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. Urban Alchemy also prohibits predatory sexual behavior because of the power dynamics, according to Clinebell. Several co-located agencies offer case management, job placement services, legal . The Pacific Sun contacted Cook through Facebook for comment on the allegations. Kennedy claims he watched Cook take an intoxicated female camper, who was stumbling when she walked, out of the camp. You hire the boosters, Miller said during a September 2021 Human Rights Commission meeting. Fresh off tens of millions in local contracts, the Urban Alchemy founder now has her sights set nationwide. For longtime Bayview resident Yvonne Dillon, the nonprofits Miller has founded have been a blessing for the area because they provided jobs for people who had a hard time finding work. At about midnight on Jan. 7, 2022, the fire department responded to a report that a stillborn baby was found in the portable bathroom of a tent village referred to as a Safe Sleep Site.. Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for four years and running the Homeless Street. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) The Clean. On top of that, the city is also reeling from the rapid rise of housing costs and government cutbacks on social services. They were salesmen, you know, Powelson said. The stillborn baby was found at a site that was located in a rotunda in front of San Francisco City Hall. 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. Know Your City! Urban Alchemy officials reject that characterization, saying they told Los Angeles officials they didnt want police involved in outreach to the unhoused and didnt coordinate with officers during sweeps. While campers who come into the lot will still be without permanent housing, Urban Alchemy CEO Lena Miller says this type of site can be a first step towards that goal. Reduce the number of homelessness-related calls to dispatch, in areas where the CART program's community-strengthening interventions have occurred. In this case, unfortunately, our staff was not informed of the pregnancy by the resident or her partner during intake nor were there any noticeably apparent signs that the resident was pregnant, Tyler said. After Clark-Johnson, director of residential services, and Hammonds, chief of training, stopped coming to the camp on a regular basis, two Urban Alchemy employees, Mike and Joseph, whose last names are unknown, took over. 2023 KCRW All Rights Reserved. Temporary housing for individuals, men and women with children. We dont have anything that says Security. We call ourselves practitioners.. I looked on their website and it was hella vague. 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. And, its always a firing offense., Theres no such thing as consent here, Clinebell wrote. For Urban Alchemys Executive Director Lena Miller, the organizations rapid San Francisco expansion is just the beginning. He asked if I want to do a line and I said sure. Funding would come from Austin Public. He wants the city to outlaw camping on sidewalks and in parks altogether. The stations are dropped off and picked up daily by United. The three organizations are the inaugural members of the Austin Street Outreach Collaborative. But there have been very notable setbacks in Urban Alchemys projects in the Bay Area and beyond that call into question the efficacy of this approach. Downtown Streets Team employs local homeless populations to clean community spaces in San Jose and San Francisco. That was predatory. We collaborated with everyone from the homeless to local business owners to unite the community and clean up the area. 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. But another councilmember who plans to open safe camping sites, Joe Buscaino, says enforcement is part of the point. I was going to hit him, but UA escorted him off the property.. A fucking turd., Matt Smith can be reached at [emailprotected]. Urban Alchemy made their first contact with Sausalitos homeless residents on Feb. 13, 2021, about two months after the first tent was pitched, according to Robbie Powelson, a former Sausalito camper and president of the Marin Homeless Union. Urban Alchemy secured the bulk of its work during the pandemic. The organization has created 24 safe and clean public toilets in Tenderloin and other parts of San Francisco with high homeless populations and given homeless individuals jobs cleaning and maintaining those toilets, BART stations, the Civic Center area, downtown streets, and parks. Was the conspiracy theory label used too early? Urban Alchemy made their first contact with Sausalito's homeless residents on Feb. 13, 2021, about two months after the first tent was pitched, according to Robbie Powelson, a former Sausalito camper and president of the Marin Homeless Union. We can give them the structure.. Her group has gone from providing monitors for Department of Public Works toilets and supplanting the police in various capacities Downtown to potentially taking on new roles as a San Francisco 911 first responder team and the operator of a network of government homeless camps in Portland. Los Angeles has opened its first government-run homeless encampment on a quiet, commercial block beside the 101 freeway in East Hollywood. We have to have wrap around services but we also have to have a compassionate informed connected engagement mechanism and I believe that the work of CIRCLE is a part of that mechanism," explains Tyler. In our experience, cleaning is one of the . A parking lot has been turned into a homeless encampment that offers 24-hour security and free meals. Mara Paradox, a nonbinary exhibition artist hired months ago, was in their second training after they relapsed in drug use and went back into rehab. 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. 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. 