Community Outreach Programs
New Beginnings is committed to developing partnerships with other groups to ensure the efficient use of our community resources. We respond to clearly recognized needs rather than duplicating services. Currently New Beginnings offers a nine-month life skills training program for low-income parents and their children, a homeless outreach program where we operate a safe parking program for people living in recreational vehicles and a youth outreach program where at-risk youth are offered group counseling. Our services focus on families, teenagers, the indigent, and others in need. We tailor our counseling and outreach programs to specific situations.
Life Skills Training Program
The Life Skills Training Program is a nine month educational group activity that is free to its participants. Funded by grants from various foundations and personal donations, the program is offered in Isla Vista and Santa Barbara. Participants must have a dependent child living with them and be able to make a long term commitment to participate in the program. Parents meet weekly in a two hour group and spend one hour with their teacher/mentor developing individual goals. Some 42 adults and 30 children are enrolled for the 2008-09 school year. Enrollment begins in the fall each year. Contact the Center at 805.963.7777 for further details.
Through this program, we help parents stabilize their lives and those of their children, find permanent housing, improve parent-child communication and give them hope for their future. We teach them effective communication skills, time and money management, strategies for improving self-care involving diet, access to medical care and stress reduction, parenting skills, and spotting danger signs when trouble lurks in their life. We administer extensive testing to measure our success in helping them take control of their life. These results show great improvement in self sufficiency and a sense of personal control over their lives.
Download an application for the Life Skills Program here:
english application
spanish application
Youth Outreach Program
Our youth outreach program at San Marcos and Santa Barbara High Schools and La Cumbre, Santa Barbara and La Colina Junior Highs targets high-risk youth who are referred by the guidance counselors at the school. A male and female team of interns works weekly with youth at the school. The program has been so successful that it has been integrated into a regular part of the school curriculum in order to reach more teenagers in need.
Jail Prevention Program
We added a fourth community-based program this year by taking the essence of our Life Skills program and creating a Jail Prevention Program. Realizing that 84% of people who go to county jail end up returning, we believe we can help these folks find a better option. These groups meet weekly and help the inmates develop an action plan that will keep them drug free and clear of the judicial system. With a gift from two of our valued donors, we offered this program to over 50 in 2008-2009. We have the endorsement of the sheriff and the courts as well. We are tracking arrest records when the inmates are released to measure the success of this new and innovative program.
Homeless Outreach Program
Our RV Safe Parking Program provides an important service for people living in vehicles. Our Homeless Outreach Team, Shaw Talley and Nancy Kapp, meet with perspective clients and after assessing their life situation places them in one of 10 locations provided by local churches and non-profits including a county and city parking lot adjoining the administrative building. Currently over 80 people participate in this program. The RV Safe Parking Project has been featured on national ABC News, NPR, the PBS program, "California Connected” as well as featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. This program is recognized as a unique way for local people to solve a local problem with a collaborative effort and has begun to be modeled in other communities.
Our Case Managers also provides job and housing assistance to any homeless person needing help. From our office at the Salvation Army, Nancy Kapp and Roslyn Scheuerman meet with clients referred from Casa Esparanza, the Salvation Army or the RV project to help them find housing or jobs. Interested parties should direct their calls to Nancy at 805.284.3463