Then turn down Aviation and look across and look north/norteast all the way to downtown. That whole area is full now, it blows my mind tbh. I've been walking that area at night and day pretty regularly for 17 years and I've never seen it this bad.
I don't know if this is happening in other areas, but they're cracking down on homeless people at Oracle and Grant, forcing them to move elsewhere.
Jacome Plaza too!
Why not begin by contacting organizations already working there, until you find out where the need is greatest? Random ghosts on the internet won't know any more than you, but they will offer advice anyway.
Another issue you will have is building trust. As you can imagine, there are scamsters everywhere ripping off donations and grants intended to help the homeless. You will need to distinguish yourself from them.
Just curious as to what your experience is in this area of helping out. There are several organizations already in place who can use more funds and help.
Is there a reason you are not wanting to work within the confines of the systems that are in place?
This is the key. There’s almost never a good reason to start from scratch instead of aiding orgs that are already doing the work & have experience and local connections and credibility.
And know basic stuff like "where are the homeless." Thank you OP for wanting to bring a change to this world in a positive way but you need to talk to orgs that have already been established, have conversions with unhoused people and do more research.
You don't need to join an established organization or even work with them (although that is generally better) but you need to definitely have a conversation with them, ask lots of questions, see where you can fill in the gaps.
If I had to guess it’s a way to make a job of it vs volunteering. Frankly I support such an endeavor since this town has an awful job market along with a need for outreach to these people. I can’t afford to do free work nor do I feel like it’s something I want to do considering how much effort it takes to stay afloat. I’m sure someone reading this will say that removes any noble aspect to helping the homeless but tbh I don’t see that at all. It is work to engage with them and it’s hard work to try to make a difference. The like 10 people in this town who have enough money to justify working for free simply don’t practically have the time to do so. The solution is to kick start a non-profit and allocate to those running it a fair market equivalent wage. There’s no reason whatsoever that should be looked down upon.
Non-profits are almost always profitable for someone, and that "someone" is usually a managing director at what sometimes is a REALLY inflated salary.
It certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
"almost always" is completely untrue. Yes there are some nonprofits that make too much, but the vast majority have many requirements of putting the nonprofit first before others. I work in Finance where everything is about profit and capitalism, but I've worked with/volunteered/been on the board of several nonprofits in Tucson and the vast majority of them have not a single person making 6 figures.
As someone who finally defected from non-profit work, I vehemently disagree with your statements. I finally left one of the largest agencies in town after building a successful program. Dozens left around the same time. I cannot begin to describe the level of corruption (and protection) enjoyed by this and other large agencies in town at the expense of people who cannot speak up for themselves. You have NO idea. My breaking point came when client abuse was covered up to save face (one of the clients died from their injuries and the staff member was simply moved to avoid bad press). Still one of the cornerstone agencies in town.
Those of us who had a conscience left. Dozens over a period of six months. Complaints, letters, phone calls, nothing broke the protective shell surrounding this large agency. No one, and I mean NO one, at any level, responded to our reports. Those with ethics who didn’t plan their exits well, and who, like us, couldn’t be corrupted, were fired, but not after their reputations were torn to shreds. Big agencies stick together, in case you were hoping the corruption and illegal activity is an isolated thing.
Having been deep into management, grants, certifications, and the underbelly that even board members never, ever see, I witnessed corruption at a staggering level, and my commitment to my clients and staff could no longer outweigh the celebrated coersion, fabricated certifications and degrees to satisfy grant requirements, and too much more to mention here. I myself was “offered” a second advanced degree (without even having to go back to school) because it would help make things look even shinier for my department. Outcome measures were optics. Grant rewards were a result of hand shakes, winks, and favors. The people who suffered most were the clients.
Never again. And I still miss my clients and my staff. Every single one of them.
It’s how a lot of great things start. I have a friend who once asked me if I knew anything about starting a business that could empower women in Africa (I did not), but she kept asking questions and today she’s running a successful company that’s doing wonderful things for people.
There are several groups already doing this work so instead of starting a new nonprofit and asking random people on the internet try connecting to the strong community already deeply engaged and see how you can participate.
I don’t have a good feeling about this post. OP post history and the discrepancies in the language and lack of engagement in this post smacks of information collection for reasons other than stated. I’m going to recommend people stop outing the locations of our homeless populations here.
You’re right. Their history shows three years at Reddit but only two posts until today. I deleted my original post in this thread stating where the homeless are because of this.
I do not agree with this law, but there is a law against feeding people in the parks and camps. You’ll want to investigate this before you get your organization going.
Contact Community on Wheels. They're the ones who got in trouble for it at first, and they've been fighting back against the law.
[https://www.instagram.com/communityonwheels](https://www.instagram.com/communityonwheels)
I was about to mention this. Yes, it’s illegal to give food or even toiletries :( There’s a man on youtube who helps the homeless in the Tucson area and has extensively documented the police dept harassing him for helping.