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. Security is something totally different. The situation came to a screeching halt after another Urban Alchemy employee told her Josh was taking time off work because he was getting married that weekend. 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. By the end of this year, however, he needs it back. If necessary, employees call paramedics, homeless outreach teams or if confronted with violence or the threat of violence police. To achieve this, Elliott encouraged landscape architects to continue to design for everyone, not specific populations. "For months, Councilmember O'Farrell's office worked with a non-profit outreach partner, Urban Alchemy, as well as the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority (LAHSA) to place more than 180 unhoused individuals (as you noted) who had formerly been living at Echo Park Lake into transitional housing." Copyright 2021 Capital & Main Sidewalks once crowded with people doing or selling drugs are now more passable, these people say. 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. Know Your City! California is ranked number 1 in homelessness, with nearly 130,000 homeless individuals, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and numbers only continue to rise. bitea dose of arts, culture and more. The idea of providing designated areas for unhoused people to camp, with bathrooms and access to social services, isnt new. DM B. At the end of the day everybody has to have respect you know? | Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, By clicking Subscribe you confirm you have read and agree to our. Founded in 2018 with 30 staff, Urban Alchemy started out by providing one program that monitored public bathrooms in a San Francisco neighborhood. Despite skepticism from some homeless advocates, Urban Alchemy sees its separation from law enforcement as central to its mission. The person in question could be Powelson. No one wants to touch that kind of liability.. Still, though Urban Alchemy said it doesnt recruit or advertise, it currently has more than 4,900 applicants. In December 2021, the Sausalito City Council approved a $463,620 contract with Urban Alchemy for around the clock site management services, from January through June 2022, at the Marinship encampment. In addition, three homeless individuals are suing the organization for civil rights violations by Urban Alchemy employees. Ian Clark-Johnson and Loving Lou Hammonds told the campers they came to help and make them more comfortable. 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. 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.. Many team members spent time in prison and surviving that was possible, in part, because of an ability to deescalate a situation. When we became aware of this situation, we quickly identified the resident and helped connect her with emergency medical care. Fresh off tens of millions in local contracts, the Urban Alchemy founder now has her sights set nationwide. Homelessness Rate: 0.93%. One of the worlds richest regions has some of its starkest divides, with its top 10% of households holding two-thirds of its wealth. Hammonds said employees dont stop peoples addictions and dont force people on sidewalks to move although people usually do when asked. 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. Miller became a board member last month. Urban Alchemy asserts that spending 20+ years in a confined environment teaches instincts that cant be learned in a classroom, making their practitioners uniquely qualified to work with homeless people. Heres what we know. With so few reviews, your opinion of Urban Alchemy could be huge. The Nightmare Espionage Act That is Killing Julian Assange and the First Amendment. 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. 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. The organization also reported reversing 123 drug overdoses using Narcan nasal spray. Because a city this offbeat deserves a newsletter with some We can help them recruit. 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. Josh responded that he would take care of it. 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.. The campsite, he said, offers a safer place to sleep than the streets. And then well be out of the way of all the looky-looers too, he said. 'Urban Alchemy' responds to LA's homeless crisis 5 January 11, 2023, 8:41 PM Los Angeles is seeking answers to the homeless crisis. "When you can hone in and craft those skills that come from people's life experience into what can be used to work with our homeless sisters and brothers we've seen that it really has an impact.". Including them as part of the community helps ensure norms are met. And the Biden administration, responding to a national surge of homicides, is investing $500 million in community violence intervention. Whether you are an abolitionist or a police cheerleader, we all agree whats been done in the past is not working.. Los Angeles, CA. . Urban Alchemy won a $10 million contract to operate the safe sleeping site, or tent village, on Fulton Street in May of 2020. She has taken these young men, embraced them, given them a job to do when they get out of jail.. In San Francisco, a shooting early last year highlighted workers role in the line of fire as private patrols paid with city funds. Employees dont always succeed in deterring violence. They helped pick up trash, brought pizza and smoked concentrated marijuana oil out in the open with the homeless residents, according to Powelson. Start your review today. 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. Miller said her organizations rise doesnt owe to her relationships with Nuru and Breed, though, but rather what it offered to cities overwhelmed by street problems. In 2021, San Francisco hired Urban Alchemy to take on a slightly different task: patrolling areas of the city with high concentrations of homeless camps and offering resources to those living outside. 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. Many . In general, the countys coordinated entry system prioritizes people based on a vulnerability index that measures physical and mental health. The woman who spent time in the bushes with Josh had witnessed the incident and explained to the police what had occurred. I know just about everyone in the city, she said. Urban Alchemy has helped me to learn to help myself, Paradox said. She previously covered immigration and local news for the Albany Times Union and the Alabama state legislature for the Associated Press. Wayne Shorters all seeing eye: A tribute and final conversation with the jazz pioneer, Adam Scott, Lee Edward Colston II, and Sandy King Carpenter on The Treat, Wintering and enchantment: A pathway to healing and happiness, Born of persecution, Parsi cooking melds Persian and Indian cuisines. Los Angeles is seeking answers to the homeless crisis. I heard it happening. The marginalization of homeless individuals often leads them to ignore the social norms of public space. The simple action of donning a yellow shirt and cleaning the community restores their dignity as people and members of their community. Most of our team have served life sentences in prison. Shes just mad because I wont let her suck my dick, Josh said to the police, according to two campers. sues owner of Tenderloin boba cafe linked to alleged theft operation for horror story health code, housing violations, Mayor London Breed vows to fight for more police officers in upcoming San Francisco budget talks, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). When our person is wrong, the organization provides discipline and training, she said. Alejandro Sanchez, who is on the clean team explains their approach. Were a social enterprise that engages with situations where extreme poverty meets homelessness, mental illness and addiction. He later bought her a sandwich, prayed with her, and took her to the Tenderloin Linkage Center. All Rights Reserved. Heres what we know. Urban Alchemy is moving the needle where nobody else is really able to move the needle, which is because theyre doing the same old, same old, Miller said. Each response includes a licensed mental health worker. 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. Hassan Halfin, an Urban Alchemy supervisor who served 30 years in prison, said, I was amazed at how people were just lost in drugs, hustling, just walking around looking crazy. ADVERTISING Advertise Legal Notices Obituaries Writing An Obituary Submit an Obituary, COMPANY INFO Job Opportunities Privacy PolicyTerms of Service, What to Include in Your Marin County Obituary, Nikki Silverstein is an award-winning journalist who has written for the Pacific Sun since 2005. That, however, is a slow process, and the county has a long waiting list. Urban Alchemy has been an invaluable partner in keeping our city safe, clean, and welcoming for all. Our people tell the rest. After I was done, he let me keep the 20 dollars., Gossage gave the employees name off the record because she said hes the only Alchemy person I could trust.. 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. Fax: 1-202-898-1185, Copyright 2008 2019 When a neighborhood, street or intersection earns a reputation as a place to avoid, we turn it around. We can give them the training. Low cost affordable housing for individuals and families. 1. 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.) The best of what to see, hear, eat, do, and more. We recognize the humanity in those who are struggling and we treat them how we once wished others had treated us. Urban Alchemy saved 85 lives in 2018, through Narcan deployment, which brings back people from drug overdoses, and providing water to dehydrated people. Miller said this transforms the paradigm of how the police see us, and how everyone in society sees us.. The site also provides showers, three meals a day and 24-hour security. We also acted immediately to notify the proper support and authorities, he said. The class laughed. To date, Downtown Streets Team has secured over 1,900 jobs and homes for people. One organization the city is working with, Urban Alchemy, was founded to provide career opportunities for the formerly incarcerated. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. We dont have a badge. People like Ronda Briggs, who was once homeless, hope to provide non-emergency help, homeless outreach and referrals to supportive services. David Sjostedt can be reached at [emailprotected]. Urban Alchemy provides four core services: community engagement and outreach, interim housing, hygiene services, and street-cleaning services. Downtown Streets Team employs local homeless populations to clean community spaces in San Jose and San Francisco. Hammonds sweeps up trash along Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin. Urban Alchemy launched in 2018, training the formerly homeless or incarcerated to de-escalate conflict, respond to overdoses and foster connection on the streets The CIRCLE pilot is part of $1 billion the city will spend confronting the homeless crisis this year 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. Today, it's a $50 million agency with 1,200 employees . Urban Alchemy said the nonprofit is supporting employees by paying a living wage and offering mental health insurance and therapy. 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. One reason the city cited for retaining Urban Alchemy was the amount of time the Sausalito police were spending at the camp. The workers most of them rebuilding their own lives after being incarcerated might ask people to move tents off sidewalks so children can walk to school, pick up syringes or rush in to reverse one of the citys frequent drug overdoses. Urban Alchemys performance the value of the interactions it has on the streets is difficult to measure. Instead of an hourly wage, they offer a non-cash basic-needs stipend, case management, employment services, and a support network within their community. 