Description
Founded in 2012, Urban Street Angels is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to end youth homelessness in the San Diego area. We began as a small group of volunteers hitting the streets of Ocean Beach several times a month with backpacks of supplies and home-cooked meals, but we quickly discovered that San Diego has a vast number of resources dedicated to feeding and supplying the homeless. A key service was missing: supportive housing and job training programs for transitional-age youth, to help them off the streets with a hand up.
Transitional-age youth are individuals between the ages of 18 and 25. Many have suffered through years of abuse, trauma, and tough conditions living on the streets. The needs of this demographic, largely ignored by existing support services, guided our growth toward our current mission.
We operate a weekly emergency overnight shelter for 20-25 homeless youth. The shelter program provides nourishing meals, a warm, dry place to spend the night, access to showers and minor medical care, and an array of related services for San Diego’s homeless youth. Our shelter currently operates on Tuesday nights at Missiongathering Church in the North Park area.
In addition to addressing the immediate needs of San Diego’s homeless youth through our shelter and outreach program, many of our shelter guests go on to join our supportive housing and job training programs (through 8 West, our social enterprise), where they receive the support and training necessary to leave the streets behind for good.
