San Diego Youth and Community Services: Storefront Shelter

SDYCS
3255 Wing Street
San Diego CA 92110
(619) 221-8600

The Storefront is San Diego’s only emergency shelter program for homeless, runaway, and “street” youth. Youth can access the shelter with or without referral and will be assured a safe place to stay until their lives have been stabilized with the help of professional and caring staff and volunteers.









Last year, 123 youth transitioned from the Storefront shelter to a more-permanent, safe living environment! During their stay at the Storefront, each of these youth received safe refuge and protection from sexual exploitation. Our case managers worked with these youth to help prepare them for their next step toward achieving a stable life. Learn more about the programs of the Storefront Shelter: Night Shelter Drop-in Center Street Outreach Angel Home Mobile Clinic ACTION Network Community_Technology_Foundation Night Shelter The Storefront Night Shelter is a 20-bed emergency shelter--the only one in San Diego specifically designed for homeless and runaway youth. The goal of the Storefront is to stabilize the lives of vulnerable youth and to prevent their sexual exploitation. Staff provide initial crisis assessment and intervention including provision of food, clothing, safe shelter and medical care referral. Case management, drug and sexual exploitation education, and family mediation and counseling work to reunite youth with their family if it is safe and appropriate. Special arts programming funded by Photocharity encourage expression through music, dance, painting and other media. Referral to longer-term residential programs or transitional living programs when reunification is not possible. Day Drop-In Center This program provides street kids with a safe place with supervision and support between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. Comprehensive Storefront services are available daily and include food, clothing, showers, laundry facilities, education, recreation, independent living skills and job training, counseling, and case management. Computer access encourages skill development and provides access to job searches and other resources. The Independent Living Skills curriculum incorporates the empowering qualities of the Community Youth Development approach to preparing youth for successful independence and healthy engagement in the community. Street Outreach More than 4,000 youth are seen annually out on the streets by the Outreach Team. As part of The Storefront's mission, outreach workers comb the streets of San Diego six nights every week in search of homeless children, providing them with survival information, warm clothing, something to eat, and an opportunity to get off the streets. Angel Home Angel Home is a new program funded by Photocharity to meet the needs of youth who are living at the Storefront with no alternative placement available. Because these youth are not wards or dependents of the court, have never been removed from their homes by Child Protective Services or committed a crime, they are not eligible for County-funded foster care or other public services. Angel Home will provide a long-term shelter in a home-like environment in a certified foster home that is supervised by SDYCS’ Foster Family Agency. Youth will be eligible for services from the Storefront Day Program and will be able to maintain a stable living situation until they reach eighteen years old. Mobile Clinic SDYCS is one of the partner agencies in the Teen Health Outreach Mobile Clinic Collaborative. This project provides street youth with acute and preventative health services. It facilitates connection to a teen-friendly "medical home" and stabilization via street-based case management services. Through this Collaborative, there is also an on-site clinic at the Storefront. ACTION Network The initiative “Against Child Trafficking and Teen Prostitution in our Neighborhoods” (ACTION) will create a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary partnership to empower teens to escape the lure of prostitution. Collaborating agencies are being encouraged to come together as a community and leverage their time, energy and resources to help end one of the most egregious crimes committed against our children today their commercial exploitation. The ACTION Network is made up of social service providers, mental health professionals, law enforcement, prosecutors, medical health providers, probation officers, educators, faith-based organization, governmental institutions and community leaders. Click here for more information.		Youth who stay at the Storefront and participate in the Expressive Arts Therapy Program had the chance to showcase their art at Kettner Nights. Read more about this here! Above, two Storefront youth pose with their art teacher at the event. The Personal Story of A Storefont Youth When Grace's parents abandoned her, she ended up living on the streets. With no other clear options, she started using drugs and selling her body for a meal and a place to sleep. Storefront outreach workers found her living under a freeway overpass. Grace was skeptical when she first visited the Storefront, but overwhelmed by her hungry and desperate need for a shower. This was the first step in her recovery to a stable life. After living at the Storefront for two months and working with case managers, she applied and was accepted into our Take Wing transitional housing program. She began working part-time and going to school every day and learning to live on her own. "I believe if it wasn't for SDYCS," says Grace, "I would be dead." A view the night shelter sleeping quarters. Youth who stay for more than a few days often decorate their bed to personalize the space. Contact Information phone: (619) 325-3527 e-mail: jstankus@sdycs.org 24-hour Crisis Line (toll free): 1-866-715-6405 A special thank you to the following supporters of the Storefront: Balboa Park Collaborative California Office of Emergency Services Community Technology Foundation County of San Diego Family Health Centers of San Diego FOCUS Gold Diggers of San Diego Harbor Kiwanis Club San Diego Hay Foundation HIV Funding Collaborative Junior League of San Diego Kaiser Permanente Pegasus Photocharity MAC MacGregor’s Bar & Ale House Metro Ministries Mixxture National Council of Jewish Women San Diego Chapter Qualcomm Rob Appel Productions San Diego Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma San Diego Downtown Lion’s Club San Diego Downtown Rotary St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church St. Germaine’s Auxiliary The Annenberg Foundation Thrill Hill The Thursday Club United States Department of Health and Human Services United States Department of Housing and Urban Development United States Department of Justice United Way Storefront youth on stage with singing legend, Eve Selis, at the Photocharity Concert, 2006. This amazing event raised over $100,000 to support the efforts at the Storefront!
Thank You San Diego Human Dignity Foundation A special thanks to the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation for their generous contribution of $3,000 to help fund the The Storefront's teen zine.