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AHO
Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week
Guzman Hall 1st Floor - CAL Plaza - Creekside Room
San Rafael, California
8:30 AM PT - 8:00 PM PT
Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity @ Dominican University of California
For the past 15 years, Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity (AHO), has been on the forefront as Marin’s only nonprofit serving these youth in a way they can trust with an age-appropriate, relationship-based youth-led program, that is community-based and successful without public funding.
Over the past 4 years the numbers of homeless youth have increased from 600,000 to 4.2 million - a 700% increase - according to the National Alliance for Youth Homelessness and the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall research.
To address these growing numbers, AHO Youth Leadership Team has collaborated with Dominican University of CA leadership group for the National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week Nov 16 to the 24th.
Thursday, Nov 21st is ‘AHO DAY AT DOMINICAN’ (see flyer attached) where from 6 to 8pm in Dominican’s Creekside Room, AHO will have 5 youth speakers sharing their stories. The AHO Leadership Team will also share the launch of the GRO AHO Initiative to expand AHO into other counties, and the Nov 1st launch of the AHO app they have created to expand AHO’s award-winning, cost-effective, preventative, innovative program model into other counties and communities around the State, with the support of the CA Coalition for Youth (CYC) AHO’s longtime partner in Sacto.
Included in the day’s events is a bagel fundraiser for AHO, the AHO band THE HAPPYS playing, with front man, Nick Petty, a former youth served by AHO.
GUZMAN HALL 1st Floor - Bagel Fundraiser for AHO’s - Homeless Youth - 8:30 to 11am
CAL Plaza - THE HAPPYS band - 12pm to 1:15pm
Creekside Room - Homeless Youth Speakers & PIZZA - 6pm to 8pm
About the work of AHO
CCY is one of AHO’s longtime 165-member Alliance for Youth service network partners that include businesses, professionals, faith communities and organization that offer their time, services and resources pro bono to help AHO provide all the comprehensive support youth need to heal from their trauma.
The AHO Youth Team, comprised of previously homeless young people, ages 16 to 25 served by AHO and their peers, spearheaded this expansion to assist their peers, who are struggling like they once were, to have a life of hope, purpose and meaning as contributing adults and future leaders.
Stanford’s study, “Connected by 25,” emphasizes that if youth do not receive the help they need by age 25, they are 50% more likely to become chronically homeless and/or incarcerated. By trying to survive, they often end up dependents of the system. The cost to house a youth in Marin County Jail is $78,000 per year according to Captain Navarro’s 2017 report, and a year of homelessness costs $62,000 a year.
Compare those costs, to AHO’s one-time cost of $2,000 per youth, to receive housing, and the all personalized, comprehensive support of AHO for up to 5 years. AHO is a proven success in providing the support youth need to beat the odds.
A former youth served by AHO, who graduated from UC Berkeley in May Summa Cum Laude, has joined the AHO team as Youth and Community Development consultant to help expand AHO into other communities. Outreach began two months ago in Sonoma County with Erik Dickson, Dean of Student Services at Sonoma State and Dean of Student Services at Santa Rosa Junior College Robert Ethington at SRJC and Mathew Long at the SRJC Petaluma campus.
In 2020, through the GRO AHO Initiative, a Youth and Community Development consultant added to the AHO team, and the launch of the AHO app, AHO will be able to reach and assist a hidden population of childhood abuse victims to learn about AHO: 33,000 from Marin Office of Education, 10,000 from College of Marin, 9,500 from Sonoma State and 21,000 from Santa Rosa Junior College and 1,744 from Dominican University of CA for a total of 75,244 additional youth will have the opportunity to connect with AHO.
In the past 15 years, AHO has successfully served over 3,000 young people who are now in stable housing, working several jobs and completing their educations. Others have graduated from 4 year schools like UC Berkeley. Still others are now in the 30’s with families of their own and are still involved on the Youth Leadership Team and as peer mentors for youth AHO serves.
Organization: Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity
Contact Phone: 415-381-7173
Contact Email:
Website: http://www.ahoproject.org/