Episode 29: AT THE CROSSROADS

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Staff Counselors sorting, packing supplies in preparation for outreach, covid supplies and outreach backpack

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“If you want to end homelessness, you give people homes”

In this episode, our featured voices are Charles Lerner the Executive Director and Demaree Miller the Program Manager of At the Crossroads. During the Covid-19 pandemic At the Crossroads staff continues to meet youth where they are - living on the streets of San Francisco. At the Crossroads humanistic one on one approach is all about building long-term relationships with youth to help them move off the street and secure the long term wrap around services they want to.

Charles Lerner

Charles Lerner has served as the Executive Director of At The Crossroads since May 2019. In Charles' first year at ATC, the organization increased its revenue by 69% and began working on three key strategic initiatives including a strategic plan, a program evaluation project with Stanford University, and a social marketing campaign. Prior to joining ATC, Charles was the founding Executive Director of Boston CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Charles' previous work has also included leading the first LGBTQ foster-to-permanency program in California as well as teaching at multiple universities including California State University, East Bay and Harvard University. He holds a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.

Demaree Miller

Demaree Miller is the Program Manager at ATC. He has worked with ATC for 5 years, including three years as an Outreach Counselor. He became Program Manager in 2018. He spent the previous four years working with underserved youth and low-income families most recently at Facessf. He joined ATC because of the opportunity to work with and directly serve youth who normally don’t have access to much-needed resources. Demaree’s main job functions are supervising and training Outreach Counselors, managing the day-to-day functioning of our programs, and counseling our hardest to reach clients.

AT THE CROSSROADS

In 1997 At The Crossroads (ATC) was founded Rob Gitin and Taj Mustapha after they received an Echoing Green Fellowship to start a program for under-served homeless youth. They spent months walking different neighborhoods of San Francisco, meeting with other organizations, and talking to young people experiencing homelessness. They discovered there were many youth not accessing traditional services for the homeless, so they designed ATC’s nighttime outreach program to serve these disconnected young people and bring support directly to them, without lots of paperwork and long wait times. Meeting youth where they are at remains the foundation of At The Crossroads’ work 23 years later. In May 2018 Charles Lerner joined our team as our new Executive Director. Under Charles’ leadership, ATC has completed a strategic plan looking three years out and shaping the direction of ATC. It is our ultimate goal to build a more equitable Bay Area where everyone has access to caring support, and chronic homelessness is eliminated.

ATC’s mission is to reach out to homeless youth and young adults at their point of need and work with them to build healthy and fulfilling lives. By bringing our services directly onto the streets, we cultivate long-term, unconditional relationships with young people who would otherwise be disconnected from consistent support. We empower our clients to accomplish their individual goals, build community, pursue their passions, and find their own paths to happiness and stability. We believe that there are no limits to what our clients can achieve and that every homeless youth deserves the chance to build an outstanding life.

Based on 23 years of experience, we know that building long-term caring relationships with the most disconnected young people on the streets results in the following outputs:

● Increased trust and comfort in ATC’s counselors over time.

● Increased access to food and essential supplies that help clients think beyond their day-to-day survival.

● Increased achievement of individual goals related to housing, mental and physical health needs, school, and employment.

To find out more about ATC’s wonderful work - Please read ATC’s 2019-2020 Impact Report

Donation / Volunteer

AT THE CROSSROADS is working to raise funds to make sure every young person on the streets of San Francisco has the opportunity to build an outstanding live.

The Please help AT THE CROSSROADS raise general funds to operate and continue to give food and hygiene products to young people living on the streets during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Get involved in helping young persons on the streets of San Francisco

Videos

To find out more about AT THE CROSSROADS and check out their videos:

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“We’re still going to have people that are isolated. We’re still going to have people that are sick. And I hope that we can take some of this momentum and more than anything it’s evidenced that we’re all very connected. That we’re all one entity, and I hope that we kind of keep those lessons and we realize we’re only as strong as our most vulnerable ”

— Demaree Miller, Program Manager, AT THE CROSSROADS

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