When I moved out they did not let me grab my things instead they put my things in bags and told me to come pick them up when I got there i did not get all my things back. They did not give me my laptop and other valuables. Coincidently all my brand name clothes was not given to me either when asked where the rest of my things were I was told it was not in the room. I was not compensated in any way they didn't even try to find my things I lived there for almost 2 years. I gave them a list of my things all they did was give me two bags and basically told this is all you get. They are horrible!! read more

2 members of Covenant house plopped their table in front of our business without even asking for permission, harassing our customers. When we asked them to move he said and I quote " ....or else what?" We had to call the police to get them removed for trespassing. This is an open police report with Glendale PD in Glendale AZ if anyone wants to research it. I tried to contact William Bedrossian himself but crickets. BUT WAIT there's more. The employee was then soooo upset he leaves us a bad yelp review. Well 1 good turn deserves another read more

On the dubious occasion of my 4,900th Yelp review, I thought I'd share the memorable experience I had as a volunteer. Community service really shouldn't be perceived as a punishment for allowing a proctor to correct your daughter's SAT or posing your daughters as recruits for the USC crew team when they've never touched a paddle. Ah, the entitled Hollywood mindset. Through the efforts of the local office of my employer, I had the privilege of spending the day here. I listened to the program director talking about the runaways and abused kids that end up here to start their lives over again, heard the harrowing accounts from the kids themselves, and helped with the tasks they organized for us - building a living wall of plants, sorting through clothing contributions in various states of wearability, and my particular specialty, filling little plastic containers with shampoo. It was a good day, and I didn't need to bribe anybody to come here. RELATED - Exploring Oakland? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2ObVcpQ read more

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Leadership team is really bad.they don't know anything about proper management, and they have no ability to know what's actually going on with their employees. Also, staff members on the residential team are typically black, paid much less than the white workers and have to work two jobs to survive....even when they have masters degrees! read more

I first became acquainted with the work of Covenant House through reading the paperback books the organization sent to my grandmother when I was a youngster in Las Vegas. These books told inspiring tales of homeless youth saved from the streets and given help to turn their lives around. I was never able to forget the hopeful stories I read in those books and felt strangely comforted by them thinking that if I were ever homeless I would have somewhere safe to go. Years later, I came across Covenant House again - this time in Oakland. Even more potent than the narratives were the realities of the homeless young people I met. Over the years I've been lucky to lend a hand to Covenant House in various capacities as a volunteer. Every time I set foot in the shelter or the community service center I am struck by how powerful and vitally important the work being done at Covenant House truly is. The young people who utilize the services at Covenant House are ones who have been let down by the people whose charge it was to protect them from harm. They are young people who have survived against tremendous odds - abused and neglected by parents, forgotten by the foster care system when they age out at 18 and have no where to turn. Covenant House, the largest privately-funded child welfare agency in the Americas, provides safe shelter for these young people but a place to sleep and food to eat are just the beginning. Covenant House's mission is to "protect and safeguard all children of the street" with "absolute respect and unconditional love." I have seen this first-hand and it is awe-inspiring. Ultimately, the goal is to help all who pass through their doors to gain self-sufficiency and this is done through goal setting, counseling, employment assistance, life skills classes and other support services. Seeing a young person go from homeless and living in their shelter to being gainfully employed and living independently is amazing and facilitating that incredible transition requires abundant resources. If ever you have wondered how to solve homelessness, if ever you have called someone living on the street a "bum", if ever you have wanted to help but didn't know how - I give you Covenant House. If you can cook, if you can tutor, if you can do sun salutations, if you can take pictures, if you can offer hope, if you can listen, if you can open up your wallet - you can help. http://covdove.org/ read more

Covenant House California - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Oakland, California

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I love giving to this team. I can see right away where my clothes are going and appreciated. Very nice staff!! Thank you! I'll be back w more. read more