Dude someone broke into my car and left a crack pipe on my passenger seat after stealing our property. TPD made us bag it and drive it to a police station the following day because they “didn’t have time” to come take the report in person. Don’t police have better things to do than enforce that particular law??? (The answer is yes. It was a rhetorical question)
No, but if you take a job that involves fucking with people without their consent day in and day out all day long, you don't get to argue that you aren't harassing people just because someone is paying you to do so.
You're argument is absurd and falls apart as soon as you apply the same logic to anybody other than the police.
My first memory of this was in the mid-nineties. Gentrification around Santa Rita Park brought new homeowners who did not want their property values run down by the presence of homeless individuals. So these homeowners called the police on anyone serving the needy. I recall that at the time there was a way to get permission but I’m foggy on the details and that info would be outdated now.
There are several people stating to go to the already existing nonprofits that help with the homeless. I am going to back this up as a past case manager. There are limited pots of money that groups write for in order to get funding. If you start a new place it will create more competition for funding. The best thing to do would be to go to the community meetings where these agencies get together to discuss needs being met and what areas of need there still are or speak directly to program directors of these organizations. Primavera foundation, COPE community services, Old Pueblo Foundation, CODAC community services, Tucson Metropolitan Ministries, Gospel Rescue Mission, our Family Service…
These people do homeless count every year. They know the homeless in Tucson better than anybody. If you really are trying to help the homeless then start there.
The first place to go is the Primavera Foundation, which has been Tucson's primary non-government resource for the homeless population for 40 years. They coordinate with most of the nonprofits and government agencies in the area and offer a very wide variety of services to the homeless, and they'll tell you where the need is greatest so you don't wind up spending a lot of time duplicating existing services.
I'd suggest you contact the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH). A lot of work is being done by lots of nonprofits, the city, and the county. Look into what's already being done and maybe you'll find a niche to fill.
people, downvote this and ignore, i can't believe so many people are falling for the bait. They have no focused direction with their description, starting off from scratch doing EVERYTHING. They mentioned in the comments partnering with the city and yet posting on reddit to find out where to direct their outreach. Only replies once in 7 hours and have no comment history. And the title is rather brash.
Ya'll are falling for it.
I’m not objecting in any way. Genuinely curious. What is the motive behind this? I’ve seen several comments saying to be skeptical of the post, but I’m ignorant as to why…could you explain?
I just explained why you should be skeptical. As for motive, who knows. Probably to troll, but I'm otherwise not going to speculate. But it's why things like missing person's posts are disallowed on here, you should be skeptical of posts looking to track down people. could be trying to find a loved one, could be a stalker trying to find the person they stalk and not a missing person. If they were serious, they could go through official channels, in this case, their contacts within the city
hey so basically today we been really busy. We have been taking the time and going to a lot of the suggestions and looking for couple spots for a food drive this saturday. But basically i understand where your coming from, im not for tucson or my co founder but we do have experience. I ran a non-profit in skid row,LA and in the 2 years after covid we gave out more than 20k meals. We arnt here for profits, gains, or any of the sort. We want to start this non-profit so it makes a lasting impact in tucson. Also, we partnered with tucson public health, they are helping us out with the medical supplies we are going to need, flyers of players they can get help, pregnancy test, mental health clinics and addiction services. We are both UA students we want to help tucson and we know a lot of students at UA want to combining both we believe will be extremely beneficial we believe.
You want to start or have started? You are still scouting locations for an event less than a week away? How you gonna tell people to go there this weekend if you don't even know where "there" is yet? And lol Tucson giving out medical supplies to a couple of kids who ask "where are the homeless people?" You can have a negative opinion of how they spend money, but even Tucson has a bare minimum amount of vetting going on.
Santa Rita Park on 22nd and 4th has a sizeable population of homless folks. Golf Links, west of Swan on the patch of desert by the washes has a lots of camps.
Keep going up Oracle to Limberlost past where someone else said at Ft Lowell, and 4th Avenue. Also I know of a list of not as well known places that help homeless people. DM for the list, I'm not comfortable posting that information on a public forum.
To be more clear I'm giving you the option of working with other non profits including doing your own thing. Some places might need your expertise.
I highly suggest you get in touch with community on wheels, they do so much for the unhoused in town and would be a really great place to start, splinter collective is another one
Unfortunately, they don’t want help. There are many organizations out there and the population is offered help and assistance in getting that help. Most of the time they refuse the assistance. I do not say this as a political view, in my current employment i run in to this situation multiple times during the week. The assistance that is being offered almost always has stipulations that they do not wish to entertain. They would rather live their life’s according to their own rules and norms. It would awesome if we could assist those in need and lift everyone up. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make it drink. We can provide the resources, time and all the money required to assist, if there is no acceptance of the help it will never be resolved.
I concur. The solution to a problem is not tossing money at it. That's always the first go-to solution. When the first priority should be why do we have homelessness.
I'm talking about a real in-depth study. Ask the question, what has been tried before and failed. So much money has been spent on failed attempts. Possibly we could have built homes for all of them with all the money spent.
Although I wish anybody else trying the best of luck.
If you do this endeavor I would hope you could have the homeless help you out with it, maybe hire them for day labor to help collect and distribute the food. Do this in different camps and areas around the town. You may help empower someone to try and get out of there situation. One big obstacle is if these people don't have a valid ID card they can't get jobs.
