Ambassadors Of Hope And Opportunity Project

My name is David Braverman. I've been involved with AHO for the past 3-4 months. I'm currently learning and absorbing a lot of information. I am very impressed by this local non-profit, and what it has been able to achieve. This network is very impressive, helpful, and full of love and hope.

Homelessness is one of the most frightening issues I can think of. Zara, the founder, and AHO members are able to provide significant help to many youth (ages 18-25) of Marin County on a continual basis. As a volunteer, I sit in meetings where I meet, first hand, the beneficiaries of AHO's efforts. Meeting, and listening, to the youth gives insight on their needs, and their ability to sort things out, and their ability to progress, and get help by the program.

The youth being helped by AHO are provided counselors, some are provided with a home (place) to live, direction and assistance to employment/job placement, help with dental needs, help with daily life and banking, and much more. This organization is incredible. There are caring people in the network who are helping on a regular basis. The homeless youth are very smart, articulate, modest and are appreciative of the program. At each of the 4 meeting I've been to, 3-4 of the youth with needs have been present to share their experiences and their stories and their progress. Many have secured a place to live, employment and more.

This network is very impressive, helpful, and full of love and hope.

Being involved with AHO has been a blessing! Young adult homelessness is a real problem that falls through the government cracks. Luckily Zara came to the rescue to fill in the gaps. Besides being an incredible fundraiser, she has been able to rally over 100 professionals to donate time and services to mentor and serve the youth who are in much need of guidance and direction. The clients who are served are able to feel like they have a strong support structure behind them so they can transition into the next chapters of their lives. I feel lucky to be involved with this organization and hope to continue with it for many years to come.

Zara you are an incredible woman. Congratulations on the 2017 Heart of Marin nomination for AHO’s work in Innovation changing lives like mine in ways that will last forever. It’s so amazing how life works. I told Sister Bernadette, who I sat beside at the 2017 Heart of Marin event, that every time I come to an event for AHO I feel like it’s Thanksgiving and I’m always meeting new family members❤ Everyone was so amazingly sweet to me, I felt like I had known them forever. Thank you for those precious moments.

As one of the lucky receipients of AHO’s support, I LOVE AHO, Zara and all the amazing people that help youth like me from the inside out. Zara, you are the Mommy of Marin for so many of us. Thank you for being a part of my journey

Being in AHO really helped me open my eyes and helped me get on track for what I want to do with my life.  With AHO support, I am planning on going to school for graphic design and then want to open my own collection of art galleries all over the United States. AHO will always be there, because of the connections I have made through them are for a lifetime.  AHO has helped me make so much progress in my life. I have used everything they have taught me as stepping stones to a better and brighter future for myself and the future of the other youth AHO serves.

Zara, the founder of AHO has helped me a lot. She cares from her heart and will do whatever she can to help you. That's what she did for me.  Through AHO I had the opportunity to be a youth spokesperson at the AHO Council meetings and with organizations in the community to share my story. I also participated in a documentary film that was produced about AHO to educate people about the growing group of at-risk and homeless youth like myself that AHO is helping.

Please donate to AHO - 28% of Marin’s homeless are youth. AHO prevents youth like me from becoming homeless adults.

Today, with AHO as a foundation, I am continuing to build my confidence (my peers call me the butterfly), and I now know that I can achieve my personal life goals and create the future I want for myself. AHO was there for me and believed in me when I needed it most. On Sunday, May 28th 2017, I was ordained as a Deacon in my church! I am now responsible for providing the emotional and other support for 15 to 20 families. Life is good. I am so blessed to have found AHO which has changed my life forever.

My life goal is to continue with my career in the medical field, which I now know I can do with the support of Zara, Chona, Anna and all the wonderful professionals at AHO that really care about youth. As my life continues to get on track, I want to be part of the AHO Youth Team to give back for the help AHO has provided and help inspire youth like me, who have no support, to know they are not alone.

