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Street Outreach
For many kids on the street, Larkin Street Youth Services’ Outreach
Program is their first contact with caring adults who can help them change
their lives. Outreach brings services to the young people where they
are, on the streets of San Francisco’s hardest neighborhoods: the Tenderloin,
the Mission District, Polk Gulch, Civic Center, Haight Ashbury, Castro,
SOMA. This
is where they face the problems of street life, but it is also where the
solution starts. Crisis intervention, health education, HIV prevention
education and supplies, emotional support, personal hygiene items, referrals
to help—our
outreach teams bring these services directly to the kids on the streets
where they live and congregate.
It is difficult for these young people, who have so often been abandoned and betrayed by the important adults in their lives, to trust again. So, the outreach delivered by full-time LSYS staff and volunteers is respectful and consistent. We provide a constantly visible presence by going out every night. We also make it as easy as possible for kids to take advantage of the help that we offer by providing transportation to other LSYS sites in our outreach van. Educational materials are available in Spanish as well as English, to reach as many youth as possible. Some young people the outreach team meets are not yet ready to enter other LSYS programs, but they are not left behind. Outreach workers continue to follow up on kids still living on the street, checking in on them, providing additional information as they are ready, and reminding them of appointments with service providers. Through the Haight Street Referral Center, Outreach workers provide support groups, including HIV prevention and substance abuse groups. For 1,500 kids each year, our Outreach Team serves as the introduction to the many ways LSYS can help them reach their potential as productive adults. The trust we build through our Outreach program encourages these young people to take the next step toward a new life off the streets.
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