Episode 63: Uplift Family Services

Listen Now | Back to Episode | VOC Producers | Share | Donate | Resources

A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

VOC Covid 19 Podcast Uplift Fam Service EP 63 Mix 1

[00:00:00] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members, neighborhoods,

[00:00:26] George Koster: cities, and our region.

[00:00:28] George Koster: This is George Koster, your host.

[00:00:33] George Koster: This episode is part of our series Exploring COVID nineteens impact on nonprofits and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area back in April of 2020 when we decided to create this ongoing series on COVID nineteens impact, first on nonprofits and then on small businesses in the San Francisco Bay area.

[00:00:52] George Koster: We like you had no idea how long the pandemic would go on and what the health and economic impact would be in our community. Going into 2021, the pandemic is now killing more people, shutting down more nonprofits and small businesses, along with wiping out the livelihoods of families, neighborhoods, and communities.

[00:01:12] George Koster: We will continue to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community. Along with the founders and staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, services and sustainability, until we can all get to the other side of the pandemic.

[00:01:31] George Koster: Along the way, we will also share with you all the amazing solutions that our nonprofits, small businesses, foundations, and government leaders are working on to help us all get to the other side of the pandemic and come together to rebuild our communities with more economic, social, and environmental equality.

[00:01:49] Faith Jackson: Probably one of the largest impacts, again, is just the security of having somewhere to live, knowing that people were let off work. A lot of my young people were laid off work or let off for your average citizen if we're let off. You know, they say that maybe we have three months of savings saved up to be able to pay our bills and still live.

[00:02:13] Faith Jackson: And as we all know, if you don't have a roof over your head, it's just. It's hard, it's unbearable, you know, where am I gonna eat? How am I gonna sleep? How am I gonna stay safe? Where am my belongings gonna go?

[00:02:24] George Koster: The focus of this week's show is on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting our youth and the nonprofit organizations that provide support surfaces to help youth through this crisis.

[00:02:36] George Koster: Our first voice is the Transitional Housing program supervisor of uplift Family Services, faith Jackson. I'm joined remotely via Zoom by Faith Jackson, the Transitional Housing Program supervisor of uplift Family Services. Thanks for being here, faith.

[00:02:51] Faith Jackson: Thank you for having me.

[00:02:52] George Koster: So could you please provide the audience just a quick overview of who uplift family service programs are?

[00:02:59] George Koster: 'cause it's a regional organization with an amazing kind of ecosystem, if you will, of wraparound services for families.

[00:03:05] Faith Jackson: Yes, definitely. So the agency overall, it's one of the largest, most comprehensive behavioral treatment space. California, one of the bigger providers. Each year we serve and do whatever it takes to help about 35,000 children and families to manage and recover from challenges stemming from trauma, such as severe neglect and abuse, and learn essential life skills that they need to be successful at home or school and in their communities.

[00:03:32] Faith Jackson: And so our short mission statement is, you know, we do whatever it takes to strengthen and advocate for children, family, and adults. Communities to realize their hopes and behavioral health and wellbeing.

[00:03:43] George Koster: And then you are throughout the Bay Area, you're working in the kind of Concord East Bay, but then you also have offices, I think in the South Bay and West Bay as I recall.

[00:03:51] Faith Jackson: That's correct. As well as out to Sacramento. So here locally, we have some offices in Campbell. There's, uh, southern Concord where I'm outta if

[00:03:59] George Koster: you supervise the TE program. So if you could explain what te as we were saying before we came on, acronyms are us, what TE is, and then what the TE program is, and you know, who are the residents that you serve.

[00:04:12] Faith Jackson: Great. So, uh, stands for Transitional Age Youth, and my specific program that I supervise is the transitional housing program. Our young people are foster children and their ages range anywhere between 16 to 21 and before 2012. Young people. At the age of 18, were just put outta foster care and hadn't learned some of the most important life skills.

[00:04:40] Faith Jackson: And so in 2012, there was a bill called Assembly bill 12, and that extended foster care voluntarily for young people from 18 to 21 to give them extra time. Just to learn life skills and live on their own and just accomplish life goals. You know,

[00:04:58] George Koster: these are youth that really have kind of aged out of foster service, is that right?

[00:05:02] Faith Jackson: Well, what happens is now after Assembly Bell 12, young people can voluntarily stay, and so on their 18th birthday, they're offered to stay in care until the. The day before their 21st birthday. And if they agree, then they can use these additional services. And so this particular program I supervise, we actually deal mainly with young people, 18 to 21, showing them how to live in their own apartments and supervise them living there.