Covenant is Not a safe place/ organization for no youth or anyone for that matter well being/ mental health or physical health. My son had come to Covenant for shelter so that he could have some sort of stability being the fact that I've been going through a financial crisis for a couple of years now, my son was at Covenant in Oakland California, during the Labor Day weekend of 2022 so he'd been there from around 09-08-2022 until 10-10-2022 it was fine the first couple of weeks up until he started noticing his things were coming up stolen after the program had gotten more dependents into their facility. The first incident happened on 10-02-2022 when my son got up to use the restroom he had left his wallet inside the covers of the bed he slept on, when he returned back from the restroom to grab his things he noticed he wallet was missing along with his debit cards, social security card, student ID and [MONEY] my son made a report to the staff, vice president's, directors and absolutely nothing was done he has also made two police reports since he has been there wow. There was another situation in that same week where his life was being threatened by another housed dependent that was staying there at the Oakland Covenant facility that they had to move to another location because that particular dependent attacked my son with a weapon also other dependents were also attacked by the same individual. On 10-09-2022 my son had his two debit cards and his $400 earphones in his backpack that he clearly carried with him every where that he went because he couldn't chance just leaving it on his bed or any where else in that facility unindented do to the fact he has already become a victim of theft from the new guy that has been stealing from him/ my son this entire time but we'll get to that in a bit. But on 10-09-2022 my son woke up, went to the restroom to get ready for breakfast than from there my son headed down stairs for breakfast my son than realized that he was going to study downstairs so he went to open up his backpack for his $400 earphones only to find that they were gone along with his other two debit cards... again the situation was immediately reported to staff who did absolutely nothing but did a room check to only find out that my son things were missing and that the other dependent that stole my son things he too was gone the weekend thief didn't even stay for breakfast as he usually would, instead he stole my son things and left right away like he did last week when he stole my son wallet/ identity/ identification. And we call him the weekend thief because we noticed a pattern of him stealing things durning the weekend. When the first incident happened my son asked the director of it was ok if he switched rooms and the director told him NO. My son is a full time college student that works in law at a internship, he has never ever had to experience any sort of a abusive nor ever has he been a victim of identity theft, criminal, or anything of such he doesn't hang out with people go any places he is a to himself kind of young man he's not into what he has had to experience with covenant. End results nothing happened my son only asked that his $400 earphones be replaced and he'll leave well the the Vice President told my son that they can not replace his $400 earphones but they told him we can offer you a locker that makes absolutely no sense at all, that had should've been offered from the time he stepped foot in that whatever you want to call it establishment.... The guy that stole my son identity along with the debit cards and the $400 earphones nothing happened to him he did not get put out just nothing covenant just basically told my son to shut up and suck it up and just it I guess they must of thought he didn't have any family like they were all he had laughing my as please! He's no one's orphan but I will be taking this situation up with you guys corporate and also IRS so please do not file my son on you 501c3 tax return because we have proof of the time and date that he got there and the proof of the date and time I came to get him and all of the things he had left far as is luggage which again my son terminated his stay over at the covenant on 10-10-2022 @ around 2:22 pm is when I got there to pick him up and I did record it. Therefore irs will also be hearing about this and will be getting another identity theft affidavit from my son though one was already filed on Monday 10-03-2022 because your dependents that you all obviously do not do any background checks on had stolen my son identity/ identification. No one should ever have to experience anything like this again my son is well educated, very smart and he gets absolutely nothing but straight As in college. read more

