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March, 1967
The Rev. Ted McIlvenna, a Methodist minister on the Glide Foundation staff, and Patricia Gunruckcu, a consultant hired by the Regional Young Adult Project, draw up the preliminary designs for a ground breaking runaway housing facility and referral center in the Haight-Ashbury District, a program based on respect for the fundamental autonomy of young people. The plan is submitted to the San Francisco Foundation for funding. John May, Executive Director of the Foundation, pledges the Foundation's financial support for the program once it is developed.

                                          June, 1967
The Regional Young Adult Project hires two co-directors to develop and implement the new runaway shelter project, the Rev. E. Larry Beggs and Barbara Brachman. Meanwhile, rumors are beginning to spread that the Haight-Ashbury will be flooded with as many as 100,000 teenage runaways during the upcoming summer, and the Bay Area Social Planning Council begins convening weekly meetings to address the crisis. The group agrees to tie its efforts to the emerging shelter program and to act as its first Steering Committee. At the urging of Rev. Beggs, the program is dubbed "Huckleberry's for Runaways" in honor of Huck Finn.

June 18, 1967
With the support of the Glide Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation, the "Huckleberry's for Runaways" project officially opens its first residential facility in a house owned by the San Francisco Foundation at 1 Broderick Street. Staff and volunteers have readied the site for clients in only 3 days. The House will provide an alternative to incarceration in San Francisco's Youth Guidance Center for runaway youth.

June-August, 1967
During its first three months of operation, Huckleberry's for Runaways serves a total of 211 youth in crisis, far exceeding original expectations. By the end of its first full year of operation, the total will have reached 664, two-thirds of whom will be youth who have come to San Francisco from outside the Bay Area.

October 2, 1967
A midnight police raid takes place at Huckleberry's for Runaways. Arrested in the raid are co-director Barbara Brachman and Burgie Oberhammer, the House Manager, as well as all of the youth sleeping in Huckleberry's facility that evening. Co-director Larry Beggs is arrested the following day. The event has stemmed from an administrative oversight which has, for the first time in 168 cases, allowed a 15-year old boy to stay overnight in the House without parental consent. The House's clients are all charged with 601s - "Being Without Parental Supervision." The House staff members are charged with "Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor," a misdemeanor. The Glide Foundation secures the services of State Assemblyman Willie Brown to defend the House staff members and its young clients.

October-December, 1967
The community rallies in support of the House staff members. In the wake of the incident and the publicity it has shed on Huckleberry's, the State of California demands that the House apply for licensure as a child care facility, despite the fact that the House cannot meet the State's criteria and continue to function.

December 13, 1967
Legal charges against Huckleberry's residents and staff are dropped, but licensure continues to be a difficult issue. The new facility does not fit the State's childcare facilities category, which was created for institutions such as boarding schools where youth stay for long periods of time. Assemblyman Willie Brown promises to introduce legislation to permit the operation of emergency youth facilities in the State for short-term stays by minors in crisis. Meanwhile, start-up funds for Huckleberry's are beginning to dry up, and the agency's Co-Director, Barbara Brachman, resigns at the end of the year.

January 1, 1968
Huckleberry's for Runaways closes for a six-week period to conduct its first major fundraising drive to keep the House open and to negotiate licensure requirements. A turning point is reached when an anonymous Canadian donor agrees to contribute $8,500 to keep the House open.

February 14, 1968
On Valentine's Day, Huckleberry's for Runaways officially reopens at 1 Broderick Street. Over 600 people attend the reopening celebration and street party held on February 11th of that year.

1969

Incorporated as Youth Advocates, Inc. 

Founders move aside for “professional management.” 

“Huckleberry House” is established in the Haight on Frederick Street.

1973

Federal Runaway Youth Act passes Congress and funding for runaway shelters is created.  Huckleberry House is a model, staff testify.

Nine Grove Lane shelter established in San Anselmo, requested by Marin County Probation, who helps fund the program.  Agency uses internal funds to purchase house and double lot for $35,000.

1974-82

Agency established a corporate headquarters in Sausalito.  A trio of Executive Directors share management (Steve Lieberman, Brian Slattery and Arnold Perkins).  A few innovative programs come and go.