[00:05:30] George Koster: Fifth, can you describe a little bit more of the services that you provide? It's really more than just, hi, here's a place to live. You're providing a whole series of wraparound services.

[00:05:39] Faith Jackson: Definitely. So through the transitional housing program, aside from just the housing, it's day-to-day living again, because we're helping young people build that bridge to the next step, right?

[00:05:50] Faith Jackson: Being sure that it takes, how do you pay a bill? Where do you pay a bill? How do you clean a house? How do you get along with a roommate, right? If you're gonna live in the Bay Area and the price of rent. You're probably gonna have a roommate, so that's a life skill. How do I do that? At the same time, gaining employment and the education to have an employment that can afford you to live out on your own or with a roommate.

[00:06:14] Faith Jackson: Also building permanent connections. What does that look like when in fact your nuclear family could have been busted up for whatever reason? How do I now go out? Build my own family. What does that look like? My support, my identity sometimes for young people, helping them to identify who that is and also dealing whatever past traumas and any other things that have happened and how do I still navigate through life with those issues?

[00:06:41] Faith Jackson: And now how do I work this out on my own as an adult, but with support? Because the reality of it is, is I think about it all the time, who of us was ready at 18 or 21 for that matter, to live your whole life independently without any support or any help from any other adult figure? Very, very few of us.

[00:07:04] George Koster: Drew, if you were lucky, you had a friend or relative or someone that could be your mentor or guide along the way. Right. And you had some form of a support network.

[00:07:14] Faith Jackson: Exactly. Yeah. How do I buy a car? Do I go to Black Friday and buy a television for, you know, a hundred bucks on one day or do I pay 1999 for 18 months at rent center?

[00:07:27] Faith Jackson: Those little decisions, right? 1999. So real simple, but does it make sense after 19 months?

[00:07:33] George Koster: Right. You've already paid for the TV and a half, right? At that point.

[00:07:36] Faith Jackson: Exactly. You paid for a 65 until you got a 40. Right?

[00:07:40] George Koster: Right, exactly. So we're going into our 14th month now of the pandemic, and so much about the pandemic is literally, you know, the whole idea of having a place to sequester, right, to be safe, to, you know, hang out with friends, family, et cetera.

[00:07:55] George Koster: So how has COVID-19 impacted. The TE program and your services and the ability to provide services for your youth.

[00:08:03] Faith Jackson: So a couple things happened initially when it first started the world, it was on lockdown and then it became, again, we are essential workers. We can't afford to be locked in because we still have youth looking for services, youth looking for needs.

[00:08:18] Faith Jackson: A lot of our young people, they may or may not have a car. Um, transportation. How do I get food? How do I get medical care? And at the same time, how does my staff provide that and still stay healthy and safe for their own selves and their own families? And so those are some of the things that we had to work around.

[00:08:36] Faith Jackson: One of the things that happened is that young people had to age out at 21. Well, governor saw that. Hey, this is a pandemic. Where are these young people going to go? And so there was an extension sign, which was great for our young people because again, even for myself, if I was having a problem with an apartment or needed to get another apartment.

[00:08:57] Faith Jackson: I couldn't get a call back because everyone was home. It was a pandemic, and so our young people would face some of the same issues and so we were able to go out and and provide housing and still not only housing, but just human contact during this time, helping guide young people who tells the young person who's sheltered in place, how to get a meal, where to get a meal.

[00:09:19] Faith Jackson: How to get around, or just someone to say hello to. Um, human contact, so we were able to provide that during this time as well.

[00:09:28] George Koster: And so over the many years that you've been working there, faith, what do you feel has been the biggest impact of UPLIFT and your TA program's services? What's been the biggest impact on youth and families in the San Francisco Bay area?

[00:09:40] Faith Jackson: Probably one of the largest impacts, again, is just the security of having somewhere. Live knowing that people were let off work. A lot of my young people were laid off work or let off for your average citizen if we're let off. You know, they say that maybe we have three months of savings saved up to be able to pay our bills and still live.

[00:10:04] Faith Jackson: And as we all know, if you don't have a roof over your head, it's just. It's hard, it's unbearable, you know, where am I gonna eat? How am I gonna sleep? How am I gonna stay safe? Where am my belongings gonna go? So it's those sorts of things and just the mental health piece of that. Sometimes it was just speaking with a young person, just giving them the comfort of knowing someone is there, someone understands, and someone else is going through this, and we can all make it.

[00:10:31] George Koster: So as someone who's listening to our show today, how can they support Uplifts TE program and the youth and families that you serve? Is there an opportunity, obviously to make a donation or to volunteer or to mentor?

