UPTOWN is your homeless outreach agency.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Uptown Faith Community Service Center is commissioned to help the homeless, poor, and needy, without discrimination, to become self-supporting members of our community.
Structure
UPTOWN Faith Community Service Center is an ecumenical homeless outreach agency comprised of a growing number of member congregations from various faith backgrounds. Each member congregation provides a representative to the ecumenical board and an annual financial pledge. The ecumenical board provides fundraising, publicity, and volunteer support for UPTOWN’s programs.
UPTOWN was founded in 1984 by a group of churches seeking to provide a response to the problem of homelessness in the Balboa Park area of San Diego. Two years later, Alpha Project, another homeless outreach agency, opened its office a few blocks north of UPTOWN. In late 2005, the two organizations merged, combining their resources to adress more effectively the issues of homelessness and poverty in our area.
Although UPTOWN is supported by people of faith, its services are offered to all, regardless of religious affiliation.
Outreach
As a member of the Alpha Project network of social service agencies, UPTOWN offers the following assistance to homeless and impoverished people in our community:
First Response
UPTOWN’s office serves as a point of triage for hundreds of homeless and impoverished people who, for various reasons, are unable or unwilling to seek help from governmental agencies or other charitable organizations.
Upon arrival, UPTOWN staff provide clients with a needs assessment and arrange for appropriate responses, either within or outside of the Alpha Project network, as described more fully below.
Housing Opportunities
Special Needs Housing: Hotel Metro is a 193-unit single room occupancy (SRO) complex providing supportive housing to persons living with mental illness, physical disabilities, and HIV.
Low Income Housing: Approximately 500 units of low income housing are available to low income seniors (90 units) and families (404 units).
Employment Assistance
Transitional Employment: Take Back the Streets is a program offering transitional employment to persons who are otherwise unemployable (e.g., due to gaps in employment history, recovery, imprisonment, etc.) and employs roughly 80 to 100 formerly homeless men and women at any given time.
Communications and Transportation Assistance: Mail and message service, bus tokens, van transportation, and assistance with obtaining identification are provided to persons seeking to transition out of homelessness and into employment.
Placement, Counseling, and Training: Employment placement and counseling, English as a Second Language, basic literacy instruction, computer access, and resume writing assistance are offered at various locations within the Alpha Project network, including UPTOWN.
Recovery
Residential Treatment: Casa Base and Casa Rafael provide treatment for up to 120 homeless participants in their residential recovery programs. The rigorous programs include 40 hours per week of participation in on-site structured recovery programs, 30 hours per week of on-the-job training, health care assistance, transportation assistance, discharge planning, and housing placement assistance.
Outpatient Recovery: The Alpha Project network provides recovery counseling and space for substance abuse recovery meetings.
Homeless Youth
Each week, Alpha Project deploys intervention teams to local parks, canyons, and other areas with high concentrations of runaway and homeless youth with the goal of removing them from high risk environments, providing them with health care, and providing them with appropriate placement.
Terminal Illness and the Homeless
End-of-Life Program: Each year, more than 100 homeless men and women will die on the streets of San Diego. UPTOWN and Alpha Project provide assistance to veterans, homeless, and indigent people facing end-of-life issues on a case-by-case basis.
Location
UPTOWN is located at the corner of 30th Street and Polk Avenue in the North Park area of San Diego. Our contact information is:
UPTOWN Faith Community Service Center
4101-B 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 281-8411
(619) 281-8466 (fax)
amy@alphaproject.org
Visit the Alpha Project website at http://www.alphaproject.org/
Supporters
UPTOWN’s generous supporters include the following:
         
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