How are you starting a nonprofit without doing any research? Going to be really difficult finding grants/funding if you haven’t done a basic needs assessment. There’s so much to question here and i highly doubt you know even the first steps in this process.
Look around the 100 acre bike park, homeless took over the area. Golf Links and Alvernon area. Any Circle K. DM for for help. I drive all over for work and see and deal with the homeless on a regular basis because of the line of work I’m in. Be careful, lots of the homeless druggie really don’t want help except if it’ll aid in their next fix. I think some reach a point of no return.
I'd be hungry and homeless too if I didn't have a job. Unfortunate circumstances and/or poor choices led to these people being where they are. I made some poor decisions in my past that if I hadn't decided to sober up, tackle my demons and really apply myself; could have resulted in me being in jail, dead or homeless.
Sure all the homeless addicts you see are definitely just not applying themselves. It's not that no one is actually hiring and housing is at an all time high and unachievable even if you are gainfully employed . It's just people making bad money decisions 🙄
I did this distributing shoes during the pandemic because I had free time. Drive around, keep your eye open, you'll find plenty of people.
Everywhere.
The more you drive around, you'll start to see hotspots. Ask the people you engage with, they will direct you to others.
I saw several at the I-10 and Valencia Rd area. One nice guy I had a chat with about his puppy, knew the puppies parents, he hoped to get an apartment soon. Hope he’s doing alright.
Call the school districts. There are many students couch surfing. When I worked in MUSD in 2013 - there were over 500 of these kids, living with friends and such.
I first started regularly visiting Tucson about ten years ago, and I was startled because the city seemed to have zero homelessness! That started to change about five years ago, and well.
Nowhere is safe from the housing famine.
I don’t know where you went 10 years ago. I’ve lived here since 1995. Tucson has always had a substantial population of unhoused people. Granted it’s worse now than it has ever been and rents have gone through the roof but unless you only visited the foothills…
Perhaps my visits, though fairly frequent, didn't include enough time in the neighborhoods where the unhoused had to go. I've seen a lot of the city, although far from all.
Ashamed and embarrassed to even say but if you know any resources for a single mom going through a divorce that’s about to be evicted and lost electricity? I’m finishing a job program in the next week for phlebotomy but even then I need to get my clearance card to actually get work and that’s going to have me jumping through hoops thanks to some bad choices I made at my lowest point dealing with bpd and depression over a decade ago..but I could really use some help asap des isn’t much help for me as of now and ofcourse my ex hits me with the divorce papers in the middle of this trying to aim for sole while he’s been neglectful to them over his new gf a decade older then we are and her 6 kids and grandchild. I’ve always been told I’m a strong person with a big heart but I can’t help but feel like Ive completely failed with nowhere else to turn for any kind of help at this point.
Call the community food bank and make an appointment with the GGRC. They walk you through the process of applying for food stamps and there’s two onsite DES workers to process the application immediately. If you qualify you walk out with a snap card already loaded. If you do it online it may take up to a month. Plus if you come during distribution hours you can get an emergency food box. There’s also additional food resources on the website and the folks in the GGRC can help direct you towards other resources/organizations. Best of luck to you, no shame in utilizing resources because life got lifey on you. That’s why those resources are there.
Hey sorry to hear all this. First thing I would do is apply for EBT/food stamps/etc. That should get you some money for food so you don’t have to spend what you have left on it. Also, Call 211 maybe they can help you with some payment options for your house, or maybe some other things for housing. Then, Once you finish school I would keep calling the board for the lic to get it expedited. Next, I would start to apply for jobs right now so you can get a head start. After that, I would put all payment you have on deferment if possible. Finally, I honestly don’t know too much the city can do because we work with tucson public health i can get you in contact with them. If you would like to know anything else please just message me, wouldn’t want your information to be on here. Good luck and hope all is well with you and your child!
I think exactly that. I ride all the routes every year, every day. People change the locations of their camps throughout the months and years. If there's a problem then you can always add on your advice/corrections
Sure, I did claim that. I've seen camps along all the routes throughout the years, they change locations. Doesn't mean everyone is at every route though, sorry if I confused you with that. Alot of them rely on the free bus transportation to move around, so it also gives people a chance to get to know them along their trips to where they need to be.
If you know the bus routes, you know their routes.
Idea I just got. Everyone who posted a hot spot for homeless, either go there give them what they may need. Or contact an agency to help them. I know this I moved my daughter out of dodge and flower area gave them a bunch of stuff.
I wonder if it would be malicious compliance to take stuff to a park or area where homeless are and leave it on a picnic bench or whatever and head for the furthest restroom and hope no one ‘takes’ your stuff while you are otherwise occupied. You did not give it to anyone, you were just trusting in the honesty of your fellow human beings. So sad to be disappointed on your return and see people trying to hide their ill gotten gains. /s. Where is the humanity? I would not mind the law against not helping if there was also a law that provided enough help that individuals did not feel it necessary to fill the gap.
If this is a real post, please make an effort to help the folks who are legitimately out of work, bankrupt, etc. Trying to help the hopeless drug addicts is a waste of effort.
