2019 Fall Newsletter

Read the newsletter here.

More than a roof, families need a strong foundation to rebuild a happy home.

Because of you, Kristan’s baby Brooklyn never spent one day of her life homeless.

“I’ll never forget the night before Brooklyn was born: I was sleeping in a field with just a sleeping bag, as it sprinkled. I went into labor the next morning. I had no idea where I was taking this beautiful baby when I left the hospital. I was in full panic mode leaving the hospital in a cab to go nowhere, when I got the call that PVSS had a room available. Because of PVSS, my daughter has never spent one day of her life homeless.“ – Kristan

Brooklyn as a Baby in 2017

Let’s Share in a Vision…

A Letter from PVSS’ New Executive Director, Mike Johnson

Greetings, new friends and supporters!

I’m delighted to join the wonderful team at PVSS! I am about two months into my role as Executive Director and I feel like I am exactly where I should be. I moved to Santa Cruz from Sonoma County to embrace this opportunity for two reasons: first, I wanted to dedicate my life to an organization that still believes that we need to provide families with much more than just a roof over their heads; second, I discovered astonishing things about PVSS when I researched the organization.

I discovered that, with a budget of less than a million dollars, we work with close to two hundred homeless children and adults each year in twenty-two units and a hundred and thirty six beds of shelter, transitional and permanent housing – and that eighty-two percent of families are graduating into stable housing! Perhaps most surprising to learn was that thirty-eight families had purchased their own homes upon graduating from PVSS! To me, that was the clincher and really showed the power of the organization’s approach to helping families to become self-sufficient and thrive – not just survive – under a roof of their own.

There are still a huge number of families that need our help in the Pajaro Valley. Our highest expression of love and compassion for them is our relentless pursuit of better housing outcomes. I look forward to working with you and helping PVSS to become an even more effective provider of transformative programs and services. Together, we can create a future where all families have safe, secure housing and bright, self-sufficient futures!