About Us

Our Approach

Relationships are the key.

Programs end. People stay. Everything Razing the Bar does rests on two things working together: a home that is stable, and relationships that are intentional, built by people who have walked this road themselves.

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The Foundation

Housing First. The order matters.

No one has to prove they are “ready” for a home. Housing comes first, and everything else is built on it.

1Housing2Safety and stability3Relationship4Voluntary, person-driven supports5Goals and opportunities

Taking part in services is never a condition of a young person’s home. Every relationship we offer is voluntary, which is exactly why it can be trusted.

How We Serve

A home, and what’s built on it.

Transitional housing and rapid re-housing

Safe, stable homes across San José and Santa Clara for young people working toward a lease of their own.

Permanent supportive housing

Lasting homes, with support that stays for as long as a young person wants it.

Community Mentors

A near-peer Mentor who walks beside each young person every week, toward the goals they choose.

Workforce readiness

Paid work experience as a host site for the County’s Intern & Earn program, New Door Ventures, and work2future.

Food and life skills

Groceries, shared meals, and hands-on workshops in cooking, budgeting, and running a home.

Community gatherings

Meals and gatherings where young people, former mentees, mentors, and neighbors build community together.

Intentional Developmental Relationships

Every contact is on purpose.

A home gives a young person somewhere to stand. A relationship gives them someone to grow with. Every time a Community Mentor meets with a young person, the relationship is built on five intentional actions.

Express care

“Show me that I matter to you.”

Be dependable. Listen. Keep every promise and every visit.

Challenge growth

“Push me to keep getting better.”

Expect their best, and help them learn from setbacks.

Provide support

“Help me complete tasks and achieve goals.”

Navigate hard systems together, and stand up for them when needed.

Share power

“Treat me with respect and give me a say.”

Young people write their own goals and their own budget.

Expand possibilities

“Connect me with people and places that broaden my world.”

Workshops, campus visits, employers, and new doors.

Adapted from the Developmental Relationships Framework, Search Institute.

Near-Peer Relationships

Walked by people who have been there.

Our Community Mentors are near peers: close enough in age and experience to be trusted, far enough along the road to light the way. Many have lived foster care, the justice system, or homelessness themselves. They are not the experts on a young person’s life. They are proof that the road leads somewhere.

Mutuality

The relationship runs both ways. “What has worked for you before?”

Experience with purpose

A Mentor shares their own story only when it helps, and then turns back to the young person.

Hope

Change is possible, and the Mentor is living evidence of it. Every step forward gets named.

Self-determination

The young person decides. Mentors offer options, never pressure.

Strengths first

We start from what a young person already does well.

Advocacy

Mentors stand with young people in hard systems: going with them, not speaking for them.

Built for Emerging Adulthood

Not a teenager. Not yet settled. Treated as an adult.

The years between 18 and the late twenties are a time of trying things out: work, relationships, beliefs, and who you are becoming. Moves are frequent and plans change. Our approach is designed for exactly that season of life.

What young people too often find

Prove you are “ready” before you get a home
A case file, managed from a distance
Decisions made for them
One missed step, and the support ends
Help that stops at a deadline

What Razing the Bar builds

Housing first, with no conditions to earn it
A near-peer Mentor who walks beside them every week
Goals they choose, and the expectation that goals will change
Plans with room for setbacks
Relationships that last after they move on

From Receiving to Giving

Every young person has something to give.

Growth means more than reaching goals. It means confidence, connection, character, and the chance to contribute. Young people at Razing the Bar don’t only receive support; they take real roles in their community.

Lead at community gatherings

Young people help plan and lead the monthly gatherings that bring our whole community together.

Shape the rules

Through house meetings and an advisory voice, young people help set the rules and priorities that shape their homes.

Become the next near peer

Some young people go on to mentor others, carrying the road forward for the next one.

People Who Stay

A home lasts when there are people to call.

Mentors help every young person build a circle of support that doesn’t depend on Razing the Bar, so that when they move on, their people go with them.

Close ties

Family, chosen family, partners, and close friends. Each young person decides who belongs in that circle.

Everyday connections

Classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and coaches who share job leads, ideas, and opportunities.

Bridges across community

Monthly gatherings with mentors, neighbors, and supporters of every age and background.

Doors to opportunity

Employers, landlords, schools, and agencies. Mentors coach young people to make the call, and go with them the first time if they ask.

Permanent Belonging

Permanent belonging means at least one unconditional, lifelong relationship, a home a young person can keep, and communities where they are known, valued, and needed. It is permanent because it does not depend on us.

The relationship doesn’t end when the program does.

Trauma-Responsive

Safety is built into how we work.

Most young people we walk beside have lived through trauma, and homelessness is itself traumatic. As a trauma-responsive organization, services are voluntary, meetings happen where the young person chooses, and our team is trained and supported to do this work well.

Be one of the people who stay.

Give your time, share what you know, or open the door with a gift.

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Razing the Bar, Inc. · 1400 Parkmoor Avenue, Suite 240B, San José, CA 95126 · A California nonprofit public benefit corporation and 501(c)(3) public charity · EIN 80-0441705 · Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.