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Based on Cooks Facebook profile, it appears he still works at Urban Alchemy; however, he is no longer on duty in the Sausalito encampment. Inside the fence, the parking lot-turned-campground can accommodate about 120 people at a time in 12-foot by 12-foot spots, marked by white squares painted on the asphalt. A stillborn baby was found in the port-a-potty of a city-sanctioned homeless encampment last January, the San Francisco Fire Department confirmed to The Standard. The organization conducted a review of its policies in response to the incident, Tyler said. Give people the opportunity to take a shower, get them off the street, and give them a sense of hope and belonging., Another man, DJ Woods, agreed. Ive had 20 years of homelessness off and on, and this has given me great purpose., David Harding, a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, said he hasnt heard of another organization as large as Urban Alchemy thats not just willing to hire people with criminal records but actively seeks out those folks as employees.. Every day Urban Alchemys workers are out on the streets providing essential services and support for so many in our city, and we appreciate their continued partnership in bringing out the best of San Francisco. Some Urban Alchemy staff members did drugs on the job and sexually exploited homeless females, according to more than 10 current and past residents of the Sausalito camp who spoke to the Pacific Sun. Miller noted how the work provides not only an income but also a sense of pride, remarking on an anecdote where one employee called the Governor of California into a bathroom stall he had just cleaned to show him how clean it was. We can give them the training. The three organizations are the inaugural members of the Austin Street Outreach Collaborative. The number 18 on Joshs left arm refers to Adolph Hitler, with the 1 corresponding to the A and the 8 corresponding to the H. It appears that his left leg has a tattoo of the Iron Cross, which was a symbol used by the Nazis, according to the ADL. Business and city leaders have credited Urban Alchemy with making streets cleaner and safer. At the Sausalito tent encampment, Urban Alchemy moved three employees to other locations after altercations with community members, the organization said. Fearing retaliation, the campers have remained silent for months about serious allegations against Urban Alchemy employees. Urban Alchemy said the nonprofit is supporting employees by paying a living wage and offering mental health insurance and therapy. Some of these guys have got power trips, and they get pushy, but these guys here had the right thing going just now, Snider said. Urban Alchemy also prohibits predatory sexual behavior because of the power dynamics, according to Clinebell. As the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center reaches is first anniversary, questions remain over its success in meeting SFs shelter needs. 1-888-999-2752 (Toll Free) We're a social enterprise that engages with situations where extreme poverty meets homelessness, mental illness and addiction. bitea dose of arts, culture and more. But at Urban Alchemy, their skills are sought-after. While an LA Homeless Services Authority spokesperson says that Urban Alchemys contract includes housing-focused case management, Miller says thats not her organizations speciality, and Urban Alchemy typically partners with other nonprofits for housing navigation. He handed me a rolled up 20-dollar bill with crushed up crystal meth. Send news tips to. Bruce criticized Urban Alchemys hiring model, saying it was a recipe for disaster to have people with troubled backgrounds acting as authority figures over the most vulnerable citizens. Urban Alchemy said issues have surfaced in a small fraction of interactions. When our person is wrong, the organization provides discipline and training, she said. The organization later urged employees to call police instead of engaging with dealers. In San Francisco, the organization is being paid $11.8 million over two years to work in the Tenderloin including $3 million from UC Hastings College of the Law, which is located in the neighborhood. Mallory Moench is a San Francisco City Hall reporter. He put his face within a foot of one of the 16 new hires. Some of Urban Alchemys workers have been surprised at the depth of the crisis they are facing in the Tenderloin. (The federal government already operates a similar site on the West LA Veterans Affairs campus in Brentwood.) Los Angeles, CA. We found a turd and turned it into gold. On any given day, the employees of Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit that puts civilians on the sidewalks to address street-level issues rooted in addiction, mental illness and homelessness, might discourage someone in San Francisco from shooting up in public. The stations are dropped off and picked up daily by United. Each response includes a licensed mental health worker. Community Engagement and Outreach: calming neighborhoods and public spaces by forming bonds with residents, promoting positive behavior, and connecting people to services; this work includes placing outreach workers and community engagement specialists in neighborhoods as . ECHO's executive director, Matt Mollica, said Urban Alchemy has been active in training opportunities and expanding on-the-ground outreach. To achieve this, Elliott encouraged landscape architects to continue to design for everyone, not specific populations. USFs Tavanti said he found Urban Alchemys turnover to be high, attributing it to the stressful situations the workers face and to finding better jobs. We know what it means to be dismissed and disrespected. Newspapers from San Francisco to Los Angeles have recently reported on issues with Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit that manages homeless encampments, including the city-sanctioned camp in Sausalito. No one wants to touch that kind of liability.. . But the high public cost of the program about $2,600 per person, per month concerns some advocates who worry it will come at the expense of more permanent housing. In Sausalito, where Urban Alchemy was hired to guard a tent encampment occupied by former residents of boats that had been confiscated, media reports described meth use, pot dealing and sexual encounters and assaults involving Urban Alchemy staff. The CIRCLE dispatch center can respond to 911 calls to LAPD that aren't criminal in nature. Jeff Kositsky, center, now works with the nonprofit Urban Alchemy after heading up the S.F. That was predatory. LA County sheriff's recruits graduate months after Whittier crash, Highways into the San Bernardino Mountains are closed to drivers, LA County passes motion requiring retrofit of some buildings by 2033. A formerly homeless woman sued Urban Alchemy, saying employees asked her to leave U.N. Plaza while she prayed. Gossage, a current camper, said Josh visited the camp within the last couple of weeks and told her that he is working for Urban Alchemy at a San Francisco location. Some campers were offended by several of Joshs numerous tattoos, which include white supremacist symbols. The idea is that while police are trained to respond to active threats, life has trained CIRCLE team members. City Controller Ron Galperin said that while the East Hollywood safe camping pilot is expensive, the costs support a professional staff skilled in case management, as well as necessary sanitation and security services. In February, Miller said, a drug dealer shot an Urban Alchemy worker who had told the dealer to stop selling outside a city-run tent encampment. Some unhoused people and their advocates, including Tracey Mixon, a formerly homeless Tenderloin resident who works with the Coalition on Homelessness, complain that some employees have gotten verbally or physically aggressive to make people move or stop problematic behavior. I was in a vulnerable situation, she said. All Rights Reserved. Miller attributed some lawsuits to growing pains as the group expanded without infrastructure it has now built and said others were bulls., Urban Alchemy grew fast and you make mistakes along the way, Miller said, adding that if there were real or serious complaints, we wouldnt have grown so fast. One organization the city is working with, Urban. Josh responded that he would take care of it. I heard it happening. The plan looked at three short-term goals to be achieved in three years: end youth homelessness; end veterans homelessness; and decrease unsheltered homelessness by 50 percent. Mallory Moench (she/her) and Kevin Fagan (he/him) are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Four homeless people told the Pacific Sun about Urban Alchemy employees who have brought methamphetamine into the encampment for their own use or to share with campers. Bayron Wilson, Urban Alchemys director of operations, says the Sausalito allegations were false, and that the organization did a successful job helping the campers, who had just been kicked out of floating homes anchored in Richardson Bay. Dawn Staley thinks so, Girls basketball: Webutuck grabs momentum, tops Manor for Class D title. Nothing that we have [achieved] is based on corruption or cheating or something unethical or immoral, or illegal. Made in L.A. Streaming music, news & culture from KCRW Santa Monica, Live streaming music, news & culture from KCRW Santa Monica. The people that complain and dislike the homeless for whatever reason.. One person claims they had to resort to sex work after the city allegedly destroyed their encampment. Urban Alchemy has helped me to learn to help myself, Paradox said. Were stunned with the insensitivity of calling our workforce mercenary, especially since our practitioners are primarily Black, Latino and formerly incarcerated or homeless, Miller said. The San Francisco Standard. Because a city this offbeat deserves a newsletter with some Urban Alchemy offers four core services designed to meet the needs of the people and places in the communities we work. The organization holds $62 million in contracts in San Francisco while also providing homeless services in a half-dozen cities. Theres a lot of training, she said. Marcia Gilmore, a Lower Nob Hill resident, pointed to an incident in which people asked an Urban Alchemy worker to intervene with a man banging a mailbox with a hammer and arguing with strangers. Urban Alchemy provided services to homeless residents in Sausalito for almost a year. All of these skills help them to establish and maintain social norms in the public places they work. As can be seen below, veterans homelessness spreads across generations. According to Deschamps, he heard Josh threatening Kennedy for a few minutes before he was able to turn on the video recorder on his phone. In San Francisco, a shooting early last year highlighted workers role in the line of fire as private patrols paid with city funds. The site also provides showers, three meals a day and 24-hour security. The organization birthed out of Hunters Point Family, an earlier non-profit Miller founded that focused on public housing. If you are in need of emergency shelter, please contact the Union County 24 Hour Homeless Emergency Response Hotline at 2-1-1. Some have a trash can on wheels. Urban Alchemy a relatively new organization primarily employs people of color coming out of prison and last year topped 1,000 employees. Ive had 20 years of homelessness off and on, and this has given me great purpose.. The employee responded that the situation would resolve itself, but the man was still arguing with people when Gilmore left the scene shortly