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Youth Help Line
866-752-2327

SDYS
3255 Wing Street
San Diego, CA 92110
619-221-8600

 
 Storefront

Storefront is San Diego’s only emergency shelter program for homeless, runaway, and “street” youth. Youth can access the shelter with or without referral and will be assured a safe place to stay until their lives have been stabilized with the help of professional and caring staff and volunteers.

For a FREE downloadable brochure, click here

 

Last year, 192 youth received safe shelter! During their stay at the Storefront, each of these youth received safe refuge. Our case managers worked with these youth to help prepare them for their next step toward achieving a stable life.

Learn more about the programs of the Storefront Shelter:
 

Night Shelter

The Storefront Night Shelter is a 20-bed emergency shelter--the only one in San Diego specifically designed for homeless and runaway youth. The goal of the Storefront is to stabilize the lives of vulnerable youth. 

  • Staff provide initial crisis assessment and intervention including provision of food, clothing, safe shelter and medical care referral.
  • Case management, drug and sexual exploitation education, and family mediation and counseling work to reunite youth with their family if it is safe and appropriate.  
  • Special arts programming funded by Photocharity encourage expression through music, dance, painting and other media. 
  • Referral to longer-term residential programs or transitional living programs when reunification is not possible.

Day Drop-In Center

  • This program provides street kids with a safe place with supervision and support between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. 
  •  Comprehensive Storefront services are available daily and include food, clothing, showers, laundry facilities, education, recreation, independent living skills and job training, counseling, and case management. 
  • Computer access encourages skill development and provides access to job searches and other resources. 
  • The Independent Living Skills curriculum incorporates the empowering qualities of the Community Youth Development approach to preparing youth for successful independence and healthy engagement in the community.

Street Outreach

More than 2,000 youth are seen annually out on the streets by the Outreach Team.  As part of The Storefront's mission, outreach workers search the streets of San Diego in search of homeless children, providing them with survival information, warm clothing, something to eat, and an opportunity to get off the streets.

Mobile Clinic

SDYS is one of the partner agencies in the Teen Health Outreach Mobile Clinic Collaborative. This project provides street youth with acute and preventative health services. It facilitates connection to a teen-friendly "medical home" and stabilization via street-based case management services.

Thanks to the San Diego County Employees Charitable Organization (CECO)

San Diego Youth Services Storefront outreach has a very busy and important job; they meet and greet homeless, runaway and at-risk youth on the streets of San Diego.  What is one of the most requested thing from these teens on the street? FOOD!! And CECO has stepped up to help us with providing healthy snacks and bottled water for the teens. Items such as granola bars, trail mix, dried fruit, cup of soup and Easy Mac n Cheese (the teens use the hot water at 7-11 to mix these meals) makes such a difference for a young person who may not have eaten for a day. Thank you so much for helping our outreach teams provide our teens with great snacks!

National Council of Jewish Women Aid Homeless Youth in Making Healthy Choices

The National Council of Jewish Women is committed to safer options for at-risk youth. The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) visited our shelter on June 10th to help put together “safer sex” hygiene kits for the outreach team.  NCJW has been supporting our outreach team by purchasing condoms, lubricants, and other items for our health education outreach efforts. This year they also purchased us two large games, a STD Roulette Wheel and a Smokers Roulette Wheel. These will be used by our health educator and staff when they do Independent Living Skills groups and outreach will use them during community tabling events to entice youth to visit our table and spin the wheels for an opportunity to answer health questions related to safer sex and smoking cessation. Thank you ladies for your continued support and spending your Sunday morning with us. 

In N Out Burger Foundation continues to provide assistance to Storefront Drop-in Center and Outreach Teams

Youth who are homeless don’t usually have much when they show up at our shelter, but keeping their items safe and secure is important. For the second year, In N Out Burger has made it possible for us to purchase lockers for our Drop-in Center. Teens can lock up their backpacks and clothes while attending Drop-in Center outings or when they are in school. In n Out also purchased outreach snacks and food for our TAY (Transitional Aged Youth) services. Once a week youth who are 18-14 can come to the shelter for showers, laundry and a hot meal. Your continued support is making a difference for homeless teens in our community.

Thanks You Dancers 4 Humanity!

Dancers 4 Humanity, a community group of high energy salsa dancers, raised over $ 4,300 dollars for SDYS Storefront.  Dancing events took place over three months at venues including Queen Bee, Citrus, Spin, the San Diego Salsa Festival, the Alma Latina Social and a private home. The money raised provides food, clothing and recreational opportunities for teens entering our program. Thank you to the many passionate members giving their time and effort, especially Jessica Greiner, Dennis Bermeo and Daniela Aguilera. Congratulations on your first time event success.  Dance on!

 

 


 

The Personal Story of A Storefont Youth

Grace's Story 
When Grace's parents abandoned her, she ended up living on the streets. With no other clear options, she started using drugs and selling her body for a meal and a place to sleep. Storefront outreach workers found her living under a freeway overpass. Grace was skeptical when she first visited the Storefront, but overwhelmed by her hungry and desperate need for a shower. This was the first step in her recovery to a stable life. After living at the Storefront for two months and working with case managers, she applied and was accepted into our Take Wing transitional housing program. She began working part-time and going to school every day and learning to live on her own. "I believe if it wasn't for SDYS," says Grace, "I would be dead."

Josh's Story
View Josh's story


A view the night shelter sleeping quarters. Youth who stay for more than a few days often decorate their bed to personalize the space

Contact Information:
Phone: (619) 325-3527
 

A special thank you to the following supporters of the Storefront:
Annenberg
FOCUS
Gold Diggers of San Diego
Harbor Kiwanis Club San Diego
Hay Foundation

Pegasus
Photocharity
Martin L. & Enid P. Gleich

Metro Urban Ministries
National Council of Jewish Women San Diego Chapter
Qualcomm
San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO)
San Diego Downtown Rotary
St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church
St. Germaine’s Auxiliary
The Annenberg Foundation
The Thursday Club

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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