I am proud to be long time member of the AHO family and Council of Investors. I have seen first hand the amazing transformations AHO has facilitated through their unique program model and culture of working with homeless youth. AHO is a true Role Model for other organizations locally and nation wide that are working with marginalized and homeless youth. At AHO, youth stay involved with the new youth that come on board through the AHO Youth Team projects where youth choose to "give back" for the help AHO has provided.

In Marin, AHO is the only nonprofit providing a comprehensive, personalized safety net for young people ages 18 to 25 who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. These are young people who are NOT mentally ill, nor have they been in the foster care system so there are no funding streams to help them. They come from families of abuse, neglect and addiction who do not have the capacity to parent. AHO is their only hope.

For the past 14 years, AHO has been a leader spearheading this growing issue and has recently been nominated for the 2018 Heart of Marin Award in Innovation by the President of College of Marin. The Founder received the 2017 Marin Women's Hall of Fame Award in the area of Social Change.

The AHO program model has served over 1,750 young people with housing, jobs, major and minor dental care, counseling and everything a parent might help with. AHO's 112-member Alliance for Youth service partner network of businesses, faith communities, individuals and professional assist AHO to provide the comprehensive and personalized "whole person" support for up to 5 years or whatever it takes so that youth have the support to reach their educational and personal goals.

AHO's success is demonstrated in the young people it serves who once homeless, are now in stable housing with the support of AHO, working several jobs, completing their educations and achieving their life goals. Most youth are at College of Marin, however, many others have graduated from 4 year schools which include, but not limited to, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Portland University and Loyola University. come back after graduating to continue to support the AHO mission to help other youth who are homeless like they once were.

I have become disillusioned with the lack of real services provided homeless and vulnerable youth by AHO.

I am so grateful for AHO (Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity) for the “safety net” of support they are providing for these youth who have nowhere else to turn. I enjoy volunteering with AHO, watching the youth’s lives change and encouraging them to develop to their potential and create meaning with their lives. These kids are our future and need to have the same opportunities that we all had growing up. It is sad to me that in the community of Marin, known for such wealth, that there are so many youth who were at risk and homeless. Thank You AHO.

Christi Levannier, Spirit Coach®

I love AHO (Ambassadors for Hope and Opportunity). I am always delighted when asked to help with fundraising, secure a grant from my fellow Sisters of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael or attend one of their fun and creative activities. This is the one organization in Marin County that helps homeless youth make a life for themselves with the help of mentors who provide the youth with opportunities for shelter, employment, education or whatever else it is that their youth might need at the time.

AHO is deserving of any financial help they might receive; I guarantee it will be put to good use in guiding our homeless youth to safety and future lives of productivity

Marion Irvine, OP, Dominican Sister of San Rafael

I have been a volunteer for AHO and the AHO Council of Investors for the past 2 years. Monthly, I act as secretary for the AHO Investor's meetings and assist the organization with various events and youth projects. When I first met Zara, I was so inspired by what she was doing for the homeless youth of Marin that no other organization in Marin was doing, I wanted to help. I am a Mother of two young adults the ages of the youth AHO serves. Giving back to my community through AHO is important to me because it provides the opportunity to help young people ages 16 to 25 without families or resources that are peers of my own children. AHO provides the critical hope and opportunity for at-risk and homeless youth by offering the support of a caring adult ally, 3 levels of housing, employment, counseling and scholarships for college so their talents can be actualized and they avoid becoming a statistic of the chronically homeless, incarcerated or worse.

Michelle Nirenstein, Mill Valley Mother of a teen and young adult

I have been a volunteer with AHO(Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity) for the last 4 years. As a volunteer and board member I have gotten to know some of the youth we have helped. We basically give them an advocate who believes in them and they begin to believe in themselves. The look of hopelessness and sleep deprivation on a youth's face is sad and hurts in your gut. I am happy to lend a hand to lift a spirit and give some hope to a young person who has not been valued as children should. Our children are are greatest assets as we go forward ino the future. We must nurture and value their possibilty to keep us humane. Christin Anderson Wellness Specialist Marin General Hospital