afterward, she said. . Supportive housing for Individuals and families. I like them, Ken Kennedy, a camper who is in the process of leaving the Sausalito encampment, said. One organization the city is working with, Urban Alchemy, was founded to provide career opportunities for the formerly incarcerated. Before that, she freelanced with a focus on the Yemeni diaspora while studying at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. You can camp, sleep, lie anywhere and everywhere that you so deem., He added, I've connected a lot of people to resources, to housing, and sometimes it was through the booking process.. The developer, a former city redevelopment official and executive with the homeless services organization PATH named John Molloy, is loaning the parking lot to the city for free in the meantime for its safe camping site. Plan to fight education inequity in LA: Whats it achieved in 2 years? Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com, kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench, @kevinchron. Fax: 1-202-898-1185, Copyright 2008 2019 This expansion, in Millers view, is owed to an innovation that came out of her own study of trauma. We teach that in our training.. The woman said she was at a vulnerable place in her life when she began making out with Josh in the bushes near the encampment. And unlike at the West LA VAs safe camping site, this one doesnt share a campus with various health care facilities, and campers dont have access to a special pool of housing rental vouchers like eligible military veterans do. 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But where others in the nonprofit services sector and psychologists see prison trauma as debilitating, Millerwho recently received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of San Franciscobelieves that struggling to survive on the inside requires expertise in an encyclopedias worth of social cues. Thats when the lot is scheduled to become a construction site. Homelessness remains a core focus of his, close to his heart as a journalist who cares passionately about the human condition. The ARCH is a City-owned facility providing shelter and resources in downtown Austin, managed by Urban Alchemy and Austin Area Urban League. Urban Alchemy saved 85 lives in 2018, through Narcan deployment, which brings back people from drug overdoses, and providing water to dehydrated people. It can't be the type of offer that leads to criminalization and displacement and the shutting down of other public spaces, said Shayla Myers, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Urban Alchemy is a peaceful and supportive presence, inviting communities to rebuild and restore a sense of pride . Campers get entered into the countys database for matching unhoused people with social services, called the coordinated entry system. Homelessness Rate: 0.93%. Alejandro Sanchez, who is on the clean team explains their approach. I was going to hit him, but UA escorted him off the property.. When we arrived on the scene, the Tenderloin faced an unmanageable problem with littering. They told the class theyve been in jail, homeless and raped. Low cost affordable housing for individuals and families. A comprehensive rundown Hammonds said employees dont stop peoples addictions and dont force people on sidewalks to move although people usually do when asked. What are you going to say, Hammonds asked, when someone comes at you like this and calls you a snitch-ass motherfing police?. In training, Hammonds taught the new employees to be patiently persuasive when asking people who may be homeless, addicted or traumatized to stop blocking sidewalks or using drugs in public. He has ridden with the rails with modern-day hobos, witnessed seven prison executions, written extensively about serial killers including the Unabomber, Doodler and Zodiac, and covered disasters ranging from the Sept. 11 terror attacks at Ground Zero to California's devastating wildfires. A fucking turd., Matt Smith can be reached at [emailprotected]. One of those projects, a multi-phase apartment complex called Enlightenment Plaza, partly funded by the voter-backed Proposition HHH bond measure, is slated to rise on the very same East Hollywood Parking lot where the campsite now sits. As the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center reaches is first anniversary, questions remain over its success in meeting SFs shelter needs. Mara Paradox, who is nonbinary, raises their hand during a training session for new employees of the outreach group. Soon, four workers gathered around Sarah Snider, who said she had been homeless for more than 20 years, and waited until she injected fentanyl and cocaine into her thigh before packing up to leave. Josh, too, is no longer working in Sausalito. 5/3/2022. SFs most important stories, delivered straight to your inbox, An aerial view of a Civic Center safe sleep site homeless encampment near City Hall in San Francisco, Calif. on October 30, 2021. She has taken these young men, embraced them, given them a job to do when they get out of jail.. San Francisco's problem with homelessness started to emerge in the 1970s and 1980s. Sidewalks once crowded with people doing or selling drugs are now more passable, these people say. We dont have weapons, mace. The CAOs report did not contain a detailed breakdown of costs, but according to city officials most of the budget goes to 24/7 staffing, and maintaining a one to 12 staff to client ratio at all times. He just gave it to me. UA has a no drugs or alcohol policy while at work, and that includes a prohibition on showing up to work under the influence of those substances, Clinebell wrote. All Rights Reserved. We can give them the structure.. