Our Services
Housing Navigation Services
Awake.org provides hands-on housing navigation and support for individuals facing homelessness or eviction. We go beyond referrals by directly engaging with service providers and ensuring access to real, available resources. Clients receive personalized help with housing, benefits, and connections to critical services like healthcare, jobs, and financial literacy. Our goal isn’t just to get people housed—it’s to help them stay housed and thrive.
DPSS (CBO) Advocate Service Provider
Awake.org is a DPSS Community-Based Organization (CBO) Advocate, helping individuals apply for and manage public benefits like CalFresh, GR, Medi-Cal, cash aid, and homeless assistance. We assist with applications, document uploads, and case issues through the BenefitsCal system, serving as a trusted bridge between clients and DPSS. Our team provides personalized support to ensure vulnerable individuals and families can access the resources they need for stability and well-being.
Case Management + Mentorship
Awake.org provides a powerful dual model of Critical Case Management and Mentorship to support individuals facing complex life challenges. Our case managers coordinate intensive care plans, services, and crisis interventions, while offering mentorship providing personal guidance, encouragement, and lived-experience support. This combined approach addresses both the practical and emotional barriers to stability—ensuring clients not only access critical resources but are also empowered to rebuild their lives with confidence and resilience, realizing they are not alone.
Critical Street Outreach: Action, Not Just Access
At Awake.org, our outreach begins where our clients are—on the streets, in crisis, and often overlooked. What sets us apart is our hands-on, human-first approach: we come equipped with immediate resources and provide on-the-spot transport to shelters, triage housing, and other critical services that meet each person's unique needs.
We don’t just gather data—we listen deeply, assess real-time barriers, and deliver urgent support in the moment. Our outreach goes beyond referrals by offering direct action and hope to those facing generational hardship and systemic neglect. For many, we’re not just a service—we’re the first step toward lasting change.
Employment Navigation: Removing Barriers to Opportunity
At Awake.org, we help clients overcome the barriers to finding and keeping meaningful employment. From interview prep and resume building to providing work attire, transportation, and tech support, we ensure individuals are equipped and empowered to succeed. We also assist with online applications, connect clients to job fairs and workshops, and advocate for those who are justice-impacted, disabled, or returning to the workforce after a long absence. Our hands-on support helps clients not only access employment—but sustain it with confidence.
Mental Health Support Services
At Awake.org, we believe that mental stability is a basic human need and a critical foundation for long-term well-being. Many of the individuals we serve face compounding challenges—including trauma, homelessness, and substance use—that cannot be addressed without proper mental health care. That’s why we work closely with our clients to connect them to licensed therapists, the Department of Mental Health Services, and other trusted providers.
Through these referrals, we help individuals gain coping skills, build emotional resilience, and access the treatment they need to move forward. Early intervention can prevent serious consequences like addiction, hospitalization, or incarceration—while also improving physical health, sleep, stress levels, and daily functioning.
We also advocate for reducing stigma, encouraging open conversations about mental health, and helping clients see that seeking support is not weakness—it’s strength. By fostering emotional well-being, we move one step closer to fulfilling our mission of empowering self-sufficiency, stability, and dignity for all.
Street & Encampment Clean-Up: Restoring Pride, One Block at a Time
At Awake.org, we believe that clean, safe neighborhoods are key to restoring dignity and breaking cycles of poverty and neglect. Through our daily street and homeless encampment clean-up efforts, we work alongside community members, local leaders, and city officials to remove visible signs of disorder—like trash, graffiti, and debris—that signal neglect and hopelessness.
Grounded in the Broken Windows Theory, our initiative addresses the small but powerful signs of decay that, if left unchecked, can escalate into more serious crime and social withdrawal. We not only clean up the streets—we engage the very individuals we serve in the process, giving them a meaningful role in transforming the neighborhoods they live in.
By meeting people where they are, providing real-time resources, and inviting them to participate in the restoration of their communities, Awake.org fosters a sense of ownership, connection, and hope. Together, we’re not just cleaning streets—we're changing narratives, restoring pride, and creating environments where healing and progress can take root.
Additional Services
Alcohol & Drug Recovery Support Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
We know that recovery starts with feeling seen and supported. Many of us have been there ourselves. That’s why we meet people where they are—on the streets, in crisis, or just ready for change—and walk alongside them with real help. We offer peer mentorship, referrals to detox and treatment, help with transportation, clothing, and basic n
We know that recovery starts with feeling seen and supported. Many of us have been there ourselves. That’s why we meet people where they are—on the streets, in crisis, or just ready for change—and walk alongside them with real help. We offer peer mentorship, referrals to detox and treatment, help with transportation, clothing, and basic needs, and provide harm reduction tools like Narcan when needed. Most of all, we offer hope. Whether someone is just starting their journey or finding their way back, we’re here to listen, guide, and support every step toward healing.
