FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Central Coast CA, May 31, 2022 – People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH) has received a generous gift of $7,500 from the Towbes Foundation. This funding will benefit PSHH’s education program Camino Scholars.
This support will benefit and expand the behavioral health initiatives currently offered in Camino Scholars, which is aimed at addressing the mental health challenges among students throughout the Central Coast. The project will focus on equipping students from low-income and underserved households in Santa Barbara County with healthy strategies for social re-integration and coping with pandemic stress and burnout.
Funds will provide professional development for onsite staff in the areas of mental health and trauma-informed care in education. It will provide resources to augment existing curriculum with counseling strategies, mindfulness frameworks, restorative justice, and creative therapy modalities, such as music education, and outdoor education.
“We thank the Towbes Foundation and their commitment to serving local students,” said Joanna Dominguez, Director of Education. “With this visionary gift, our Camino Scholars program will continue to provide students of all ages with the tools and resources to not only reach higher education, but to thrive in it.”
Camino Scholars serves over 400 students per year at its eleven onsite learning centers. As evidenced by standardized test scores, the curriculum significantly improves math and literacy skills and accompanies students on the path of lifelong learning. The program also helps prepare college-bound students with application assistance, financial aid navigation, career exploration workshops, university campus visits, and mentorship.
To learn more about People’s Self-Help Housing, visit pshhc.org.
About People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH)
With nearly 1,000 units of new housing in its pipeline and founded in 1970, PSHH is the longest-serving nonprofit affordable housing organization on the Central Coast. Our mission of building homes and providing services to strengthen communities and change lives, sees us serving low-income households, families, farmworkers, seniors, and veterans. We also provide welcoming environments for those living with disabilities, youth transitioning out of foster care, and the formerly homeless. Homeownership opportunities through a self-help, “sweat-equity” program have created over 1,200 homes and with a presence in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Monterey counties, PSHH manages over 2,000 rental units, and employs over 200 members of staff. PSHH acknowledges the indigenous people of the territories that our organization occupies, including the Chumash, Salinan, Yokuts, Kitanemuk, and Tataviam people. To read the full land acknowledgement, visit pshhc.org/IDEA. For more information about the organization, visit pshhc.org, email info@pshhc.org or phone (805) 781-3088.
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Media Contact: communications@pshhc.org, (805) 548-2340
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