About Us

Who We Are

Razing the Bar is a Santa Clara County nonprofit, built by people with lived experience, that walks beside emerging adults experiencing homelessness on the road from Survival to Sufficiently Self™.

A young person and the person beside them walk a road with neighbors, from a signpost reading Unsafe, Unhoused, Isolated, Uncertain, and Surviving toward a finished house under a gold sign reading Sufficiently Self, a life you build and belong in.

Our Mission

Razing the Bar believes that relationships are the key to successful youth development. Through mentorship and housing support, we help transition-aged youth achieve permanent connections and self-sufficiency.

Our Vision

A Santa Clara County where every young person has a home, people who stay, and the chance to build a life they belong in.

Our Name

Tear it down. Build it right. Raise the bar.

Razing

To raze is to tear something down to the ground so it can be rebuilt. The name expresses our commitment to rebuilding, from a systems standpoint, how agencies serve young people.

…the Bar

A play on “raising the bar”: high expectations, matched by high support, for every young person we walk beside.

Sufficiently Self™

From the Latin sufficere, “to lay a foundation under; to be enough.” A sufficient self is a supported self, never an unsupported one.

Our Story

We started with a point to prove.

Razing the Bar began in 2017 on a shoestring, self-funded budget, with a simple belief: invest in young people, be genuine in your approach, and they will start to invest in themselves.

That same year, we opened our first home for six young people. They helped write their own house rules, and with them, the model we still follow today.

Today, Razing the Bar is a partner in Santa Clara County’s Coordinated Entry System, walking beside young people who arrive from every road that leads to homelessness.

“Invest in young people, be genuine in your approach, and they will start to invest in themselves.”

Our Values

For us. By us. With us.

For us.

We exist for emerging adults in Santa Clara County experiencing homelessness, whatever road brought them here.

By us.

We are built by people with lived experience. We know this road from the inside. Lived experience is valued, and never required to be disclosed.

With us.

The young person is the builder. Always. We walk beside them, not above, not ahead, with every mentor, neighbor, partner, and donor who chooses to stand with them.

For each of us.

Every young person is a specific, rights-bearing person who shapes their own goals.

People who stay.

Our relationship with a young person does not end when they move on. Former mentees are always welcome at our community gatherings.

Not perfect. Not alone. Enough.

The goal is not a perfect life. It is a life a young person can build, sustain, and belong in.

Nine people in different colors stand together on a road, holding hands, with the people at each end waving.

Sufficiently Self™

A life you build and belong in.

Every life is built in order, like a house. Safety is the footing. Trust is the foundation. Belonging is the frame.

Every young person travels the road one sign at a time, from Survival to Sufficiently Self™, and at every sign, someone needs to be standing beside them.

Not perfect.Not alone.Enough.
The road from Survival to Sufficiently Self: a signpost back to Unsafe, Unhoused, Isolated, Uncertain, and Surviving; twelve numbered road signs from Safety to Connection climbing the road; and a finished house under a gold sign reading Sufficiently Self.

Accountability

Every gift, accounted for.

Independently audited

Our financial statements are reviewed each year by an independent auditor.

Open books

Our most recent financial statements and IRS Form 990 are available on request.

Donor rights

We honor the Donor Bill of Rights. Every gift is used for the purpose for which it was given.

Request financial information at information@razingthebar.org, or view our profile on Charity Navigator.