[00:10:43] Faith Jackson: There definitely is opportunities. Several ways. We have donations. I like for my young people to, we give them incentives sometimes, you know, we give them a certain amount of money to live off month, but of course it's not asom, it's just enough get by.

[00:10:58] Faith Jackson: They're either gonna be working or in school. So a lot of times people wanna know, well, what are they doing with, you know, that free housing? What are they doing well during that time? We're hoping that they're either gonna school if a young person does our program correctly. Well, you'll definitely have an AA if you decide to do it, and you can almost be done with a ba.

[00:11:15] Faith Jackson: I've had a couple young people. Who doubled up on classes and they left with the va, and so therefore they were prepared to live out on their own. But it's helpful for them is the little things. And so we like to give them incentives around small gift cards for certain stores. People don't think about what does it cost to buy toilet paper and cleaning products and things like that.

[00:11:36] Faith Jackson: You don't have a lot of money, even sometimes just to buy the special things. Sometimes you just want a little gift from a Ross or a Marshalls. And so gift cards and small increments, and for us a small increment is anywhere between 25, you know, five. That is always helpful, um, for us when we provide the young people an apartment.

[00:11:55] Faith Jackson: So just to give a little more background. We provide an apartment, we pay all of the rent, and we fully furnish the apartment and we furnish it everything from the toilet paper to the bedding, to every piece of furniture in the house. And so any donations along those lines are also helpful. Also, personally, I collect suitcases.

[00:12:15] Faith Jackson: I've been in the business now 30 years, and so that was one of my things that I always hated to see a young person spend, you know, 18 years in foster care and now sometimes 21 and leave with all your prize possessions in a trash pack, right? What does that say? And so I started a suitcase drive. And so you can pack your things and carry them away in a suitcase, or you can go on a trip and have a suitcase and not a plastic bag or a backpack.

[00:12:46] Faith Jackson: Little things like that. Those things matter and they definitely matter to me. And so any donations, and I have to be honest. I prefer a suitcase that you would carry. Don't gimme a suitcase you wouldn't carry. I don't want my kids to have to carry it either. Or young people, I'm sorry, I call them kids, but making sure that the donations are things that you yourself would still use.

[00:13:08] George Koster: So if I was an employer and listening to the show, how would I get engaged? If I was interested in working with the CHE program and perhaps wanted to provide, you know, jobs or apprenticeships, is that possible?

[00:13:20] Faith Jackson: Absolutely. I've been working with a program here, the John Muir Foundation, and they actually started a farming project and because I was on the ground floor of it, a couple of my young people are working there and they learn to farm and actually learn table to farming and learn every aspect of it, and that has been amazing.

[00:13:38] Faith Jackson: They give them a livable wage and it's a two year program, and so they may not be there the entire time. Have the opportunity and so that is absolutely wonderful. You can contact me directly if you're listening. My name again is Faith Jackson. I'm with Uplift Family Services. My email address is f. At uplift org I'm sure this will all be posted as well.

[00:14:05] Faith Jackson: Also, my phone number is area code six zero two one seven five zero and they will put you in contact with me. And we can talk about whatever service you hope to provide and donations, and we're open to everything and we really appreciate everything.

[00:14:24] George Koster: That's great. So Faith, would you please share with the audience one of your favorite moments of working at Uplifts Tape Program?

[00:14:30] Faith Jackson: Oh, okay. So I personally have been with this program now. Since, I think this is my 11th year now that I've been with this particular program and I have been able to see young people come in, not quite ready. There's one specific young lady, she came in and she did not have a personal family connection as she had a child, and probably two months ago she sent me.

[00:14:59] Faith Jackson: An invitation to her graduations for her master's degree, along with a beautiful photo of her daughter and how she's grown. And those are the little things, don't get me wrong, they're huge, but it's the little things, or it's just that client that may not have been the perfect client, but because my number has never changed, they always call me.

[00:15:20] Faith Jackson: Say now I get it. Even if they didn't get it, then now I get it. One of the great things that has been able to happen with our program is that we also employ volunteers who were former clients and they serve as monitors on the property to help other young people learn. And I have had the privilege being a family specialist and supervising those young people as minors in the program, and now they work.

[00:15:47] Faith Jackson: And so that is probably on the top three list of my proudest moments to see young people who are actually my clients, who are now working in the field and actually working with the program in which they live. So that is amazing to me.

[00:16:02] George Koster: That's a great story. And Faye, so final question. What would you see as some of the positive things that could come out of this crisis to support our youth and families?

[00:16:11] Faith Jackson: A few of the positive things that I see, one being the most important is that, you know, everyone understood that we needed more time. We needed to provide housing and not dis dismiss young people and not be ready. I think that it also helped the young people understand that weren't quite ready, like, this isn't going to be forever and I need to take this opportunity and make the best of it right now because it's gonna be an end date, right?