The worst establishment I have ever stayed at in my entire life of being homeless. Once you see something, please, people, I implore you to take heed. This organization/shelter is the worst place in the Bay Area. This is going to be prolonged. I got here around 9/8/22. When I got here, I spoke with Brian, who was very helpful to the extent of his capabilities. Days went by, and I had no problem with this organization. Being a conscious individual, I was fully aware of previous reviews I had read online. The reviews that followed were "staff does not care about youth," "staff only care about money," and "they will kick you out for absolutely zero reasons." I thought everyone was being dramatic and paid them no mind. A week went by, and I still had no problem with the staff or the residents, though I did notice myself checking off boxes in my head that I had read from reviews that matched my experience here. Before I go on, I would like to say people will smile on your face and be orchestrating and planning your demise. Ok, back to my review. More weeks go by, and now I am being threatened by a roommate/resident. I ignored them. The threats kept coming, so I texted the futile case manager. They responded and said I had to wait until they got in so I could check in with them. I waited until they came, and they handed me a grievance paper. You write out your complaints and sentiments on this piece sheet with this paper. The case manager did not bother to speak to me but just handed me a piece of paper after I told them I was being threatened with my life. First red flag. The second red flag was when I reported the incident; still, no action was taken. The resident said they were going to stab me with scissors. Mind you. I told them I thought weapons were not allowed and were against the policy. They neglected my concerns again. More weeks go by, and I'm still being threatened. I am a college student, so I had to study and could not do so due to the antagonist making hostile threats. I compensated by waking up early and heading to the library. Another week passed, and I saw we had new people joining our room. Everything was going fine and dandy until my stuff started coming up missing. My wallet was stolen right after they entered the room, which is weird because I have never encountered a thief before. I made another report, and the conflict between our current roommate (the one making threats toward me) and our new roommate had exploded by that time. They got into a huge dispute and were later asked to leave. By this time, my mental capacity to stay here was in the garbage. I have never in my life had to argue with other adults or had to keep my belonging in a locker due to thieves being present. When I first arrived, there was no mention of locks or safety precautions. They stated that they did not tolerate bullying, homophobia, or gossiping. Anyways after my stuff came up stolen, keep in mind my stuff started getting stolen once these new individuals arrived. Another week passed, and my debit card and $400 worth of headphones came up stolen. Due to my severe OCD, I made sure I kept everything around me because I was not going to allow the thief to steal from me again, but even then, the crafty thief was able to sneak into my bag while I was sleeping. I was pissed because I had just got a new debit card and replaced all my information. I told all the staff, and they were nonchalant. Going back to the reviews where the reviewers told me all staff did was sit on their asses. Which gave me even greater clarity and affirmation that they did not care about youth. I texted the futile case manager again, and they texted the vice president, and she told me she would like to meet with me Monday afternoon. I said fine. In my head, I was already thinking of leaving; I just wanted my headphones replaced or compensated. Also, I developed severe PTSD due to my stay here. And a mini ED due to stress and other pressures. So I am waiting for Monday to get here. It's hard for me to sleep due to all the hostility in the ambiance. I wake up out of the night and can't fall back to sleep. I roam the building while carrying my backpack because I am scared it will come up missing if I leave anything else lying around. I wait and wait until Monday gets here. I was up around five and went to do laundry again. I already had it in my mind that this place was not for me. I waited for hours. The vice president finally arrived and said she could not help me with anything. Mind you. I waited hours for her to tell me this lackluster response. My head was pounding, and my heart was racing. I was so frustrated that they wasted my precious studying time and time, in general, to say, "yeah, there are thieves around, but what we can offer you is a lock"???!!! Do you mean to tell me after almost being here a month, you guys are just now offering me a locker????????? I took my things and told them I was leaving. read more

This place is so much cooler and has so much more color than these photos. Don't let them throw you. A place like this would have made my life so much easier when I was in my teens and 20's. It's such a gift to our future to support struggling young people. This shelter is going through some pruning. Deadwood is being cut away, new growth is budding. Covenant House is more than the Oakland shelter, it's the biggest shelter resource for young people in the US. Their dedication to their mission of providing shelter and support for the residents to be able to stabilize, get a foothold on healing and earning skills is awesome. Their goal is healthy autonomy and safe housing for the youth that avail themselves of their services. The Oakland site is an anomaly, most of their shelters are competently run and staffed. The Cov is privately funded and based on Christian principles of lifting people up. There's zero church-y ness from staff or the organization. They welcome people regardless of religion or lack of religion, actively support all gender expressions, and are anti-racist. read more

Covenant house is an awesome place to work. The energy and the love is always in the air. We are there to help kids get off the street. I worked for a Fortune 500 company for years. Rich got richer. Now I watch amazing human beings everyday whose goal is to keep young adults off the street. It's more than that.. to watch them sing and eat hot meal. To see them moving into a new apt. Some go in the military. It's such an amazing thing to see.. I look forward to working there everyday.. thank you to my coworkers who are on the frontline. It's a pleasure to Work with all of you.. read more

Yes, there is also a Covenant House in Houston, Texas too. Great place with a noble cause. I use to be a part of another organization like Covenant, I was an executive assistant to the president and did more than the title, so much work. I will see what I can do to help in the future. They have always been respected in neighborhoods. Thanks for this review. Please everyone, donate your time or what else you can. Children of the street needs us. read more

Not sure how it is living or staying here, but the one staff member that I met, Mr. Qoc'avib is one of the most helpful, respectful, giving, gentleman I have met. It would seem that this type of work is extremely difficult and sometimes not very gratifying. However, Mr. Qoc'avib seemed to really be willing to work with the youth and help those in need. I highly recommend this person and hope he is able to help many more youths. read more