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles is seeking answers to the homeless crisis. Miller became a board member last month. Very charismatic. Employers arent bending over backwards to hire returning citizens. David Sjostedt can be reached at [emailprotected]. The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing was contacted for comment. Miller grew Urban Alchemy out of her nonprofit Hunters Point Family, which won contracts with San Francisco Public Works to run the citys public toilets starting in 2016. The simple action of donning a yellow shirt and cleaning the community restores their dignity as people and members of their community. Hammonds admitted that such incidents have occurred, despite training that if you put your hands on someone, you lose your job.. Whether you are an abolitionist or a police cheerleader, we all agree whats been done in the past is not working.. Austin Resource Center for the Homeless. Wounded Warriors opened its first residence for homeless veterans, called Alpha House, at 1361 Fifth Ave. N. in the city of Naples in January 2020. Employees get paid starting at $21 an hour and benefits, according to Urban Alchemys latest city contract. of SF politics and culture. COVID mightve come from a lab leak. In one altercation, Arthur Bruce, who is homeless and lives near the encampment, accused an employee of hitting him during an argument and sending him to the hospital with an injured wrist, an account backed by two friends who said they witnessed the encounter. Since 2018, Urban Alchemy has grown to 1,100 employees in five cities, with projected revenue of $55 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, records show. Mayor London Breed awarded the non-profit Urban Alchemy an $8.8 million grant to blanket the downtown area in August 2021. We can help them recruit. Statistics only tell half the story. Curating the best of The Standards top-notch reporting, every Saturday. Still, though Urban Alchemy said it doesnt recruit or advertise, it currently has more than 4,900 applicants. Montrell Dorsey, a former director of workforce development with Urban Alchemy, said that people getting out of long sentences in all-male prisons dont get proper training and that allegations of harassment and assault by workers are not adequately addressed by the organization. Urban Alchemy also runs the safe parking program in the Bayview, cabins at 33 Gough St., as well as the now closed Civic Center tent village, although it is upfront about not providing . Kirkpatrick Tyler, who is in charge of government and community affairs for the organization, describes the past prison experience of Urban Alchemy workers as parallel to the story of every single superhero in every comic book that youve ever readthat they have a traumatic experience, [and] they have to make sure that traumatic experience has a sustainable transformational impact on who they are to their core.. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. Steveo. This academic faction has a narrative that is made up. And Ive been here for 87 damn years in this community, she said. Youre using force, he said. When we became aware of this situation, we quickly identified the resident and helped connect her with emergency medical care. Some critics accuse the workers who are not state-licensed as private security guards of improperly policing public spaces. Thanks to everyone for continuing to meet the moment with persistence, grit, resilience, and compassion, wrote Mayor Eric Garcettis homelessness czar in an April 2020 email chain involving Miller. Mitch OFarrell, the city councilmember whose district includes both Echo Park Lake and the new East Hollywood campground, declined an interview. And then well be out of the way of all the looky-looers too, he said. The San Francisco Standard. Los Angeles is seeking answers to the homeless crisis. Exactly how campers might transition to permanent housing, however, isnt clear. The Lee County Homeless Coalition reports 394 people were homeless on the night of Jan. 26, 2021 when volunteers fanned the community to conduct the annual "point in time" surveys, according . Most of Urban Alchemys 1,100 employees have served life sentences in prison, but did serious self-work to get out from under their incarceration, according to its website. They never said they were working for the city. Homeless Population: 8,124. They dont understand how to engage with women, Dorsey said, describing one Urban Alchemy supervisor accused of assault who was merely shifted to another post. Ill say, Have a good day, sir, the trainee responded. The nonprofits unusual slogan is No fuckery., What were trying to do, co-founder and CEO Lena Miller said in an interview, is just make spaces safe and clean and raise the vibration, so to speak, in areas that in the past have been dirty and scary, particularly for people who are vulnerable.. So doing nothing also costs a lot of money.. We are alchemists, Hammonds told his class, and we want to make where we are a more golden, loving space.. The organization represents a test of new models of public safety that San Francisco and other cities across the country are embracing. Instead of an hourly wage, they offer a non-cash basic-needs stipend, case management, employment services, and a support network within their community. In a Market street building, Louie Hammonds a former gang member who served 21 years in prison for attempted murder and is now Urban Alchemys chief of training role-played scenarios on the streets. Washington, DC 20001-3736, Phone: 202-898-2444 The San Francisco-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy, which operates three similar campgrounds in the Bay Area, has a contract with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency, to run the East Hollywood site. The person in question could be Powelson. Nobody else fucking wanted to do that, Miller said. The Pacific Sun contacted