Press Articles - Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity

FEATURED ARTICLE

Mill Valley Living: Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity – A Calling of the Heart
By Alexandra Fee

On January 21 2005 the Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity Project (AHO) was founded by Zara Babitzke to address a critical need for the growing numbers of homeless teens and young adults ages 16 to 25 in Marin that no one else was helping. AHO started as a calling of the heart when the first-ever program for young people 18 and over Zara both designed and directed for Sunny Hills Services (SHS) in 2003, lost funding.
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FEATURED ARTICLE

The Pandemic You Don’t Know About – Homeless & Sex-Trafficked Youth
By Zara Babitzke

Everywhere the COVID-19 pandemic is being called “the great equalizer” and we are all in this “common experience of suffering together”, yet the exacerbated struggles of our already marginalized young people – youth who are homeless, those being trafficked, and those involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems is being ignored. Their voices are nowhere in the headlines, and nowhere in the national debate. Read Article

FEATURED ARTICLE

Marin IJ: It’s Time to Change the Face of Youth Homelessness
By Larkin Bond

The recently released January 2019 Marin Point-in-Time count provides a misleading impression about the scope of homelessness and especially homeless youth in Marin.

As a one-day arbitrary count, the Department of Housing and Urban Development PIT numbers represent only the tip of the iceberg regarding homeless youth, the hardest to reach homeless population. Read Article

FEATURED ARTICLE

Marin Post: Changing the Face of Youth Homelessness
By Zara Babitzke

Lucas was still in high school when his mom decided to move to Brazil with her boyfriend, leaving Lucas to fend for himself at age 17. Even before his mother left, Lucas never had a stable life, as both of his parents were addicts, and his father was absent. Lucas often went to school hungry. When his mom left, Lucas began sleeping on the floor at his best friend’s house. Although he was able to eat there, Lucas was too embarrassed to ask for food to take to school for lunch. Read Article