeasurable and would not have been possible without your support. Your donation has truly made a difference, and we cannot thank you enough for your unwavering commitment to making our communities a better place. 3M Company Above all Pest Control Amazon KRB4 Smarties Assistance League Victor Valley His Closet His Pantry High Desert Equality Kern Construction Aztec Riders Girl Scouts of America Troop 415 Victor Valley Womens Club Margaret Smith Liby Tavor Professor Kiery Borruel #VVC Banks Auto Group – Edgar
table of easter baskets
staff filling easter basket

Community Center

autism acronym

Spring has sprung and April is underway! The C Street Staff has been busy Spring cleaning and helping clients get resources for Easter baskets and other items for their families. Our Domestic Violence Advocacy 40-Hour Training kicked off on April 11, 2023 and we had over 83 people registered, that’s 83 NEW Domestic Violence Advocates in our community…we are so excited about this response! Don’t worry, if you didn’t sign up for this training we will have another one in October.

April is Autism Awareness Month and us here at C Street want to show our love and support this month. Some of us have children, family members and friends on the autism spectrum and this describes them perfectly: Always Unique Totally Interesting Sometimes Mysterious #AutismAwareness

Don’t forget, the C Street Community Center 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.

DID YOU DO YOUR TAXES YET??? YOU STILL MAY HAVE TIME!!! Did you know that Family Assistance Program can help you file your basic 1040 and CA State tax returns….for FREE? Well if you didn’t know, now you do! Call or email Jobi for your appointment today (760) 843-0701 or jobi@familyassist.org

pile of dollar bills with scrabble pieces spelling t-a-x on top
free notary services

Open Arms

The Spring Break Resource Fair was a GREAT success here at Open Arms. It was amazing to see the community come out, shop for clothing and grab a quick lunch all while receiving great information from vendors. We were very fortunate to have had 23 vendors despite the gloomy weather. A huge thank you to all of the vendors who were able to make it and were such awesome sports about the rain. We would also like to shoutout our clients who were a huge help to all staff during this event. We look forward to hosting a summer resource fair and inviting everyone back to Open Arms. For the month of April Open Arms will be participating in resource fairs hosted by Dignity Health, as well as Operation New Hope. We look forward to being able to reach the community in a different capacity.

During the month of March, we were able to house clients with the help of our community partners. We rely tremendously on these partnerships to help our clients reach their housing goals. Thank you to Operation Safe House, Operation New Hope, and Path of Life Ministries for their consistent support with helping serve our clients.

Open Arms is happy to announce we now have a Victims of Crime Advocate who will be able to assist clients with understanding their rights, counseling services, restraining order assistance, and support during court hearings.

We are very pleased to welcome new staff here at Open Arms: Maria, Victims of Crime Advocate, Nichole, Systems Navigator, and Justis, Street Outreach. Welcome to Open Arms and Family Assistance Program.

Please take a look at our group calendar for the month of April!

fair booths
clothing racks

Open Door

two people standing at the trunk of a car
At the Open Door we are doing so many exciting things. We have so many events coming up like San Bernardino Valley college, we will be sitting on a panel. We will also be doing a tabling event at CSUSB. We were invited to the Victim’s Right in Rancho Cucamonga and in the High Desert We are also doing trainings at Dignity Health this month along with Missing and Murdered Natives on the signs and indications of Human Trafficking. Open doors weekends are busy also we will be doing the Heart Matters and the Women’s Brunch Award Ceremony. This month we would already like to thank Barstow college for inviting us to their Mental Health fair it was an awesome opportunity. And let’s not forget the generous donation Ontario Fire Department 7 gave us with Easter toys, for our clients. We hope you had a happy Easter 🐣 from everyone at the Open Door.
staff members at FAP table

Next Step

next step logo
It is always an occasion to celebrate whenever we are able to assist our program participants secure permanent housing, so we are extremely proud to announce the success of our rental assistance program in doing exactly that. Over the past few months the Dream Team marriage of the Next Step Rental Assistance, Housing & Warm Hand-Off team (made up of Adriana Zavala, Ana Arteaga, Claudia Zavalza, Tonya Ward and Vanessa Haro) and Open Door’s Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team (made up of Patricia “Pat” Tyler and Anny Delance), have worked in close step to make it possible for four rental assistance program participants overcome the housing insecurity they faced. The four participants include two participants that were having difficulty finding permanent housing for themselves and two participants graduating from Next Steps’ own reentry housing program.

Of the two participants not in Next Step housing, John had recently paroled in January and had success being approved for SSDI but was experiencing great difficulty in finding suitable housing that would lease to him due to recently being paroled. The second participant not in Next Step housing, Clifford, was living in temporary community housing and had success being approved for SSDI also, but again, he had great difficulty finding suitable housing that would lease to him due to his justice involved history. Adriana and Vanessa referred both to the Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team to determine what their SSDI income and current budgets would support. After years of having to share their housing space with several others, both naturally preferred to live privately. Luckily, Anny determined both these individuals’ income and budgets would be able to sustain living on their own in an apartment and so they moved onto Pat’s housing navigation services. Pat has worked diligently to create relationships with local apartments and other housing providers endorsing the benefits of Next Step’s rental assistance program and was able to successfully secure leases for both of these gentlemen. Each has already moved into their new private apartments, making possible their goal of being self-sufficient and living on their own.