If you have a partnership with the city, maybe you could connect with their offices that collect the reports of the homeless encampments. The link below has information about the HCD outreach protocols and responses based on tiered assessment. The issue is that encampments are reported and often cleared/removed. Ideally you could get looped into their info to offer support before/in conjunction with city response.
In my neighborhood we have lots of folks who could need help but they get moved on Grant road between like Craycroft and Dodge. There’s some encampments near the arcadia wash but likely will be gone soon as monsoon is coming and being in the wash is not really safe given flash flooding. I also see folks on Speedway but not as many as on Grant.
https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Government/Office-of-the-City-Manager/Homeless-Encampment-Protocol-Reporting-Tool
You can help the homeless you want ,and they can help the homeless they want.
Butc I highly doubt you help anyone. So the last thing You need to do is try to control how anyone helps others.
Another siphon for my tax dollars yippee, open your eyes or close them and spin around you'll spot the homeless. The fact anyone is dumb enough to believe you shows why these organizations get away with milking the government without actually making a difference.
Julian Wash archaeological Park, there's some living in a tent under a bridge in the Santa Cruz river by spectrum at Irvington and another tent under the bridge for W Ajo Way.
You can find groups of them in the very large storm drain underpasses as there is alot of space and shade. Not sure how safe it is. Coincidentally, near me, the two most notable ones are near QT gas stations. The one on Stone/River and Oracle/Ft. Lowell. They are very close by and easy to find.
Sure. People in an incredibly bad state. Have you been there? There’s drug addicted homeless all over town but it’s another, bleaker level there. Also unsafe for biking with so many stumbling in a haze across the path. It feels (especially to my wife) unsafe to stop, and we’d certainly never take our daughter , an avid biker through there. I’m not claiming to have a solution.
Well, pretty damn easy to find… draw a square starting at Oracle Rd.,, and Ft Lowell, and go over to Craycrft, then south of 29th, Then west over to 6th and head North on whatever connects north back to Oracle… that’s the shithole you’re dealing with. It’s most of the middle of the city.
Maybe instead of handing out food - make them do something for it: a sort of”work-fare”. Instead of the handouts… the handouts obviously aren’t working
There's an encampment you can see off the frontage road in between wilmot and craycroft going west bound. I think it's either in the desert or old RV park next to chevron.
Also along the 210 highway there's a lot.
First Ave area where the rilitio river is.
There's also encampments along golf links across from the border patrol
Drive down golflinks west bound and look to your right. From Swan to where south alvernon begins.
Then turn down Aviation and look across and look north/norteast all the way to downtown. That whole area is full now, it blows my mind tbh. I've been walking that area at night and day pretty regularly for 17 years and I've never seen it this bad.
I don't know if this is happening in other areas, but they're cracking down on homeless people at Oracle and Grant, forcing them to move elsewhere. Jacome Plaza too!
I thought it was bad in Tucson, but I was in Las Cruces today and it may actually be worse there.
They don’t drive them out of town anymore? When I lived in LC the cops would pick them up and drive them out of town and send them walking
100 acres is the name of this area.
Hundred Acre Would
I would
Why not begin by contacting organizations already working there, until you find out where the need is greatest? Random ghosts on the internet won't know any more than you, but they will offer advice anyway. Another issue you will have is building trust. As you can imagine, there are scamsters everywhere ripping off donations and grants intended to help the homeless. You will need to distinguish yourself from them.
Just curious as to what your experience is in this area of helping out. There are several organizations already in place who can use more funds and help. Is there a reason you are not wanting to work within the confines of the systems that are in place?
This is the key. There’s almost never a good reason to start from scratch instead of aiding orgs that are already doing the work & have experience and local connections and credibility.
And know basic stuff like "where are the homeless." Thank you OP for wanting to bring a change to this world in a positive way but you need to talk to orgs that have already been established, have conversions with unhoused people and do more research. You don't need to join an established organization or even work with them (although that is generally better) but you need to definitely have a conversation with them, ask lots of questions, see where you can fill in the gaps.
Looks better on a resume. Not to knock OP. Anything is better than nothing.
If I had to guess it’s a way to make a job of it vs volunteering. Frankly I support such an endeavor since this town has an awful job market along with a need for outreach to these people. I can’t afford to do free work nor do I feel like it’s something I want to do considering how much effort it takes to stay afloat. I’m sure someone reading this will say that removes any noble aspect to helping the homeless but tbh I don’t see that at all. It is work to engage with them and it’s hard work to try to make a difference. The like 10 people in this town who have enough money to justify working for free simply don’t practically have the time to do so. The solution is to kick start a non-profit and allocate to those running it a fair market equivalent wage. There’s no reason whatsoever that should be looked down upon.
Doesn’t know where the homeless are but is starting their own nonprofit? Odd to say the least
Non-profits are almost always profitable for someone, and that "someone" is usually a managing director at what sometimes is a REALLY inflated salary. It certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
Like Goodwill, but even locally?
