New National One Heart for Kids Campaign to Educate Public About Needs of Youth, While Raising Money, Volunteers for Underfunded Programs.

One Heart for Kids, a new national campaign by Oakland/San Francisco-based Streetcats Foundation to educate the public about unmet youth needs and raise funds, garner volunteers for important but underfunded childrens organizations across the U.S.

 Oakland/Berkeley, CA, April 22, 2003, ....Decrieing the 'appalling lack' of youth services throughout California and the rest of the nation and the inadequate funding of grassroots youth groups that are daily in the trenches helping children, youth and families, a new national initiative, called “ONE HEART FOR KIDS”, has been launched by Streetcats Foundation for Youth, Bay-Area based National Childrens Coalition and Teen-Anon.

Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary will do a benefit concert for One Heart and Streetcats in the SF Bay Area this July.

For a number of years,' even in good times and even since Columbine, smaller but vital youth services have been underfunded or curtailed or taken a back seat to other kinds of programs,' according to Streetcats Executive Director Don Fass and several San Francisco Bay-Area social activists. 'It is getting worse and worse in the recession and sure to get more dire still as a prolonged war goes on with Iraq, with'a down payment of $80 Billion is and massive additional amounts on the War on Terrorism." Funders keep funding big programs, many of which are ineffective or bloated and ‘top-down and not very responsive. Even large churches and synagogues that preach ’getting out of the comfort zone and increasing urban and youth ministry’ continue to do almost nothing except fund a few other organizations outside their congregation are contributing to the problem, as is government 'Our children and generations to come are suffering and 'true security lies with our youth. Instead, a false sense of security is being propped up by Homeland Security, and by the war on Iraq. Children are again being frightened as well. If America's children are left in the trenches, the consequences will be devastating, again. Where is our true priority?  A much more vibrant national concern has to be rooted in future generations, namely your forgotten youth. What ever happens to them always determines the future of any Nation."

 Fass points to what he calls 'the lack of knowledge and/or true concern among many funders giving out millions of dollars annually and by faith congregations that are dealing with a tiny and often uninformed portion of the problem and not convicting their members enough..

Email us at oneheartforkids@yahoo.com