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
At Awake.org, we are deeply committed to breaking cycles of violence, hate, and abuse by showing up where we’re needed most — in our streets, homes, and communities. We offer direct support to survivors of domestic violence, including safety planning, referrals, and advocacy, while also engaging in violence interruption and conflict med
At Awake.org, we are deeply committed to breaking cycles of violence, hate, and abuse by showing up where we’re needed most — in our streets, homes, and communities. We offer direct support to survivors of domestic violence, including safety planning, referrals, and advocacy, while also engaging in violence interruption and conflict mediation through trusted community members. Our outreach includes restorative practices, youth mentoring, educational campaigns, and collaborative clean-up efforts that promote safety, healing, and dignity. By addressing trauma and violence at the root, we strive to create communities where everyone feels seen, safe, and supported.
Human Trafficking Support and Prevention Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
Human Trafficking Support and Prevention Services
We stand with survivors of human trafficking by providing compassionate, trauma-informed support and connecting them to life-changing resources. From safe housing and legal aid to mental health care, job training, and reintegration services, we help survivors reclaim their independence and rebuild their lives. Through community education,
We stand with survivors of human trafficking by providing compassionate, trauma-informed support and connecting them to life-changing resources. From safe housing and legal aid to mental health care, job training, and reintegration services, we help survivors reclaim their independence and rebuild their lives. Through community education, advocacy, and collaboration with local leaders, we work to prevent exploitation before it happens—especially among vulnerable populations. Our mission is to break the cycle of trafficking with real solutions, rooted in trust, dignity, and long-term healing.
Justice Impacted - Reentry Support Services
Violent Crime, Hate Crime, and Domestic Violence Support Services
Human Trafficking Support and Prevention Services
We walk alongside justice-impacted individuals and their families before and after release—offering guidance, resources, and hope every step of the way. From in-prison mentorship and life skills training to transitional housing, job placement, and mental health care, we address the full scope of challenges that come with rebuilding a life
We walk alongside justice-impacted individuals and their families before and after release—offering guidance, resources, and hope every step of the way. From in-prison mentorship and life skills training to transitional housing, job placement, and mental health care, we address the full scope of challenges that come with rebuilding a life after incarceration. We believe in second chances and the power of community to heal and transform. Through peer mentorship, advocacy, and practical support, we work to restore dignity, strengthen families, and remove the systemic barriers that make reentry so difficult—so people don’t just survive after incarceration, they thrive.
Our Mission, Values, & Vision Statement
Our Values
Lived Experience as Leadership
We believe those who have walked the path are best equipped to lead the way forward.
Compassion & Dignity
We treat every individual with empathy, respect, and a belief in their potential for growth.
Equity & Inclusion
We are committed to serving marginalized communities and dismantling barriers to opportunity and justice.
Community Empowerment
We build strength from the ground up—supporting individuals, families, and neighborhoods to grow together.
Collaboration for Impact
We work hand-in-hand with partners across systems to create coordinated, sustainable solutions.
Accountability & Results
We track progress, measure outcomes, and continuously improve to ensure meaningful, lasting change.
Our mission
To empower individuals and transform underserved communities by reducing violence, homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and mental health challenges through direct support, systemic change, and collaborative community engagement.
Our Vision
A world where every person—regardless of their past or circumstances—has access to the support, resources, and opportunities needed to lead a stable, fulfilling life in a safe, clean, thriving community.
Our history
Awake.org was founded in November 2024 by a group of individuals who had personally experienced the struggles of violence, addiction, homelessness, incarceration, and mental health challenges. Born from the belief that those who’ve lived through these hardships are uniquely equipped to lead change, Awake.org was created to fill critical gaps in support for underserved communities.
What began as a grassroots effort to provide direct assistance and mentorship has since grown into a community-driven nonprofit focused on both individual empowerment and systemic transformation. From day one, Awake.org has prioritized lived experience, dignity, and equity—meeting people where they are while advocating for lasting solutions to generational cycles of poverty and despair.
Grounded in compassion and action, our history is still unfolding—driven by a clear purpose: to build stronger, safer, and more resilient communities for all.
Our staff & volunteers
The strength of Awake.org lies in its people. Our staff and volunteers bring a powerful combination of professional expertise and lived experience, making our approach both compassionate and grounded in reality. Many of our team members have personally overcome challenges related to homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and mental health—giving them a deep understanding of the systems we aim to reform and the people we serve.
Our staff includes case managers, peer mentors, licensed counselors, program coordinators, and outreach specialists who work collaboratively to provide trauma-informed, community-centered support. We are also powered by a dedicated network of volunteers—mentors, educators, therapists, and advocates—who share a commitment to healing, equity, and community transformation.
Together, our team works to restore hope, break generational cycles of hardship, and create lasting impact in underserved communities. We don’t just serve—we show up, stand beside, and walk with those on the path to stability and growth.