INMATE GROUP SUPPORTS HUCKLEBERRY PROGRAMS

 Huckleberry Youth Programs recently received a donation from a group of inmates at San Quentin State Prison.

   Kid C.A.T. (Creating Awareness Together) was founded in 2010, by inmates who committed crimes while under the age of 18 and who want to give back and contribute to the healing in their communities. 

   They envisioned creating a unique space for other “juvenile lifers” to be able to learn from one another and feel supported on their journeys of accountability and restoration. With the help of outside volunteers who researched local Bay Area groups, members chose organizations that they thought would benefit and whose missions and values aligned with Kid C.A.T.’s. 

   That research led to a drive of hygiene products. They were able to raise more than $3,600 which they recently donated to Huckleberry Youth Programs.

     “Since 2016, Kid C.A.T. at San Quentin has donated more than $6,700 to Huckleberry Youth Programs through their fundraising efforts,” said Heather Matthews, director of marketing and events.  “Their generosity has positively impacted the lives of the more than 5,400 youth we serve in San Francisco and Marin counties.”

   For more than two decades, Huckleberry’s Community Assessment & Resource Center (CARC) in San Francisco has provided juvenile justice diversion programming for arrested youth, and an alternative to incarceration. For more information, visit huckleberryyouth.org.