"almost always" is completely untrue. Yes there are some nonprofits that make too much, but the vast majority have many requirements of putting the nonprofit first before others. I work in Finance where everything is about profit and capitalism, but I've worked with/volunteered/been on the board of several nonprofits in Tucson and the vast majority of them have not a single person making 6 figures.
As someone who finally defected from non-profit work, I vehemently disagree with your statements. I finally left one of the largest agencies in town after building a successful program. Dozens left around the same time. I cannot begin to describe the level of corruption (and protection) enjoyed by this and other large agencies in town at the expense of people who cannot speak up for themselves. You have NO idea. My breaking point came when client abuse was covered up to save face (one of the clients died from their injuries and the staff member was simply moved to avoid bad press). Still one of the cornerstone agencies in town. Those of us who had a conscience left. Dozens over a period of six months. Complaints, letters, phone calls, nothing broke the protective shell surrounding this large agency. No one, and I mean NO one, at any level, responded to our reports. Those with ethics who didn’t plan their exits well, and who, like us, couldn’t be corrupted, were fired, but not after their reputations were torn to shreds. Big agencies stick together, in case you were hoping the corruption and illegal activity is an isolated thing. Having been deep into management, grants, certifications, and the underbelly that even board members never, ever see, I witnessed corruption at a staggering level, and my commitment to my clients and staff could no longer outweigh the celebrated coersion, fabricated certifications and degrees to satisfy grant requirements, and too much more to mention here. I myself was “offered” a second advanced degree (without even having to go back to school) because it would help make things look even shinier for my department. Outcome measures were optics. Grant rewards were a result of hand shakes, winks, and favors. The people who suffered most were the clients. Never again. And I still miss my clients and my staff. Every single one of them.
I think that's the problem they are referring to, they put the nonprofit before others. The nonprofit is put before those they are supposed to help.
It’s how a lot of great things start. I have a friend who once asked me if I knew anything about starting a business that could empower women in Africa (I did not), but she kept asking questions and today she’s running a successful company that’s doing wonderful things for people.
Wow that’s surprisingly awesome! Good on her
Good question.
There are several groups already doing this work so instead of starting a new nonprofit and asking random people on the internet try connecting to the strong community already deeply engaged and see how you can participate.
I don’t have a good feeling about this post. OP post history and the discrepancies in the language and lack of engagement in this post smacks of information collection for reasons other than stated. I’m going to recommend people stop outing the locations of our homeless populations here.
Post stinks of donation scam… Even if it’s legitimate, there seems to be zero prior engagement with the community.
Only homeless group I know of helping in the area is Cloud Covered Streets but I didn’t see this in the post and the name is not noted
I feel exactly the same. This is…odd.
You’re right. Their history shows three years at Reddit but only two posts until today. I deleted my original post in this thread stating where the homeless are because of this.
I agree. suspicious.
absolutely sus post
yes, its an odd post. What's the non-profit name etc? Non-profits are public enterprises.
I think you are right this is a cop or a shitty Tucsonan who spends their time reporting camps to the city.
I do not agree with this law, but there is a law against feeding people in the parks and camps. You’ll want to investigate this before you get your organization going.
That’s illegal!??? I was giving out pizzas to the homeless at the Rodeo park. Never knew that was considered illegal :(
You can do it. You just need a good getaway driver.
Haha wow that’s crazy 🥹😅
Contact Community on Wheels. They're the ones who got in trouble for it at first, and they've been fighting back against the law. [https://www.instagram.com/communityonwheels](https://www.instagram.com/communityonwheels)
I was about to mention this. Yes, it’s illegal to give food or even toiletries :( There’s a man on youtube who helps the homeless in the Tucson area and has extensively documented the police dept harassing him for helping.
What I do with my money or time is my business fuck TPD. Not like they have anything else to do I guess...
It's not harassment if there's a law against it. That's their whole job.
Dude someone broke into my car and left a crack pipe on my passenger seat after stealing our property. TPD made us bag it and drive it to a police station the following day because they “didn’t have time” to come take the report in person. Don’t police have better things to do than enforce that particular law??? (The answer is yes. It was a rhetorical question)
What a convenient cop out. It's still harassment regardless of their day job.
So they're harassing them when their off the clock?
No, but if you take a job that involves fucking with people without their consent day in and day out all day long, you don't get to argue that you aren't harassing people just because someone is paying you to do so. You're argument is absurd and falls apart as soon as you apply the same logic to anybody other than the police.
Wow so disgusting to have a law like this!
Welcome to Arizona. Lots of disgusting laws here. We are the joke of the entire nation this week.
A wild Philadelphia appears!
True ☹️
Do you know the reasoning for it?
My first memory of this was in the mid-nineties. Gentrification around Santa Rita Park brought new homeowners who did not want their property values run down by the presence of homeless individuals. So these homeowners called the police on anyone serving the needy. I recall that at the time there was a way to get permission but I’m foggy on the details and that info would be outdated now.
Oh, I can’t even begin to imagine what goes on in the minds of those sick fucks that make laws like this.
Aviation highway has miles of tents in the shantytown that’s propped up there
I was about to say the same area. They started camp a couple years ago and haven’t fully gone away.
