BRINGING HOPE THRU STREET OUTREACH

My name is Melissa Moore and I am the Founder/CEO of RISE-Rising Into Self Empowerment

We are a non profit street outreach service provider. We serve the vulnerable population of people experiencing homelessness in Alameda County. Each member in RISE has lived experience so we know the struggle and the rock bottoms. We are here to support our unhoused on the path towards their goals and empower them in them journey out of the darkness.

This is my passion and purpose after I was given hope which empowered me to rise out of homelessness. My 7 yr homeless journey took me down many different paths and dead ends. I always knew there was a way out, but frustration and desperation kept me stuck until I was reminded through a random act of kindness by two SVDP men that took time to connect with myself and my camp mates.

With a new lens I gained clarity and saw how broken the systems are that are in place to help the unhoused and the gaps and roadblocks that need to be fixed or changed.

I gained a lot of experience and contacts in a short period of time, and I began to see change happening. If I am just one voice, then imagine how powerful several can be in bridging the gaps and finding solutions for our tribe.

Our mission to begin empowering the ones still out there starts by doing street outreach to where they are, building connection and trust, assessing their needs, bringing needed supplies including food and hygiene bags, water and camp supplies and referring them to various resources, including medical, legal and housing. We offer case management and support thru transitions and give them tools to empower them to keep moving forward. We network and collaborate with different organizations and service providers in order to expand our vision of what we can do to create better opportunities and solutions moving forward.

As RISE is coming up on it's tenth month, we have had many successes. We have linked our clients with housing, medical care, placed clients in respite, collaborated with other service providers to obtain positive results, stayed true to our advocacy roots and armed our clients with their basic human rights.

In order to continue this mission and provide services to this community I am reaching out to the greater community and respectfully asking for donations.

Your donations will keep the street outreach team stocked with food, hygiene, water, camp supplies, transportation, grocery cards, and other misc, items that we may purchase for our clients depending on the urgency.

It will also allow me to keep getting much needed information out to the public and county entities to detail the work we are doing and it's impact.

We need your donations to continue to build on this firm foundation we have worked hard to lay down. I am always open for any questions or concerns from the community.

I am grateful for your time and any contribution you may be able to offer.

Respectfully,

Melissa Moore

"Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say 'We have done this ourselves."

-Lao Tzu