BELIEVE IN
SECOND
CHANCES.
When it comes to homelessness,
DESPAIR is gripping San Diego County.
The DESPAIR of men and women living on our streets.
You’ve seen it. More men, women and even children are experiencing homelessness on our streets. It’s not just downtown. Homelessness is sweeping across all of San Diego County. These neighbors desperately need a second chance.
12,153 people became homeless in 2022, many of them seniors and families.
33,024 adults access homeless services in San Diego County annually
5th largest homeless
population in the entire U.S.
10% increase in homelessness since January 2020
- 9% in City of San Diego
- 19% in National City
- 20% in East County
- 31% in Oceanside
10% increase in homelessness since January 2020
- 20% in East County
- 31% in Oceanside
- 9% in City of San Diego
- 19% in National City
“This is a humanitarian crisis.”
— Donnie Dee, President/CEO, San Diego Rescue Mission
Believe Everyone Can Begin Again.
When you partner with the San Diego Rescue Mission, you’ll help get people off the streets… not just for a day, a week or a month… but permanently.
To address the current homelessness crisis in San Diego County, we’ve launched a new approach to fighting homelessness – the Every Heart Campaign – to dramatically expand our services and offer help that works to individuals in crisis throughout San Diego County.
Together, let’s change the state of
homelessness in San Diego County!
GIVE
HELP
THAT
WORKS
Thanks to the caring support of friends like you, we have a proven track record of helping men, women and children break free from homelessness, abuse, poverty and addiction since 1955.
Now we’re offering our community a bold response to homelessness: Provide immediate help for people who need to escape the streets… and long-term care to make sure they never, ever return there.
This is the goal of our Every Heart Campaign – support men and women as they regain their stability, health and hope for the future.
Through the Every Heart Campaign, your support will nearly double the number of shelter beds available across San Diego County to help get people off the streets immediately – plus provide long-term rehabilitation to end their homelessness permanently.
NAVIGATION CENTERS
There are currently not enough shelter beds in San Diego County, and a key goal of the Every Heart Campaign is to add three more Navigation Centers throughout San Diego County to provide neighbors experiencing homelessness with 30 days of:
- Safe shelter
- Nourishing meals
- Clean clothing
- Critical resources like IDs & Social Security cards
- Case management to help each guest determine their next steps out of homelessness
- Referrals to available social services
These Navigation Centers are a crucial first step in people’s rehabilitation. Our Centers will get them off the streets immediately; that’s when our staff can help them think about long-term recovery in our year-long Mission Academy program.
The need for immediate care in San Diego County is overwhelming. Your support today will add more locations to meet the increasing demand.
Operate the recently acquired Navigation Center to provide 50 beds and related services. Note that the purchase and renovation costs have been supplied by the City of Oceanside.
(Coming Soon) - We plan to acquire property for a future Navigation Center with additional beds to rescue hurting people.
We plan to renovate and refurnish 79 sleeping rooms and 10 community spaces for our Mission Academy rehabilitation program.
We plan to purchase, renovate and provide operating costs at this new, 8-acre Navigation Center, provide 160 new beds, kitchen facilities, classrooms and other necessary accommodations.
— Carla Vanegas, our SDRM Outreach Manager
You can help give long-term help to more of San Diego County too…
HELP THAT WORKS
OUR
MISSION
ACADEMY
PROGRAM
A person-centered, trauma-informed approach to rehabilitation is the key difference in the San Diego Rescue Mission’s approach to fighting homelessness: Mission Academy.
Our 12-month residential Mission Academy program offers a long-term, holistic approach to rehabilitation and recovery. Many will come to our Navigation Centers for immediate care and from there, join our Mission Academy program to focus on leaving behind destructive patterns… permanently.
Here’s how Mission Academy changes lives…
- Daily essentials: Meals, shelter & clothing
- Wellness: Rebuilding wellness through medical & mental health care
- Education: Pursuing education & vocational goals
- Therapy: Addressing the roots of past trauma to develop new, healthy patterns
- Housing: Assistance finding a sustainable housing option
- Employment: Helping our students secure a stable & meaningful job
Our Mission Academy space is in desperate need of refurbishment. Providing a first-class program environment is critical to an individual’s recovery and will allow each student to overcome the issues that led them into homelessness. Your support today will renovate this space so we can meet the growing demand for this program.
— Donnie Dee, our President/CEO
Right now, our
Mission Academy offers 250 beds.
To help create more dedicated spaces and a better environment for healing, we’re renovating and refurnishing 79+ sleeping rooms and 10 community spaces as part of the Every Heart Campaign.
CHANGE THE
STATE OF
HOMELESSNESS
in San Diego County
YOU CAN GIVE HELP THAT WORKS!
Every Heart Campaign Phase 1 goal:
$5 million
Your support today will help DOUBLE the number of shelter beds available to our homeless neighbors. Once our new facilities are in place, we’ll have the capacity to:
- Transition almost 3,000 people off the streets immediately
- Get nearly 700 people off the streets permanently
- Help over 1,100 people transition to a viable next step in their journey out of homelessness… EVERY YEAR.
$5 MILLION
Rescue neighbors in need with help that works.
It starts with people like YOU!