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. Some campers were offended by several of Joshs numerous tattoos, which include white supremacist symbols. In addition to CIRCLE, Urban Alchemy runs the city's mobile shower and restroom program, has "clean teams" working on streets with encampments, and operates several interim housing facilities. 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. Helping with that transformational experience takes extensive preparation, said Lola Whittle, president of the Urban Alchemy board of directors. 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. "They've been great," he said. 636 Eye Street, NW At least six lawsuits have been filed against Urban Alchemy since it was founded in 2018. She envisions eventually helming a nationwide homelessness organization that provides direct services and also acts as a consultant to cities looking to set up similar outfits of their own. Robert Milton, a supervisor at the Department of Public Works, the agency that funds much of Urban Alchemys work, said seeing people who served long sentences holding on to a steady job sends a message. Despite enjoying fairly broad support in the neighborhood, though, the nonprofit has also faced an array of criticism. 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. Joseph gave me a quarter ounce of weed. I believe it provides a good service for the community, said one, who only gave his first name, Eugene. We provide a safe community for people to be in, so they're not out on the streets, said Miller. And this is not easy., According to a report by the City Administrative Officer, the cost of the new East Hollywood campground runs approximately $2,663 per person per month. They allege he is a bully. Urban Alchemy is "moving the needle where nobody else is really able to move the needle, which is because they're doing the same old, same old," Miller said. They never said they were working for the city. A turd. During training, students learn Urban Alchemys seven values respect, integrity, empowerment, empathy, self-discipline, self-control and self-esteem. They can go to sleep at night, no one's going to touch them, hurt them, creep in their tent, she said. A video shot earlier this year by Deschamps shows Josh yelling at Kennedy. Kirkpatrick Tyler, head of government and community affairs for Urban Alchemy, said it did not house pregnant women at the site as a policy but that staff was unaware of the pregnancy. The San Francisco Standard. All Rights Reserved. Portraying difficult subjects in art can be juicy and colorful, Culver City eliminates honors English in attempt to reach racial equity, LAs Black students see fewer cops, more resources 2 years into achievement plan. Urban Alchemy saved 85 lives in 2018, through Narcan deployment, which brings back people from drug overdoses, and providing water to dehydrated people. Theyre not just getting out of prison and putting them out there.. To do that legally, courts have said, city officials first must provide alternatives. The organization holds $62 million in contracts in San Francisco while also providing homeless services in a half-dozen cities. Urban Alchemy provided services to homeless residents in Sausalito for almost a year. The idea is that while police are trained to respond to active threats, life has trained CIRCLE team members. If you have no self-control, no discipline, or choose to take it personally, he said, this is not the job for you.. He wasnt trying to sell it., Mike drank a beer while working, according to Kennedy. Wilson says Urban Alchemy workers dont fit the definition of patrol officer or security guard, and therein lies their advantage. 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 second worker was shot in April by an assailant who approached from behind, though the organization and police have not discussed a possible motive. The four-bedroom residence serves as . At times, tension has escalated between Urban Alchemy employees and the people theyre tasked with helping. 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. Thats when the lot is scheduled to become a construction site. You have entered an incorrect email address! Campers can bring in their own tents and whatever other belongings fit inside their assigned space. A comprehensive rundown Throughout much of that period, Mike and Joseph oversaw the camp and helped move the encampment from downtown Sausalito to Marinship Park last June. Curating the best of The Standards top-notch reporting, every Saturday. Hammonds admitted that such incidents have occurred, despite training that if you put your hands on someone, you lose your job.. Councilmember Ward is the chair of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, an integrated array of stakeholders committed to preventing and alleviating homelessness., Dispelling myths about who the homeless was paramount to all three speakers, but Elliott highlighted that in San Diego, the cause is primarily economic. In Los Angeles, homeless advocates accused Urban Alchemy, which was hired on a six-month, $350,000 contract to offer shelter to people living at Echo Park Lake, of acting as an arm of law enforcement to clear encampments. The site closed in June 2022 after operating for a little over two years. Employees get paid starting at $21 an hour and benefits, according to Urban Alchemys latest city contract. Miller earns $220,000 a year, according to the same contract. The following year, it won $2.3 million to operate a similar site. Urban Alchemy has helped me to learn to help myself, Paradox said. It represents a new strategy meant to corral the tents and cobbled-together structures that currently stand in parks, on sidewalks and below freeway overpasses, while providing services to the unhoused. One person claims they had to resort to sex work after the city allegedly destroyed their encampment. 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.