When one of my favorite women on Yelp, Miriam W, came to me back in May and asked if I would help her promote the Yogathon put on by Covenant House, I immediately agreed. I was more than happy to be a part of an admirable organization as Covenant House - a non-profit organization that provides shelter and services to homeless and at-risk youth. When she explained what the Yogathon was, I was a bit hesitant and told her, "I will do everything I can to help get sponsors and raise money, but I don't think I'll be able to do 108 sun salutations." Miriam assured me that I would be able to do them, and that I shouldn't have anything to be afraid of. Fears laid to rest, I wholeheartedly registered, got sponsors, helped Miriam organize a Yogic Happy Hour at 111 Minna in June, and another one at WISH earlier this month, and completed all 108 sun salutations at Sharon Meadow yesterday morning. Miriam and I were able to raise nearly $1,000 with the awesome help of Yelp and its members. "IT'S FOR THE KIDS!" We'd tell people. Euge became one of our best promoters and cheerleaders at our events. We provided people with pamphlets and explained what the Yogathon and what Covenant House was about. We were so happy to see how many people were so giving to the cause. Finally, after 4 months of fundraising efforts, the Yogathon was finally here. Yesterday, Team Yelp represented. We were the largest team among all the participants, and also the group that raised the most money - nearly $5,000. Our very own Andy "Seabiscuit" R. was one of the Top 3 fundraisers. Before the 108 sun salutations began, we were greeted by Sean S. and Rosa, a youth of Covenant House, shared her story with us. Her moving story of how her life had been turned around by Covenant House brought tears to my eyes. As a early teen, she moved from home to home, did drugs, got into violent fights, and at age 16, she turned to prostitution. After being placed in a mental institution and another outreach facility that had to turn her away, she went to Covenant House. There, she was able to turn her life around, and now at 19, has her own place and is planning on getting her driver's license and buying her own car. Before her testimony, I hadn't fully realized how great of an impact Covenant House had on the community and its youth. I didn't know how much this money that I had helped to raise was going to be so life-altering for so many youth. After this, I knew that these 108 sun salutations were not going to be difficult to get through. I realized how blessed I am to have the life I have, and that I have never known the hardships in life so many of these youth have already experienced. The 108 sun salutations were a blur, but I remember all the wonderful yoga instructors who came around to help me correct my poses, as well as awesome chiropractors John G. and Eric Rubin, who gave me my first spine, hip and neck adjustment. I felt amazing afterward. Not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well, knowing that I could contribute even just a small part of my time and money to such a great organization as Covenant House. read more

This is one of the worse, most corrupt shelters in the Bay Area. I don't not recommend this place to anybody. If you are homeless I strongly recommend going to YEAH in Berkeley, sure it's overnight only but the staff there actually care about homeless youth. Every shelter in Oakland treats people badly, this one is no exception. The staff curse people out, they argue over petty stuff (seems to be a trend in covenant house in general) they are pretty much here for the money and nothing else. The staff try to kick people out, they use threats to get their way, they try to take money from the clients and kick them out if they don't pay up. I say try because I won't fall for it, they can do whatever because Oakland Pd won't respond to their calls. Rightfully so because they go crying to cops over somebody sitting in a chair. It's probably annoying for Oakland Pd to have to respond to their (hourly) calls. Posted on yelp because my google review keeps disappearing, funny how that happens. Corruption exist in most places, it just has to be brought to light by one person to be exposed. read more

Covenant House is another terrific organiztion I volunteer with , it caters to the needs of at -risk- youth. They are doing excellent work across North America . I have been counseling kids so that they can get back on their feet by re-entering /entering the work place. Should you choose to volunteer , you will be trained by the volunteer coordinator as to appropriate interaction with the youth. One can discuss the specific skill/ talent one has with a volunteer coordinator and come up with a service that can be offered to the youth here. For instance if you like painting you can run painting workshops here , you can set up a time that convenient to you. They need all the support they can get from the community not just funds. Funds never hurt though! This is a great way of making a connection with a marginalized part of society, which has so many lessons for all of us. read more

Great place, great staff, underfunded and therefore cannot support ALL types of clients which is a tad unfortunate. The staff really do try their best though to make everyone feel welcome. it is a big building with lots of space, little "zen garden" type shenanigans in the middle which is quite comforting. Lots of art supplies. Not a huge emphasis on mental health or groups for the clients; although that doesn't seem to be their purpose. (which is fine) the purpose is to get the clients employed and to help them learn to budget and save money. They deserve 5 stars however because I am "butt-hurt" I will only give 4. (actually its because the space is so big that it creates this "empty" kind of feeling) They could use some interior decorating. Possible room renovations. TL:DR, it is the friendliness of the staff and the fact that they care so deeply that makes it appealing. read more