SAY's Michelle Revecho

At a recent training, I learned that the leading cause of death in the population of youth whom we serve is automobile accidents where drugs and alcohol are involved, followed by homicides, and then suicides. What do all of those youth have in common? They don’t have jobs.

At SAY, it’s my job to help young people ages 14-21 find jobs, and get on the right path. Together, we work through any barriers they may have in getting or maintaining a job. Barriers can be anything from being a teen parent, or having learning difficulties, to coming from a low income background or dropping out of school. The fact that the main commonality among all of the teens who don’t make it to adulthood is a lack of employment tells me that my work is important because it’s about helping people, saving lives, and giving young adults opportunities to stay invested in their lives and in their communities.

For teens who need help finding a job, I help by giving presentations about resume preparation and career exploration, and also coordinate GED preparation, and get teens who have dropped out hooked up with the adult school. Sometimes, I’ve even taken teens to classes to make sure that they’re getting there.

Recently, I worked with Michael, an inspirational 19 year old who had worked with us in the Summer Jobs program and had dropped out of school. Michael wanted to get his GED and we helped him prepare for taking the test, and even provided transportation to the SRJC on the days of the test. He was nervous about being on a college campus, he felt like he “wasn’t supposed to be there”. But we told him that people are at the JC for all sorts of reasons, some are taking their GED, some are learning a language, some are trying to transfer to a four year school. Michael had been preparing to take the GED for about 8 months, and we helped him prepare by first evaluating his readiness, and then targeting the specific areas where he needed help. We also helped him sign up for outside GED prep classes.

The GED is a two day test, with 3 sections the first day, and 2 sections the second. Michael was nervous going in, but before the test on the second day he said that felt a lot more comfortable. After he had finished taking the test, he said that he was so grateful for the help. He worked hard to prepare and he said that he can’t wait to say that he has his GED on his resume. He even told the other people who were there to take the test about our services, and referred another young man to us that day.

If you know of any teens in the Sonoma Valley who need help, please be like Michael and send them my way. I can be reached at (707) 996-7991 or mrevecho@saysc.org.

Members of the Tamayo Family Stand in Front of the New Sign

It takes a village! Well, the youth at Tamayo House think so and have recently voted to change the name of their program to Tamayo Village. “We felt that the word ‘House’ made it feel like an institution,” said one resident.

After consulting with our program partner Burbank Housing, and all of the young people who live at Tamayo Village, a vote was taken, and the new name approved. On Thursday January 26, SAY hosted a re-naming ceremony with our program partners to honor the Tamayo Village’s rich history  of providing support and opportunities to youth exiting the foster care system. Volunteers from Agilent Technologies cooked a delicious meal shared by residents of Tamayo Village, along with SAY staff, board members, and program partners.

Guests included the Executive Directors of Community Action Partnership and Burbank Housing, Oscar Chavez and John Lowry, respectively.  Both organizations have played an important role in Tamayo Village’s history.  CAP first owned the building when it was operated as a convalescent home. Burbank Housing took it over from CAP, allowing SAY to partner with Burbank Housing to start Tamayo Village over six years ago. Several Board Members were in attendance: Allyson Ahlstrom, Todd Beal, Dave Brown, and Nancy Fastenau.  The Tamayo family was represented by Daniel, Tony, and Tomas Tamayo, who spoke about their grandparents’ love of family and dedication to the community.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate new beginnings and rededicate the Tamayo Village, check out some photos below:

Nicole Garces, a counselor at the Dr. Coffee House was relieved to know that the teens were safe, “it was so cold just walking from the shelter to my car, it made me so grateful to know that the teens who came to us were safe and warm.”

In addition keeping teens safe, we’re serving hot, homemade meals at the Dr. Coffee Teen Shelter. In the past 6 months we served over 750 meals to drop in street youth. Our food program, coordinated by AmeriCorps member Julie Long is gearing up to serve healthy, delicious meals to even more youth in the coming months. We’ll be working with volunteers to cook meals for teens at the shelter, if you’re interested in getting involved, please get in touch! Julie’s phone number is (707) 544-3299 x215 or email jlong@saysc.org.

There are 701 homeless youth estimated to be on the streets in Sonoma County each night

On December 9, 2011, over 200 people joined SAY for a night in the cold at our second annual Beat the Cold BBQ to end youth homelessness. We invited folks to bring us a pair of socks for a homeless youth, and were overwhelmed by our community’s generous outpouring of support.

Over 3,000 pairs of socks were donated, along with hundreds of scarves, gloves, jackets, and sweatshirts. Our street outreach team have been so happy to be able to give homeless teens the supplies they need to keep safe and warm on the streets this winter. Attendees of the event also pledged over $60,000 over the next 5 years!

The event was held at SAY’s Dr. James E Coffee Teen Shelter and was sponsored by La Tortilla Factory, with food provided by Dierk’s Parkside Cafe, Rendez Vous Bistro, Lilajay’s Baked Goods, and Whole Foods Market. County Supervisor Mike McGuire spoke at the event, along side SAY’s Executive Director Matt Martin, and our entire community came together to support our homeless and hungry teens. We so are grateful for everyone’s support.

