Our Ark

Our Ark is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works directly with homeless street youth and young adults, ages 13-25. Those we serve are often living and surviving in tents, cars, abandoned buildings, under bridges, and wooded areas. We provide street outreach, peer mentorship, job and life skills training, as well as self-esteem building. Through consistent, nonjudgmental support from volunteers, neighborhood groups, and other agencies and organizations, our primary goals are to:  provide an empathetic, listening ear; and facilitate pathways to professional help.

Our organization is committed to aiding homeless street youth and young adults through a Family-Social Parental Approach (FSPA). By engaging in street outreach, we offer basic necessities such as food, clothing, and medical care, fostering trust and security. This nurturing, family-like environment aims to provide stability and guidance, ultimately leading to stable housing and a promising future for those we support.

Our Ark is more than an organization. We are a family community unit bringing the face of home to the streets. We are on a journey together with each individual young person we encounter, building relationships and social networks, with a foundation in friendship, love, and hope. The change comes about largely through young people advocating to be involved in their own independence and treatment. 

PROGRAMS 

1.  Street Supportive Outreach and Engagement: Street outreach workers engage with homeless youth and young adults where they are—on the streets, in parks, or other locations—to build trust and connect them to services. This can include providing basic necessities like food, clothing, and hygiene supplies.

2. Food Network Team provides regular, nutritious catering of health snacks and hot meals by the community who also learn about the needs of the young people and organization

3. Peer Mentorship Our Ark draws on personal lived-experience, training and education to work alongside and encourage program participants in a goal- and recovery-oriented space. 

4. Rapid Rehousing (RRH) is a homelessness intervention designed to help individuals and families quickly exit homelessness and return to permanent housing. It is a key strategy in addressing homelessness using the FSPA.

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Recognition

We would like to thank Peer Olympia and Olympia Lamplighter for their partnership, which fostered our organization and helping us grow and flourish. We would also like to thank you for supporting our cause. As with every charitable organization, it takes many hands to make light work. we are pleased you have chosen to consider us. Please contact us if you have any questions as you consider us as the organization that you #GiveLocalSPS to. Thank you!