“Rafiki Masaada” – a group home on 4th Avenue in San Francisco for first time juvenile delinquents with family programs.

Huckleberry House II at 45th in the Sunset was a transitional living group home for youth returning home after more than one year of out-of-home placement.

“CC Rider” program – drug prevention and education services housed in a large bus, which made stops throughout Marin County.

Greenhouse – A family foster group home, located in the Sunset.

Vera Petrakovsky is hired as bookkeeper.

1982-88

Randy Mecham becomes Executive Director.  Agency budget approaches one million dollars.  Rafiki Masada closes.  Greenhouse Program becomes Huckleberry House II Program.  1292 Page Street is purchased through a capital campaign and becomes new “Huckleberry House.”

In 1983, San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department, prodded by years of advocacy led by Margaret Brodkin, Ex. Director of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, gives a competitive contract to Youth Advocates to operate the “front-end” of the status offender system at Huckleberry House.  Identified as the “crisis receiving facility,” Huckleberry House begins receiving hundreds of police delivered youth who were previously brought directly to the SF Youth Guidance Center.  By contract, Huckleberry House is to house these “status offenders” (runaway, beyond parental control, “pushed-out”) youth for two days only, after which they go home or are brought to YGC’s 20-day program, with possible out-of-home placement.

Youth Advocates opens a small counseling office in Novato, since almost 1/3 of Nine Grove Lane families in aftercare counseling live in Novato.

1988

Bruce Fisher becomes Executive Director.  After Program/Clinical Director leaves in 1989, Agency management is re-organized to include Associate Director – SF (Michelle Magee) and Associate Director – Marin (Cindy Myers).  Novato counseling office closed and relocated to new Youth Advocates facility in Terra Linda, which houses a new Associate Director, her assistant, and newly created HIV-Prevention Program.  No longer meeting program goals, and needing $250,000 for structural improvement, the HHII facility is sold for over $300,000, creating the agency’s first cash reserve fund.

On July 1, SF Juvenile Probation closes its status offender program (shuts down a 20-bed residential program and disbands a 6 person family crisis probation unit).  Huckleberry House is awarded a competitive contract of $560,000 annually to operate the “community-based status offender system.”  As part of the contract, Youth Advocates opens “Sojourner House” on 4th Avenue near Parnassus to house up to six status offender youth who are awaiting court-ordered, out-of-home placement.  Huckleberry House expands its family counseling program to provide family reunification counseling to status offender families.

As a result of the new status offender contract and new grants in HIV-Prevention in both SF and Marin, Youth Advocates' budget grows to $2 million.  The number of youth placed out-of-home as status offenders by SF Juvenile Court drops from 110 to 15 as a direct result of Huckleberry House shelter and counseling program.

1989-92

The Cole Street Youth Clinic:  Youth Advocates is awarded the first contract ever given by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to address HIV-Prevention with runaway and homeless youth.  Youth Advocates closes down the “medical exam” rooms in the basement at Huckleberry House and builds a health clinic facility in rented space at the corner of Cole and Haight.  The clinic is staffed by SF’s Department of Public Health and Youth Advocates HIV-prevention program also moves to Cole Street.

In collaboration with SF’s Department of Public Health (Dr. Janet Shalwitz) and UCSF’s Division of Adolescent Medicine (Drs. Charles Irwin and Mary Ann Shaefer), Youth Advocates wins a $500,000/4 year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  The grant is matched by four local foundations, led by the S.F. Foundation.  Within six months of the award, the California Wellness Foundation awards another $400,000 for 4 years to the project, and also awards $400,000 to Harder and Company to conduct an extensive evaluation of the project.  The funding creates the “Cole Street Youth Clinic,” which soon becomes the largest community-based adolescent health clinic in SF, serving 1,500 clients annually.

Youth Advocates Teen Peer Health Educators are invited to Chicago to testify before the National AIDS Commission.  Danny Keenan, Youth Adovactes' first HIV-Program Director, staff and peer educators are featured on a number of local and national TV shows.  Danny Keenan passes away from AIDS. 

1995

As fewer and fewer status offender youth are placed out-of-home, the need for a transitional living program diminishes and “Sojourner House” is closed.