Photographer Peter Lundblad joined us to take photos at the event, check out the photos below:

700 that’s how many kids are sleeping on the streets of Sonoma County tonight.

Hi I’m Cat, of Social Advocates for Youth. Meet Asia, an at-risk youth helped by SAY’s services.

“I was introduced to SAY through my probation officer. I started off doing the Summer Jobs Program. We did creek maintenance. Basically, we all became family.”

“I needed to make money because my mom was going through breast cancer, and I needed money because I have four little sisters. I would definitely recommend SAY. They helped me out so much. I am no longer on probation, my life right now is probably at it’s best. I pay bills and I’m really proud of myself.”

Help SAY get homeless youth off the streets and into jobs or back into school. Invest in our community’s future. Your donation is fully tax deductible, and it makes a difference.

Click here to donate or call 544-3299 x231:

Cat Cvengros, Henry Trione, and Matt Martin

Each year, we invite our supporters to join us at an event we call the BIG Thank You. On November 7th, 2011, we hosted our 3rd Annual BIG Thank You event, and celebrated SAY’s 40th Birthday in style at the Fountaingrove Inn. We thanked our donors, volunteer, staff, and community partners for their support over this past year, and asked them to help spread the You Are Important To Me message.

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane honored SAY with a Gold Proclamation celebrating our 40th Anniversary:

The Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma recognizes the critical and important work of Social Advocates for Youth, and congratulates the organization on forty years of work protecting the interests of Sonoma County youth and families, and for helping many to find a positive path forward in life.

We celebrated our rich history by honoring Henry Trione, one of SAY’s founding board members and celebrated community champion. Mr. Trione spoke about the importance of philanthropy, and encouraged others to give generously throughout their lives. In a moment of great levity, he said that “there are no luggage racks on a hearse.”

We also recognized our 2011 award recipients: Louis Hopfer, Volunteer of the Year, Jocelyn Arild, Staff Member of the Year, Nancy Fastenau, Board member of the Year, and Asia Galang and Dominic Rocha Youth All Stars of the Year.

Check out some photos from the event below:

New Skin from Social Advocates for Youth on Vimeo.

Take a moment to remember your first job interview. You might have known to dress up, or come prepared with a smile and a handshake, but what if you hadn’t been told how to make a good first impression?

That’s where SAY’s Youth Employment Center comes in: we help youth find jobs, write resumes, and practice their interviewing skills. Harvard Business Review says that 93% of a first impression is based on appearances. What kind of chance do you think an ex-gang member will have if he shows up for an interview with visible gang tattoos?

Here at SAY, we know that our programs help youth turn their lives around, and that that the help we offer will have lasting impacts. Our Clean Slate Tattoo Removal Program demonstrates this by giving young people who want to make a change the opportunity to succeed.

Erik Castro, an extraordinary photo journalist contacted us about wanting to capture the power of this change on film, this summer he worked with two inspirational young men who wanted a clean slate and turned to SAY to do it. Please take a few moments to watch the video above, and let us know what you think.

Erik’s video also inspired a great article about our Clean Slate program which was published in Sunday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. You can read the article online here.

If you’d like to learn more about our programs, please sign up for a tour of our programs.

We say that to the youth we work with every day, and we’ve asked members of the greater SAY community to help us in spreading the message to more young people.

In the next months we’ll be posting videos featuring the You’re Important To Me message to our blog, youtube and facebook pages. We encourage you to help us spread the message by sharing your favorite videos or by making one yourself! Help us tell the youth of Sonoma County that they matter, and that our community will not let them fall through the cracks.

Watch the videos from Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane and Clover Stornetta’s Marcus Benedetti:

Over 701 homeless kids will sleep on the streets of Sonoma County tonight.

SAY helps.

Join SAY at our 2nd Annual Beat the Cold BBQ to end youth homelessness, and share a hot meal and a warm beverage with SAY and the Coffee House staff.

The price of admission is a new pair of socks for a homeless youth. Please dress warmly! This BBQ will be an outdoor event, come rain or (moon)shine.

Date: Friday, December 9, 2011
Time: 7-9pm
Location: the Coffee House Teen Shelter: 1243 Ripley St. Santa Rosa, CA
Price of admission: 1 new pair of socks for a homeless youth

RSVP: Click on the link below to RSVP. Have questions? Call Caitlin at 544-3299 x231

RSVP

Please pass this invite on to friends!

Several months ago, the folks at Sonoma Canopy Tours contacted SAY to offer free zip-line tours to the youth we work with. Last week, several SAY staff and volunteers took nearly a dozen of the young adults who live at our Tamayo House on an outdoor experience unlike any other in the county.

The zip-line tour was thrilling and educational, with experienced guides leading the tour and pointing out the beautiful views of the west county along the way. The tour provided our young people with an outdoor experience they will remember for a lifetime.

Check out the photos below: