The Oaklandside, 03/17/2023

“Many people who use substances like methamphetamine on the streets have actually started using because they became unhoused,” she said.

Siu ties that pattern to the cost-of-living crisis, although she emphasized that there is no single reason that people become unhoused.

03/01/2023

The president of Molina Healthcare California, Abbie Totten, presents a donationn check to the DST-Sacramento Team.

Petaluma Argus Courier, 02/15/2023

"Now fully moved in to his new apartment, Brown credited generous workers with the city’s Downtown Streets Team for helping him furnish the place.

“They came through for me,” Brown said. “They brought me this couch, they brought me the dresser. They got it from friends and family and people they knew, and they gathered it all up and brought it here over a couple of days.”

KTVU, 2/10/2023

A group of Silicon Valley leaders learned some hard lessons Friday about living in poverty in one of the wealthiest areas of the country.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 01/23/2023

“Since launching last fall, a mobile showers program for unhoused individuals has provided clean water, clean clothing and useful hygiene kits for countless Petaluma residents in need.

The mobile showers vehicle – an impressive wheeled trailer containing three separate shower units – began appearing at two Petaluma locations twice a week, but organizers plan to double its availability to four times per week.”

12/20/2022

At San Jose’s Corinthian Ballroom in Downtown on Tuesday, there was a boisterous atmosphere that was part pep squad and part emotional pampering.

"Downtown Streets Team, we are cheerleaders for our team members. Those are the folks experiencing homelessness and working really hard to get out of it," said Chris Richardson, chief program officer for the organization.

For decades, the nonprofit has hosted an annual holiday celebration for those the holidays often forget.

KRON4, 12/17/2022

(KRON) — It’s the holiday season and a Bay Area organization is working to spread cheer to the homeless.

This comes as the weather continues to get colder, and the well-being of the unhoused is top of mind. Ricky Ramos, senior project manager of the Oakland Downtown Streets team joined KRON4’s Stephanie Lin to discuss.

Univision, 11/23/2022

Spanish-language interview with DST-Petaluma Mobile Showers Coordinator Azul Espinoza.

Daily Republic, 09/15/2022

VACAVILLE — Streets Team Enterprises has partnered with Caltrans to clean up freeways in Solano and Napa counties.

It is part of a workforce initiative providing supportive employment to people affected by homelessness and was launched in the North Bay.

Streets Team Enterprises had two crews cleaning freeways in August in Solano and Napa counties. Crews operated from Vacaville to Davis along the Interstate 80 and Interstate 505 corridors, and from Vallejo to St. Helena on Highway 29.

Crews are tasked with litter abatement and other light maintenance as part of the Back2Work initiative funded by the state Department of Transportation and administered by the Butte County Office of Education, organizers said in a statement.

All workers employed in the program are individuals who have formerly or are currently experiencing homelessness.

Palo Alto Online, 08/26/2022

A rapidly growing work program under the auspices of the Downtown Streets Team is creating full-time, paying transitional jobs for its formerly unhoused clients, often leading to permanent employment.

The venture, Streets Team Enterprises, is going well beyond its foundational model of the Downtown Streets Team. The nonprofit, which started in 2005 in partnership with the Downtown Association of Palo Alto, provides vouchers and gift cards to support basic needs such as hygiene, food and rent to clients who perform tasks such as cleaning city streets and parks through the Volunteer Work-Experience Program.

Modesto Bee 08/11/2022

The Downtown Streets Team — a nonprofit that provides homeless people with volunteer work and help with jobs and housing — is getting $2.1 million from Modesto. The money will let the nonprofit continue to operate over three years and pays for two 25-member teams. The City Council voted 6-0 at its Tuesday meeting to spend the $2.1 million. Downtown Streets Team members volunteer primarily in downtown, where they pick up trash and even junk that people have dumped along the roadway. DST operates a second team as part of Modesto’s Camp2Home program.

YR Media, 08/03/2022

Downtown Streets Team aims to build teams that restore dignity, inspire hope and provide a pathway to recover from homelessness. They invite those experiencing homelessness to volunteer beautifying streets and parks, and also offer an enterprise program that provides paid, supportive employment.

This video is part of a 2-year series by YR Media to highlight California-based nonprofits uplifting Black and Brown communities by providing them with a new platform to talk about their work, issues and the people they serve. These organizations are focusing on the needs of housing affordability, income inequality, racial justice and more.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, 08/04/2022

Duke and Penberthy were among the nine this year who took up the challenge by professional photographer Gina Orlando to explore their surroundings through the lenses of donated digital point-and-shoot cameras. The participants are all current or former members of the Downtown Streets Team, a program recruiting people experiencing homelessness to participate in volunteer street cleanups in exchange for supportive services and gift cards. Orlando first offered the group the services of her Beyond the Portrait business’ philanthropic arm, “Pictures That Give,” in 2018.

KCRA3, 05/31/2022

Video news profile on DST - Sacramento.

Mission Local, 04/26/2022

A profile on DST Team Member, Charles Franks and Richard Preston.

Franks is a native son of Bayview Hunters Point, nicknamed “the Black cricket” by his grandma, who raised him, “cause as a baby I fell asleep on all fours, with my butt in the air.”

He has rebounded over and over, from periods of incarceration, homelessness and, recently, the death of his beloved wife, Ritza, to cancer, in 2019. He remains warm, funny, insightful and passionate. Especially about trash.

Every morning he takes his team of two, his picker, his cart and his broom, and does two shifts of trash collection, morning and evening, from 16th to 24th streets, along the Valencia/Mission corridor. He works for the nonprofit Downtown Streets Team and spent the pandemic as a volunteer picking up trash, for gift cards, on the very streets of his hometown, where he lived unhoused for a few years. In March, he was promoted to Team Lead and became a paid employee.

Senior Beat, 03/09.2022

A profile of Charles Franks, DST-San Francisco Team Member.

For a year he was paid in gift cards; he first had to prove he could show up. In exchange for volunteering their time on beautification teams, team members receive case management, employment services, a basic-needs stipend, and a supportive community of peers.

This month, he started earning $18.50 an hour, along with a promotion to Team Lead of Street Team Enterprises, a division of DST, which operates in 16 communities across Northern and Central California. It is funded through grants, contributions and fees paid by various Community Benefit Districts, which are a funded through neighborhood property assessments.

PEW, 10/13/2021

At her lowest, Resheemah “RoRo” White was living in a tent or sleeping on park benches or beneath an underpass in Oakland, California, fearful that her life had bottomed out and she’d never make it back….

PACEs Connection, 10/12/2021

He is sprawled out on the sidewalk, motionless, flushed cheeks framed by high cheekbones. He’s slender, probably in his mid-20s, his straight, coal black hair pulled back, and his orange t-shirt twisted up over his stomach. “He’s OD’ing on fentanyl!” shouts a guy holding a skateboard…

Palo Alto Weekly, 5/27/2021

Local Hero Awards virtual ceremony shares recipients' stories through short films…

Bay Area Reporter, 2/4/2021

Castro business owners heard about rebooted safety plans at the merchant association's first meeting of the year February 4, and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman delivered a lightning round of updates on ongoing city issues, including the pandemic….

The Californian, 2/4/2021

Efforts to address Salinas' homeless crisis is ongoing, even during a pandemic, according to city officials. Addressing homelessness was a big topic discussed during Tuesday's Salinas City Council meeting.

dumpster.com, 1/27/2021

Litter in America – Can You Guess How Much? According to a comprehensive research project conducted by Keep America Beautiful, there are 51.2 billion pieces of litter on roadways nationwide….