Like some individuals, Mark Simon, or Pastor Mark as many of us know him, had to deal with a myriad of health and mobility issues for a few years in his life. But most individuals who are struggling to recover from various health issues have a roof over their head — Mark did not. Mark […]
For many 23-year-olds, finding a job is at the top of their to-do list. To Vince, the thought of getting a job seemed impossible. At that time, Vince was living on the streets of Santa Cruz, worrying about his safety and the choices he made. But he wanted to take action and redirect his life […]
If you ask Ray what the future looks like, he will tell you in one word: stable. Ray, a thirty-year-old cosmetologist with a Southern drawl, and his partner, David, found housing and a pathway forward after more than two years of facing discrimination, assault and battling substance use while experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz. Ray […]
When Marcus, a veteran who works in the IT field, told his fiancé Aria she needed to fill out yet another set of papers before getting the keys to their new condominium, Aria’s heart sank. For the past few months, Marcus, Aria, and their three teenaged children were living in emergency hotel assistance due to […]
For the past nine years, Gary, a father and a resident of Santa Cruz, did not know what was wrong with him. By the time he was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness and began his long road to being himself again, Gary had lost a lot of time. Once healthy, he struggled to find work, […]
For Bill, life was stable. As a truck driver for more than 30 years, Bill was married and had a house of his own in Santa Cruz. But once his divorce was finalized, the stability he was accustomed to vanished. In a short time, Bill lost everything and had nobody to turn to for help. […]
For the past year, Angela spent her days soaking in the beauty the many beaches in Santa Cruz. At night, however, Angela would be in dark, motionless parking lots throughout Santa Cruz fearing for her safety, not knowing what she would eat for her next meal. Angela first experienced homelessness four years ago, when the […]
One day, Alex was going to give up. A veteran, Alex had had a stable life and an apartment on 30th Avenue. But over the course of several months, a series of personal crises forced him out of his home. Try as he might to find another place he could afford, he eventually found himself […]
The good news for Suzanne, a 61-year-old mother who had recently been discharged from the hospital, was that she was on almost a dozen waitlists for senior and affordable housing in the county. The bad news was some waitlists were years long, and Suzanne was unsure what she would do. Suzanne had been forced to […]