SOH eliminates poverty and dismantles racial and social injustices by promoting the value of education and stabilization, creating connections for youth and community, and empowering young people with the tools for personal transformation. We serve resilient Transition Age Youth (TAY), ages 16-25, who are child welfare or juvenile justice impacted, housing or economic insecure, trafficking or domestic violence survivors, LGBTQIA+, continuing education, or gang impacted, or at-promise. We provide life coaching, counseling and therapy, mentoring, character and leadership development, housing, education and employment support, family strengthening and reunification, crisis services, and financial assistance with the sole purpose of helping our young people to become self-sufficient.
SOH was established 2010 by a group of South Los Angeles professionals who were frustrated by the lack and unmet need of youth homelessness in the south area of Los Angeles, California. With very few or no alternatives for emergency and transitional housing and education services to intervene in their time of crisis, many of these youth were succumbing to street life – homelessness, gangs, unplanned pregnancies, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Since our inception, we have helped over 7,000 youth and young adults with housing, education, basic needs, and leadership development services. We have grown to a county-wide regional organization with program and services in South Los Angeles, South Bay, Compton, and Antelope Valley.