{"id":21944,"date":"2025-10-26T16:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T16:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/21944\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T16:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T16:10:11","slug":"charlies-place-helps-san-antonios-young-adults-find-stability-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/21944\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie\u2019s Place helps San Antonio’s young adults find stability, hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

As San Antonio\u2019s homeless response network continues to grow, SAMMinistries officials are turning their attention to what they say is one of the city\u2019s most vulnerable and fastest growing groups \u2014 young adults navigating life without stable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Charlie\u2019s Place, the newest home for the drop-in Young Adult Stability and Support (YASS) Center, staff works with clients between the ages of 18 and 24, helping them rebuild stability through case management, showers, laundry and access to mental health care.<\/p>\n

Originally launched in 2022, the program has relocated twice before finding a permanent home this year in a renovated space below SAMMinistries\u2019 administrative offices at 1919 NW Loop 410. The new site offers consistency and a stronger foundation for young adults who staff say are often underserved by traditional shelters that focus on short-term housing rather than life-skills development.<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s new name honors Charlie Naylor, the late son of local philanthropist Susan Naylor, who helped fund the renovation. SAMMinistries CEO Nikisha Baker said Naylor wanted the space to carry her son\u2019s name after losing him to an overdose.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted to create an environment where young adults who may be struggling with mental health, with substance use, with housing instability would have a safe, judgment-free zone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Clients at Charlie\u2019s Place participate in a bracelet-making workshop under the supervision of a case manager on Oct. 20, 2025. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The program itself grew out of SAMMinistries\u2019 broader effort to address rising youth homelessness. Three years ago, local data began to show that the number of young adults experiencing housing instability was increasing faster than any other demographic, prompting the organization to launch the YASS center as an early-intervention model.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo a certain degree, this is upstream homeless services work. We\u2019re wanting to stop youth and young adults from falling into that cycle,\u201c Baker said. \u201cYouth and young adults are especially vulnerable to gang violence, to trafficking, to substance use and this population specifically is the future of our community, so we want to make a difference with them today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker added that many clients have aged out of foster care or been involved with the child welfare system, leaving them without the basic life skills needed to live independently \u2014 a core focus of the work at Charlie\u2019s Place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 50 percent of the kids that we\u2019re seeing age out of the foster care system, showing them the things like, how do you do your laundry? How do you use a dishwasher? How do you live independently? That\u2019s a significant piece of the work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t seem to have a shortage of youth and young adults who are willing to engage, who want the resource. It is being there and able to provide the resource and that\u2019s part of why we\u2019re so adamant about creating this system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside Charlie\u2019s Place, clients charge their phones, play board games and sip coffee while case managers assist them in securing housing, employment and the documents needed to access both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A kitchen stocked with air fryers and burners provides two daily meals and snacks. Down the hall, sleeping pods, washers, dryers, showers, and a quiet room offer a rare sense of comfort for people living day to day. A clothing and hygiene closet is stocked with basics \u2014 socks, shampoo, deodorant and menstrual products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The community closet where clients can receive an allotted amount of clothing, shoes and hygiene essentials each month while they wait for permanent housing at Charlie\u2019s Place on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as nine hits, they can come in and relax,\u201d said Program Manager Brittney Palacios, who oversees the daily operation. \u201cAnytime they come to us with anything they need, the case managers will figure it out. We\u2019ll help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palacios said clients can also access mental health counseling through a licensed professional who visits weekly. The staff of five case managers, led by Francisco Flores, guides clients through identification recovery to the housing-referral process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe help with ID recovery, birth certificates, Social Security cards \u2014 whatever paperwork they need,\u201d Flores said. \u201dOnce they get selected by a program and get housed, they can have their rent paid for one year, even up to two years and that\u2019s our main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the program\u2019s launch, Baker said Charlie\u2019s Place has served more than 600 youth and young adults, with about 40% placed into permanent housing. About 20% of their clients earned their high school diploma. Another 20% secured employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the pathway to being stable for the long term. And so we\u2019ve seen tremendous success,\u201d Baker said. \u201dWe had a long way to go, but we have seen a lot of positive things happen out of our YASS center.\u201d<\/p>\n

That success, she added, means even more with this younger demographic who can reshape their lives before homelessness becomes chronic. A mission SAMMinistries plans to double down on with plans to open 48 to 60 transitional housing beds by the end of the year; a place where youth will be able to stay for up to two years while working on the issues that led them to become homeless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s poverty, generational poverty, lack of education, unemployment, underemployment \u2014 you pick the cause,\u201d Baker said. \u201cWe are all in on transitional housing for youth and young adults and building that out for our community, to continue to seek the upstream opportunities to address homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those numbers and new beds will serve people like Savanna Meeks, 23, who has turned to the center on and off for several years while working to regain her footing.<\/p>\n

Meeks first came to the program after hearing about it from friends. At the time, she said she was struggling with addiction, far from her home state of Montana. She\u2019s experienced homelessness since she was 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got introduced to this, I didn\u2019t know what to expect. What do they do? What do they help?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank and them have been such a big help. I was actually able to get out of the situation that I was in and ever since then, like, I\u2019ve been doing a whole lot better. I\u2019ve actually had a lot more hope.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Lead case manager Francisco Flores guides clients through a bracelet-making workshop at Charlie\u2019s Place on Monday. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Meeks has become a near-daily presence at the YASS center. Most mornings she arrives when the doors open and stays until close, using the center as a safe space to focus on her next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have very big, warm smiles,\u201d she said. \u201cThey treat you like you\u2019re their own kids. They make sure you\u2019re okay, they make sure you don\u2019t need anything. They just have warmth in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeks now has pending interviews for jobs at restaurants and is in the process of finding an apartment, where she hopes she will finally find stability for herself and her three kids. For her, the hardest part of being homeless has been learning who to trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot being originally from Texas and trusting the wrong people has been hard,\u201d she said. \u201cBut once you find the right people, it\u2019s like you\u2019re finally back on track \u2014 and I found them here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeks said she has plans to enroll in college once she secures stable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this is like a safe haven. It feels like home \u2014 a home that I didn\u2019t think would exist for me,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have faith in us. We\u2019re really trying and working our butts off to finally be safe. For all the young adults out there experiencing homelessness, have faith and just come to YASS.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As San Antonio\u2019s homeless response network continues to grow, SAMMinistries officials are turning their attention to what they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[16163,16164,6540,15001,16165,3222,16166,16167,16168,16169,82,84,83,7994,16170,92,3028,16171,3440,16172],"class_list":{"0":"post-21944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-charlie-naylor","9":"tag-charlies-place","10":"tag-homeless","11":"tag-homeless-in-san-antonio","12":"tag-homeless-youth","13":"tag-housing","14":"tag-housing-insecurity","15":"tag-life-skills","16":"tag-nikisha-baker","17":"tag-samministries","18":"tag-san-antonio","19":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","20":"tag-san-antonio-news","21":"tag-social-services","22":"tag-susan-naylor","23":"tag-top-story","24":"tag-typedaily","25":"tag-unhoused","26":"tag-wc-1000-1500","27":"tag-young-adult-services"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}