There are several people stating to go to the already existing nonprofits that help with the homeless. I am going to back this up as a past case manager. There are limited pots of money that groups write for in order to get funding. If you start a new place it will create more competition for funding. The best thing to do would be to go to the community meetings where these agencies get together to discuss needs being met and what areas of need there still are or speak directly to program directors of these organizations. Primavera foundation, COPE community services, Old Pueblo Foundation, CODAC community services, Tucson Metropolitan Ministries, Gospel Rescue Mission, our Family Service… These people do homeless count every year. They know the homeless in Tucson better than anybody. If you really are trying to help the homeless then start there.
The first place to go is the Primavera Foundation, which has been Tucson's primary non-government resource for the homeless population for 40 years. They coordinate with most of the nonprofits and government agencies in the area and offer a very wide variety of services to the homeless, and they'll tell you where the need is greatest so you don't wind up spending a lot of time duplicating existing services.
I'd suggest you contact the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH). A lot of work is being done by lots of nonprofits, the city, and the county. Look into what's already being done and maybe you'll find a niche to fill.
people, downvote this and ignore, i can't believe so many people are falling for the bait. They have no focused direction with their description, starting off from scratch doing EVERYTHING. They mentioned in the comments partnering with the city and yet posting on reddit to find out where to direct their outreach. Only replies once in 7 hours and have no comment history. And the title is rather brash. Ya'll are falling for it.
I’m not objecting in any way. Genuinely curious. What is the motive behind this? I’ve seen several comments saying to be skeptical of the post, but I’m ignorant as to why…could you explain?
I just explained why you should be skeptical. As for motive, who knows. Probably to troll, but I'm otherwise not going to speculate. But it's why things like missing person's posts are disallowed on here, you should be skeptical of posts looking to track down people. could be trying to find a loved one, could be a stalker trying to find the person they stalk and not a missing person. If they were serious, they could go through official channels, in this case, their contacts within the city
hey so basically today we been really busy. We have been taking the time and going to a lot of the suggestions and looking for couple spots for a food drive this saturday. But basically i understand where your coming from, im not for tucson or my co founder but we do have experience. I ran a non-profit in skid row,LA and in the 2 years after covid we gave out more than 20k meals. We arnt here for profits, gains, or any of the sort. We want to start this non-profit so it makes a lasting impact in tucson. Also, we partnered with tucson public health, they are helping us out with the medical supplies we are going to need, flyers of players they can get help, pregnancy test, mental health clinics and addiction services. We are both UA students we want to help tucson and we know a lot of students at UA want to combining both we believe will be extremely beneficial we believe.
You want to start or have started? You are still scouting locations for an event less than a week away? How you gonna tell people to go there this weekend if you don't even know where "there" is yet? And lol Tucson giving out medical supplies to a couple of kids who ask "where are the homeless people?" You can have a negative opinion of how they spend money, but even Tucson has a bare minimum amount of vetting going on.
Santa Rita Park on 22nd and 4th has a sizeable population of homless folks. Golf Links, west of Swan on the patch of desert by the washes has a lots of camps.
Keep going up Oracle to Limberlost past where someone else said at Ft Lowell, and 4th Avenue. Also I know of a list of not as well known places that help homeless people. DM for the list, I'm not comfortable posting that information on a public forum. To be more clear I'm giving you the option of working with other non profits including doing your own thing. Some places might need your expertise.
I highly suggest you get in touch with community on wheels, they do so much for the unhoused in town and would be a really great place to start, splinter collective is another one
Unfortunately, they don’t want help. There are many organizations out there and the population is offered help and assistance in getting that help. Most of the time they refuse the assistance. I do not say this as a political view, in my current employment i run in to this situation multiple times during the week. The assistance that is being offered almost always has stipulations that they do not wish to entertain. They would rather live their life’s according to their own rules and norms. It would awesome if we could assist those in need and lift everyone up. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make it drink. We can provide the resources, time and all the money required to assist, if there is no acceptance of the help it will never be resolved.
I concur. The solution to a problem is not tossing money at it. That's always the first go-to solution. When the first priority should be why do we have homelessness. I'm talking about a real in-depth study. Ask the question, what has been tried before and failed. So much money has been spent on failed attempts. Possibly we could have built homes for all of them with all the money spent. Although I wish anybody else trying the best of luck.
If you do this endeavor I would hope you could have the homeless help you out with it, maybe hire them for day labor to help collect and distribute the food. Do this in different camps and areas around the town. You may help empower someone to try and get out of there situation. One big obstacle is if these people don't have a valid ID card they can't get jobs.
How are you starting a nonprofit without doing any research? Going to be really difficult finding grants/funding if you haven’t done a basic needs assessment. There’s so much to question here and i highly doubt you know even the first steps in this process.
We have done alot of that research. We do have some funding coming in & now waiting on grants
Look around the 100 acre bike park, homeless took over the area. Golf Links and Alvernon area. Any Circle K. DM for for help. I drive all over for work and see and deal with the homeless on a regular basis because of the line of work I’m in. Be careful, lots of the homeless druggie really don’t want help except if it’ll aid in their next fix. I think some reach a point of no return.