Even more exciting, has been the graduation of two of our Next Step housing participants, Pamela and Celia, who have worked hard while in our program, doing all they needed to do to prepare themselves for exiting into their own apartments. Pamela came to be in our housing last summer, immediately after her release on parole. While in the program, she developed her goals and worked hard to achieve them; attending several self-help classes, taking advantage of resources offered to her and securing gainful employment. She saved the money she earned each month towards her exit and also successfully applied for SSI. Pamela’s case manager, Ana, referred her to the Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team for their assistance. Anny and Pat determined she would indeed be able to support herself with her SSI and employment income. With Pat’s help, Pamela was able to move into to her new apartment as of this month.

The second of the Next Step housing graduates to secure a lease for an apartment, Celia, came to us late last year and has since made great efforts to reunify with her 2-year-old baby girl, secure gainful employment and find a suitable home for her and her child. Celia’s case manager Claudia also referred her to Anny and Pat’s services. With their assistance, she found an apartment to lease. But, although Celia successfully completed her supervised probation while in Next Step housing, she was told by the probation department that her housing with Next Step would no longer be funded by them since she was no longer on probation. To provide Celia additional time to complete all the requirements to be approved for her apartment, Next Step approved to extend her more time in housing despite not being funded. We are happy to report Celia will be moving in at the beginning of April.

FAM Spot

fam spot logo

Hi from Fam Spot. We are excited to let everyone know that we have been busy helping the community garden at the senior center here in Victorville build raised garden beds and clean up their center.

Every Monday we take several youth from Fam Spot and our TAY houses over to the senior center and the youth love it. They are learning composting, planting, soil, and how to take care of them. We were also able to get a pass for Mojave Narrows, so we now take our youth every Sunday. The youth love going. They play frisbee, walk the lake and learn more outdoor projects. With the summer coming up, we are looking forward to doing more water activities to keep our youth cool. Don’t forget to look for our monthly calendar to keep up with our daily activities.

Our House

our house logo
Clients have been enjoying spring at Our House! They have been watercolor painting, going on regular walks to neighborhood parks and establishments, enjoying frequent ice cream outings, jumping joyfully at trampoline parks, and searching for wildflowers as near as a neighbor’s yard and as far as our most recent outing to Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet – whose wildflower trail did not disappoint! While appreciating all that the rain brought us, from wildflowers to snow in the surrounding mountain ranges, Our House continues to help youth navigate their transition into long term placement, school, and independent living programs as they come of age.
wildflower field
wildflower field
wildflowers on mountain

Welcome Home

Welcome Home has been spreading the word about our amazing LGBTQIA+ based program by getting our name integrated into several counties, connecting with LGBT committees and attending resource fairs. Our case manager presented for the Rainbow Youth Collaborative to spread awareness about the many useful resources in the Family Assistance Program. He also spoke at Cal State San Bernardino and reached about 160 students! Welcome Home attended a resource fair at Open Arms. We had the pleasure of tabling alongside Open Door, FAP’s human trafficking program. Together we met some wonderful people, ate good food and passed out flyers for our upcoming events! Panera hosted a fundraiser on April 14th at the San Bernardino location. Twenty percent of any purchases made between 4pm-8pm went to Welcome Home to help support the clients and their needs. We are also looking forward to our Pride event on June 23rd. It will be held at Open Arms from 11am to 3pm! With 3 successful exits this week, we are looking for more participants to add onto our waitlist. If you or someone you know is 18-24 years old and identify as LGBTQIA+ please contact us! welcomehome@familyassist.org
raise some dough flyer
lgbt tay pride flyer

No Drugs America

no drugs america flyer

This program is free and sponsored by Family Assistance Program. Youth ages 12-18 can attend classes on Wednesdays 3:30-4:30pm in person at the FAM Spot on 6th. & C Street

19 and older attend Zoom Classes Tuesdays 4-5pm and Thursdays 5-6pm Call 760-843-0701 to register.

Probation, Parole, Child Family Services Clients, Community Service Clients and Students are Welcome.

“Real Evidence * Real People * Real Results”

Thank You

southwest gas logo

We are extremely honored that Southwest Gas Foundation has given $30,000 to Family Assistance Program to help fund the Tiny Home Village for homeless youth in Old Town Victorville. This donation will fund 3 of the tiny homes to go along with the tiny home that was funded by the Southwest Gas employees through the Fuel 4 Life employee giving program. That is 4 of our tiny homes fully funded by the amazing people at Southwest Gas. We appreciate the continued and ongoing support from Southwest Gas, their foundation, and their employees! We are overwhelmed by the generosity from Southwest Gas!

tiny home village plan
fiesta flyer

Hiring

yes we're hiring

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:

Open Positions

If you are interested in applying for any of our open positions, email your resume to hr@familyassist.org

Give

give jar

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

Thank Your to Our Community Partners

community partner logos

Join Our Team

orange butterfly

Join Our Team

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.

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