SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mayor London Breed joined Airbnb and Twilio today in announcing a $2.7 million commitment to Rising Up, a public-private partnership which aims to cut youth homelessness in half by the end of 2022. Launched by Mayor London Breed in October 2018 with Larkin Street Youth Services selected as the anchor institution, Rising Up will provide temporary housing subsidies and job-placement services to more than 500 young people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.
Airbnb is contributing $2 million and Twilio an additional $700,000 to support Rising Up and help Larkin Street Youth Services scale and build capacity. Airbnb and Twilio’s donations to Rising Up are in addition to the initial $6 million funding commitment from the City of San Francisco and $3 million from the non-profit Tipping Point Community.
“Youth homelessness is a crisis throughout California, and in San Francisco we are working to get our young people housed and employed so we can prevent them from becoming chronically homeless,” said Mayor Breed. “I'm grateful that Airbnb and Twilio are joining the City, Larkin Street and Tipping Point in putting resources towards supporting our youth. Together I know we can achieve the goal of Rising Up -- to cut youth homelessness in half in San Francisco by 2022.”
Last year Airbnb and Twilio announced each company’s continued commitment to help tackle homelessness.
Airbnb’s $2 million donation is part of its $5 million commitment to help tackle homelessness over the next three years. This funding builds on Airbnb’s contributions and long standing partnerships with organizations dedicated to addressing homelessness, including Hamilton Families, SF Marin Food Bank and Larkin Street Youth Services. Airbnb will continue to work with a coalition of experts across government, community organizations, and other private sector entities to ensure the remaining $3 million in funds are directed to the most pressing and urgent needs.
"Shelter is a basic need, yet on any given night, nearly 1,200 young people sleep on San Francisco streets. This is our hometown, and we have a responsibility to help those young people in need of housing and job opportunities,” said Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. "We’re proud to work with Mayor Breed and our local partners to help San Francisco youth find a place to call home.”
Twilio has committed more than $1 million to homelessness initiatives in San Francisco, which will be distributed among Rising Up, Fast Forward Accelerator and Code Tenderloin. These funds represent a new focus on homelessness for Twilio.org, Twilio’s social impact arm, which has contributed more than $3 million over the past year to nonprofits and social enterprises that are accelerating impact through innovative communications.
“As a company headquartered in San Francisco, we believe we have a responsibility to improve the communities that we serve,” expressed Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson. “By partnering with Airbnb on this important issue, we hope to inspire other companies and organizations to come forward and help us find solutions and implement programs that will meet the needs of San Francisco’s homeless population. We are all in this together.”
“This commitment from Airbnb and Twilio is catalytic and inspiring,” said Larkin Street Executive Director Sherilyn Adams. “Investing in young people through Rising Up will not only save lives and change their trajectory, it will also ultimately reduce chronic homelessness in San Francisco.”
“The Rising Up Campaign is a critical part of San Francisco’s plan to reduce youth homelessness 50% in the next four years and we are deeply appreciative of the private sector’s contributions to these and other efforts to address homelessness,” said Jeff Kositsky, Director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
About the Rising Up Campaign
Launched by the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing in October 2018, Rising Up will serve 500 Transition Age Youth (TAY) who are experiencing homelessness, as well as prevent homelessness for another 450 at-risk TAY, as part of the city’s efforts to cut youth homelessness in half by the end of 2022. The program will utilize a combination of services and subsidies known as Rapid Rehousing, which is nationally recognized as a best practice for addressing homelessness.
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing will work to identify and refer eligible youth for the program. Participants will receive support to find a home in the private market and be provided with move-in assistance, such as a security deposit and home furnishing. They will be provided with an average monthly rent subsidy of $750 for up to three years and receive personal case management services to help them find and maintain employment. As participants’ income increases, the rent subsidy will decrease until it is no longer required.
About Airbnb
Founded in 2008, Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where people can belong through healthy travel that is local, authentic, diverse, inclusive and sustainable. Airbnb uniquely leverages technology to economically empower millions of people around the world to unlock and monetize their spaces, passions and talents to become hospitality entrepreneurs. Airbnb’s accommodation marketplace provides access to 5+ million unique places to stay in more than 81,000 cities and 191 countries. With Experiences, Airbnb offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests through 15,000+ unique, handcrafted activities run by hosts across 1,000+ markets around the world. Airbnb’s people-to-people platform benefits all its stakeholders, including hosts, guests, employees and the communities in which it operates.
About Twilio
Millions of developers around the world have used Twilio to unlock the magic of communications to improve any human experience. Twilio has democratized communications channels like voice, text, chat, and video by virtualizing the world’s telecommunications infrastructure through APIs that are simple enough for any developer to use, yet robust enough to power the world’s most demanding applications. By making communications a part of every software developer’s toolkit, Twilio is enabling innovators across every industry — from emerging leaders to the world’s largest organizations — to reinvent how companies engage with their customers.
Source: Twilio Inc.
About Larkin Street
Larkin Street Youth Services is a nonprofit empowering young people to move beyond homelessness. Founded in 1984, Larkin Street has helped over 75,000 young adults in San Francisco by providing a continuum of healthcare, housing, employment, and education services. As San Francisco’s largest nonprofit provider for young people experiencing homelessness, Larkin Street is supported by private donors including foundations, corporations, and individuals, as well as government funding. Larkin Street is helping young people on a national scale through policy partnerships with national organizations and fellow nonprofits. Learn more at larkinstreetyouth.org and @larkinstreet.
