Santa Cruz is joining 7 San Francisco Bay Area cities in having a program that encourages some of the city’s neediest residents to connect with the community. Homeless people, who hang out in downtown Santa Cruz, will be able to join the newly formed Santa Cruz Downtown Streets Team in helping to beautify the downtown area, in exchange for food and other vouchers. The 12 year-old Downtown Streets Team is a Silicon Valley non-profit that works to help restore dignity, inspire hope, and provide a pathway out of homelessness. 75 percent of those people who have graduated from Downtown Streets Teams in other cities, and moved on to paying jobs, have remained employed after the first 90 days.