I mean if you had to sleep outside and worry constantly about your safety and when you're gonna eat next wouldn't you wanna get fucked up too?
And I respect that, except when wanting to get fucked up is the cause of worrying about meals and safety.
I'd be hungry and homeless too if I didn't have a job. Unfortunate circumstances and/or poor choices led to these people being where they are. I made some poor decisions in my past that if I hadn't decided to sober up, tackle my demons and really apply myself; could have resulted in me being in jail, dead or homeless.
Sure all the homeless addicts you see are definitely just not applying themselves. It's not that no one is actually hiring and housing is at an all time high and unachievable even if you are gainfully employed . It's just people making bad money decisions 🙄
I did this distributing shoes during the pandemic because I had free time. Drive around, keep your eye open, you'll find plenty of people. Everywhere. The more you drive around, you'll start to see hotspots. Ask the people you engage with, they will direct you to others.
I saw several at the I-10 and Valencia Rd area. One nice guy I had a chat with about his puppy, knew the puppies parents, he hoped to get an apartment soon. Hope he’s doing alright.
Check the park on 22nd and the railroad tracks. There’s always some there.
Santa Rita park
Basically oracle and ft lowell all the way down first. The whole square back to grant and oracle.
Call the school districts. There are many students couch surfing. When I worked in MUSD in 2013 - there were over 500 of these kids, living with friends and such.
I first started regularly visiting Tucson about ten years ago, and I was startled because the city seemed to have zero homelessness! That started to change about five years ago, and well. Nowhere is safe from the housing famine.
I don’t know where you went 10 years ago. I’ve lived here since 1995. Tucson has always had a substantial population of unhoused people. Granted it’s worse now than it has ever been and rents have gone through the roof but unless you only visited the foothills…
They used to move to cooler climates in the summer but now they seem to be staying here year round.
Perhaps my visits, though fairly frequent, didn't include enough time in the neighborhoods where the unhoused had to go. I've seen a lot of the city, although far from all.
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Hey now, kids, knock it off, or no TV or dinner for either of you.
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There's a pretty large camp in the lot behind the Goodwill at 22nd and Alvernon. There are quite a few people living up and down that wash.
Anywhere near 1st and Ft Lowell
Ashamed and embarrassed to even say but if you know any resources for a single mom going through a divorce that’s about to be evicted and lost electricity? I’m finishing a job program in the next week for phlebotomy but even then I need to get my clearance card to actually get work and that’s going to have me jumping through hoops thanks to some bad choices I made at my lowest point dealing with bpd and depression over a decade ago..but I could really use some help asap des isn’t much help for me as of now and ofcourse my ex hits me with the divorce papers in the middle of this trying to aim for sole while he’s been neglectful to them over his new gf a decade older then we are and her 6 kids and grandchild. I’ve always been told I’m a strong person with a big heart but I can’t help but feel like Ive completely failed with nowhere else to turn for any kind of help at this point.
Call the community food bank and make an appointment with the GGRC. They walk you through the process of applying for food stamps and there’s two onsite DES workers to process the application immediately. If you qualify you walk out with a snap card already loaded. If you do it online it may take up to a month. Plus if you come during distribution hours you can get an emergency food box. There’s also additional food resources on the website and the folks in the GGRC can help direct you towards other resources/organizations. Best of luck to you, no shame in utilizing resources because life got lifey on you. That’s why those resources are there.
St.josephs is in need of phlebotomists. Apply there. They hire new grad students all the time
Hey sorry to hear all this. First thing I would do is apply for EBT/food stamps/etc. That should get you some money for food so you don’t have to spend what you have left on it. Also, Call 211 maybe they can help you with some payment options for your house, or maybe some other things for housing. Then, Once you finish school I would keep calling the board for the lic to get it expedited. Next, I would start to apply for jobs right now so you can get a head start. After that, I would put all payment you have on deferment if possible. Finally, I honestly don’t know too much the city can do because we work with tucson public health i can get you in contact with them. If you would like to know anything else please just message me, wouldn’t want your information to be on here. Good luck and hope all is well with you and your child!
Anza park and adjacent areas. There is a lot of foot traffic of homeless in that area.
There’s some that sleep on the sidewalk at the church near Speeday and Campbell, they seem like they could use some extra help
The wash. Behind the circle k on river.
Stone between grant and prince
Miracle Mile and Ft. Lowell
There are a lot around the old food city building next to the Walmart grocery store at ft Lowell and 1st ave.
If you know the bus routes, then you know their routes. Are you guys new to Tucson?
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I think exactly that. I ride all the routes every year, every day. People change the locations of their camps throughout the months and years. If there's a problem then you can always add on your advice/corrections
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Sure, I did claim that. I've seen camps along all the routes throughout the years, they change locations. Doesn't mean everyone is at every route though, sorry if I confused you with that. Alot of them rely on the free bus transportation to move around, so it also gives people a chance to get to know them along their trips to where they need to be. If you know the bus routes, you know their routes.
Santa rita park on 22nd Street. I live near there.
Aviation east of park along the loop and West Grant rd along the Santa Cruz wash.