Cook through Facebook for comment on the allegations. One organization the city is working with, Urban Alchemy, was founded to provide career opportunities for the formerly incarcerated. Id rather see Urban Alchemy than the cops.. "I haven't had a dissatisfied customer yet," says Briggs. They allege he is a bully. You have to understand why people do the things they do, what it looks like and the process. That, however, is a slow process, and the county has a long waiting list. The woman who spent time in the bushes with Josh had witnessed the incident and explained to the police what had occurred. Miller says this is the kind of fresh approach public officials have been drawn to when deciding to hire Urban Alchemy to provide security services for public toilets, street corners, BART elevators and homeless facilities, in addition to picking up trash. If our 100% San Francisco journalism helps you make sense of your city's changes and crises, please make a tax-deductible donation . Now, faced with a ballooning homelessness crisis and a federal judge demanding emergency action, LA officials are embracing the concept. No arrests have been made in either case. Urban Alchemy's 2022 budget shows the nonprofit receiving more than $43 million in total contract and grant revenue from the cityup from just under $36,000 in total revenue during 2018, the year it was founded. Yeah my name is David and I have a similar issues the staff in Los Angeles that work in the urban alchemy 3rd Street 2301 West 3rd Street Los Angeles California accuse me of first breaking in the property which I lived on then excuse me of hateful words and they said I was using the n word and I was training staff I dont think I would ever do any of those things they just were caught sleeping and slang word for messing up I guess cuz one was asleep and the other one wasnt at the front gate and I let myself in and they changed it all around lie after lie. But another councilmember who plans to open safe camping sites, Joe Buscaino, says enforcement is part of the point. Kirkpatrick Tyler, Urban Alchemy's chief of community affairs said in a statement that Perry was a long-time employee of another nonprofit homeless agency called Five Keys and was recently hired at Urban Alchemy. Our agenda is humane treatment for people, and at Echo Park it meant offering them shelter as a safe place to go, which they took voluntarily simply by it being offered., Marco Tavanti, an expert on nonprofits at the University of San Francisco, said the five lawsuits against Urban Alchemy represented an elevated number compared to other nonprofits, except for some in the health sector. These guys were able to come out and talk to young guys and explain to them that they want to do something different, Milton said, adding that it can be inspiring when I see these guys in uniform, just guys out there working., In Los Angeles, Urban Alchemy was hired to provide services to homeless encampments. The entitys core philosophythat long stints in prison can equip a person for handling crises in the streetsis a selling point that seems to run counter to mainstream psychology. In general, the countys coordinated entry system prioritizes people based on a vulnerability index that measures physical and mental health. The San Francisco-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy, which operates three similar campgrounds in the Bay Area, has a contract with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency, to run the East Hollywood site. We also acted immediately to notify the proper support and authorities, he said. Hammonds, who trains other formerly incarcerated people to help keep the peace, checks on a person sitting on the sidewalk on Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin. I believe it provides a good service for the community, said one, who only gave his first name, Eugene. Miller said the organization doesnt condone employees pushing extreme political views on the job, and her staff said it was aware of the tattoo and had received no complaints from residents. She listed examples as violence, discrimination and disrespect to women. Despite skepticism from some homeless advocates, Urban Alchemy sees its separation from law enforcement as central to its mission. In Sausalito, where city officials paid Urban Alchemy $464,000 to run a tent encampment for six months, a photo shows that a worker wearing shorts had a visible 88 tattoo on his right calf, a well-known code for Heil Hitler. (H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.) He later bought her a sandwich, prayed with her, and took her to the Tenderloin Linkage Center. Camp residents want to move on, hopefully to housing opportunities with the County of Marins assistance. And outsourcing government functions to nonprofits can make it more difficult for the public to evaluate whether spending is achieving results. Entry level positions for Urban Alchemy, like the Clean Teams, have become a familiar site in downtown Los Angeles, Venice and Hollywood. Steveo Cook, an Urban Alchemy staff member, told Kennedy he could bring in the really good meth.. We try to make sure we're not getting into anybody's personal space. With so few reviews, your opinion of Urban Alchemy could be huge. Urban Alchemy saved 85 lives in 2018, through Narcan deployment, which brings back people from drug overdoses, and providing water to dehydrated people. And lets be honest, Galperin said, when people are on our sidewalks, that is already costing us money as a city in terms of public safety, police and fire emergency services, paramedic, sanitation, street services, hospitals, jails. The operator of the site, the nonprofit Urban Alchemy, has since moved on to open a homeless shelter in Lower Nob Hill and was recently granted a contract by the city to perform homeless outreach.