[00:16:40] Faith Jackson: We got an extension, but there's going to be an end date. But it also, it helped them to understand that they weren't really alone a lot of times in these services and in these programs. You know, they give a feeling that the person that's helping them is only helping them for a paycheck, but knowing that they had someone to check in on them, knowing that they had someone to come by and see them, even if it was with PPE, um, but knowing that someone was still looking out for them when in fact they didn't have to, but they felt like they definitely needed to.

[00:17:15] George Koster: I really hope it's an opportunity for people to see all of the needs that have been there all along. Yes. And, and step up and help provide that helping hand.

[00:17:24] Faith Jackson: Yes, I agree.

[00:17:26] George Koster: Alright, so is there anything else I didn't ask that you'd like to talk about?

[00:17:30] Faith Jackson: I think we covered everything. And of course if there's something that listeners you didn't quite hear enough of or want more of an explanation of, I invite you to reach out to me personally and I'll answer whatever it's, I can answer.

[00:17:45] George Koster: Thank you Faith for sharing Uplifts TA programs work today. We'll make sure that listeners have your contact information, website and social media so they can follow UPLIFT family service programs and get engaged in the work and to help your mission. Please stay safe and healthy as we all work our way through this very strange, new normal.

[00:18:02] Faith Jackson: Thank you.

[00:18:03] George Koster: That's it for this episode of Voices of the Community. You've been listening to the Voice of Transitional Housing Program, supervisor of uplift Family Services, faith Jackson. To find out more about UPLIFT Family Services and to support foster youth with gift cards and donating suitcases as well as their other programs, go to uplift fs.org.

[00:18:26] George Koster: For more insights into how our youth are being impacted by the pandemic and how our nonprofits are supporting our youth through the pandemic. Please listen to our interview with the executive director of the Huckleberry Youth Programs, Doug Stiles and episode 19. Charles Lerner, the executive director and DeMar Miller, the program manager of at the Crossroads in episode 29, along with the Chief Program Officer Justine Underhill and the Director of Advancement, Greg Biggs from Edgewood Center for Children and Families and episode 54.

[00:19:00] George Koster: Tune in to next week's, two shows where our theme is, the importance of our small businesses on our community, and how they've been dealing with the pandemic For our Thursday, June 3rd show, we will be rebroadcasting on KSFP, our interview with Julie Cows. The district Director of the Small Business Administration's San Francisco District Office and Al Specter, an advisor to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations.

[00:19:25] George Koster: And on Friday, June 4th, we have another one hour special featuring a panel discussion with Mario Magnum, the president of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations, small business owner Tracy Sylvester of EHS Pilates. Adam Fowler, the Director of Research at Beacon Economics and Amanda F.

[00:19:46] George Koster: Fry, the Chief of Policy and Communications at the San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office. This one hour special will be broadcast on KSFP 1 0 2 0.5 FM on Friday, June 4th at 7:00 AM and 2:00 PM Saturday, June 5th at 5:00 PM and again, Sunday, June 6th at 9:00 AM. We hope that you enjoyed the insights, points of view and personal stories from the voices of Change makers and their nonprofits and small businesses featured in this series.

[00:20:17] George Koster: To find out more and get engaged with the nonprofits, small businesses, and staff members featured in this series, please go to my. George koster.com and click on Voices of the Community to find links to the extended versions of these interviews and to listen to the entire series. After listening to these stories, we hope that you will consider making a donation and volunteering to provide a hand up to your fellow community members.

[00:20:43] George Koster: I want to thank my associate producer, Eric Estrada. In Casey Nance at Citron Studios, along with the wonderful crew at the San Francisco Public Press and KSFP Voices of the Community is a member of Intersection for the Arts, which allows us to offer you a tax deduction. For your contributions, please go to george koster.com and click on the donate link to make a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one.

[00:21:09] George Koster: While you're on our website, you can enjoy our archived Pass shows, which feature community voices working on solutions to critical issues facing Northern California communities. And you can sign up for our newsletter to find out more about future shows as well as shows and events from the organizations that are included in our episodes.

[00:21:28] George Koster: Take us along on your next COVID walk by subscribing to voices of the community. On Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. You can follow us on Twitter at George Koster and we'd love to hear from you with feedback and show ideas. So send us an email toGeorge@georgekoster.com.

[00:21:49] George Koster: I'm George Koster in San Francisco, and thank you for listening.

1446 Market Street | San Francisco, CA 94102 | (415) 626-2787