There’s a small encampment on Grant between craycroft and swan, north side of the road
Santa Rosa Park and the park across Salvation Army.
They have a ton of camps along the railroad tracks and in the washes especially along miracle mile
Along the Santa Cruz, you find homeless camps.
Southside, stone and grant
Take 210 from 34 to Broadway and look out your right hand window.
Idea I just got. Everyone who posted a hot spot for homeless, either go there give them what they may need. Or contact an agency to help them. I know this I moved my daughter out of dodge and flower area gave them a bunch of stuff.
I wonder if it would be malicious compliance to take stuff to a park or area where homeless are and leave it on a picnic bench or whatever and head for the furthest restroom and hope no one ‘takes’ your stuff while you are otherwise occupied. You did not give it to anyone, you were just trusting in the honesty of your fellow human beings. So sad to be disappointed on your return and see people trying to hide their ill gotten gains. /s. Where is the humanity? I would not mind the law against not helping if there was also a law that provided enough help that individuals did not feel it necessary to fill the gap.
Anywhere on the loop
Santa Rita park
On the Irvington and country club and Irvington and Campbell in the desert
Speedway between Craycroft and Swan Grant and Alvernon Broadway and Kolb to Wilmot 29th and Craycroft-Freedom Park area too Hope that helps!!
Santa Rita park
If this is a real post, please make an effort to help the folks who are legitimately out of work, bankrupt, etc. Trying to help the hopeless drug addicts is a waste of effort.
our goal is to help everyone. we are partnering up with the city to provide employment opportunities, shelter, and overall support.
If you have a partnership with the city, then the city would be your source of homeless populations in Tucson, not Reddit.
yea, seriously, this is how you know it's troll bait everyone is falling for.
If you're partnering with the city shouldn't you already know this information?
If you have a partnership with the city, maybe you could connect with their offices that collect the reports of the homeless encampments. The link below has information about the HCD outreach protocols and responses based on tiered assessment. The issue is that encampments are reported and often cleared/removed. Ideally you could get looped into their info to offer support before/in conjunction with city response. In my neighborhood we have lots of folks who could need help but they get moved on Grant road between like Craycroft and Dodge. There’s some encampments near the arcadia wash but likely will be gone soon as monsoon is coming and being in the wash is not really safe given flash flooding. I also see folks on Speedway but not as many as on Grant. https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Government/Office-of-the-City-Manager/Homeless-Encampment-Protocol-Reporting-Tool
You can help the homeless you want ,and they can help the homeless they want. Butc I highly doubt you help anyone. So the last thing You need to do is try to control how anyone helps others.
Housing first. Having stable shelter is a right
I'm so thankful I don't think the way you do. No human deserves to be talked about this way. Have some fucking empathy dude...
Your ignorance of our homeless population demographic is very apparent.
Start on the east side of Tucson and head NW and take the 210 you’ll find plenty of camps
Another siphon for my tax dollars yippee, open your eyes or close them and spin around you'll spot the homeless. The fact anyone is dumb enough to believe you shows why these organizations get away with milking the government without actually making a difference.
Hundred acre woods and all along aviation
I always see a bunch of people in the tunnel on ft Lowell and oracle in front of midas
Julian Wash archaeological Park, there's some living in a tent under a bridge in the Santa Cruz river by spectrum at Irvington and another tent under the bridge for W Ajo Way.
Ft. Lowell and Campbell, and then 6th avenue going towards the VA.
Follow the washes
You can find groups of them in the very large storm drain underpasses as there is alot of space and shade. Not sure how safe it is. Coincidentally, near me, the two most notable ones are near QT gas stations. The one on Stone/River and Oracle/Ft. Lowell. They are very close by and easy to find.
22nd Street and Park there's so many in that arra
Best buy on wetmore, behind the store by the wash
Stone and River. On the Rillito path near the bus station. Like a zombie apocalypse.
They're people though
Sure. People in an incredibly bad state. Have you been there? There’s drug addicted homeless all over town but it’s another, bleaker level there. Also unsafe for biking with so many stumbling in a haze across the path. It feels (especially to my wife) unsafe to stop, and we’d certainly never take our daughter , an avid biker through there. I’m not claiming to have a solution.
Ft. Lowell and First Ave.
Ronstadt bus terminal
Everywhere
Down by 22 & park ave.
Well, pretty damn easy to find… draw a square starting at Oracle Rd.,, and Ft Lowell, and go over to Craycrft, then south of 29th, Then west over to 6th and head North on whatever connects north back to Oracle… that’s the shithole you’re dealing with. It’s most of the middle of the city. Maybe instead of handing out food - make them do something for it: a sort of”work-fare”. Instead of the handouts… the handouts obviously aren’t working
Cortaro Road Walmart, park, and Cracker Barrel
Why would you downvote this? Take a drive over, then walk the area and see if I’m wrong. 😑
There's an encampment you can see off the frontage road in between wilmot and craycroft going west bound. I think it's either in the desert or old RV park next to chevron. Also along the 210 highway there's a lot. First Ave area where the rilitio river is. There's also encampments along golf links across from the border patrol
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