1996

Huckleberry’s Teen Health Program at Montecito: Dr. Tom Peters, then Director of Marin’s Department of Health and Human Services, holds a series of county-wide roundtables on the “epidemic” of STD’s among teens in Marin.  After a visit to Youth Advocates' Cole Street Clinic in SF, he asks Youth Advocates to partner with Marin’s DPH in creating a teen clinic for Marin.  Youth Advocates leases space in Montecito Plaza, San Rafael, across the hall from the county’s Women’s Health Clinic and opens the Huckleberry Teen Health Program.  Six months later the Teen Tuesday Clinic opens and quickly becomes the largest adolescent health clinic in Marin (600+ clients annually).

1998

Youth Advocates, Inc. legally changes its name to Huckleberry Youth Programs (HYP), primarily to achieve greater name recognition in SF and Marin to aid in fundraising and client, board, staff, and volunteer recruitment.

1999

Cirque du Soleil partners with Huckleberry for the first time for their show Dralion and becomes a major fundraising event every other year. In each city where they perform, Cirque du Soleil selects one youth service organization as a beneficiary of one performance. They partner with Huckleberry because the agency closely corresponds to Cirque du Soleil’s philanthropic mission of helping youth at risk.

2000

Huckleberry becomes the lead agency in SF’s Community Assessment and Referral Center (“CARC”).  CARC was part of a city-wide initiative planned by Mayor Willie Brown, funded by state grants and initially led by Mimi Silbert and the Delancy Street Foundation to create new community alternatives to the detention and incarceration of juvenile delinquents.  Huckleberry was a sub-contractor to Delancy Street in year one of the CARC (7/1/99-6/30/00) and was asked by the City and Delancy Street to assume leadership of the program beginning in its second year.  On average, the CARC sees 600 non-violent offenders annually, all of whom are police-delivered.  Huckleberry and partner-CBO case managers conduct an individual assessment and provide intensive case management for all clients.  CARC has become a national model in juvenile justice.

2001-05

Huckleberry's agency budget grows to $4.5 million as a result of CARC and expansion of SF and Marin health programs, including the “Violence is Preventable-Girls” or “VIP-Girls” program at Cole Street and a male pregnancy prevention program, originally “Barrio Warriors” at Montecito.  Respite services provided by Huckleberry House are identified as a national model by the Vera Institute of Justice, which introduces the “Huckleberry Model” throughout New York State.

2006-07

2007 marked the 40th Anniversary of Huckleberry Youth Programs!  In preparation for this milestone, Huckleberry begins a Strategic Planning Process in 2006, with the help of the Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and clients. The vision of the Strategic Plan includes development of Huckleberry Multi-Service Centers in both San Francisco and Marin, the creation of the Huckleberry Wellness Academies in San Francisco and Marin, and the relocation and expansion of Huckleberry Community Assessment and Referral Center.  The Multi-Service Centers will serve as a “one-stop shop” for youth, focusing on medical, counseling, academic, and vocational services. The Huckleberry Wellness Academies will recruit, train and encourage young people to enter the health professions.

The Novato Wellness Center (NWC) opens in October 2006, as the first major health services center for teens in the Novato area. This collaboration of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, the Novato Youth Center, Bay Area Community Resources, and Huckleberry Teen Health Program provides a weekly drop in health clinic targeting low-income youth, ages 12-20.

2008

With the help of a grant from the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families, Huckleberry Wellness Academy – San Francisco begins. Later that year, a $360,000 grant from The California Endowment helps the program expand into Marin County in partnership with the Marin Education Fund, San Rafael City Schools, Dominican University, and Marin County School to Career Partnership.

Huckleberry’s Nine Grove Lane closes on September 30, 2008, because of reduced public funding and diminishing utilization.

The Safety Network of the Western Addition approaches Huckleberry to host a girls’ group in that neighborhood due to an increase in violence. The Violence is Preventable Girls Program is updated and becomes the Lioness Girls Program, targeting young women in Western Addition public housing.

Huckleberry Teen Health Program in San Rafael and the Marin Office of Community Health and Prevention join forces to provide teen pregnancy prevention in schools in a new program called Baby Think It Over. Targeting young women ages 12 to 19, the program participants are given a robot infant simulator for forty-eight hours and are responsible for its care.

The Isabel Allende Foundation awards Huckleberry Teen Health Program in San Rafael with the Esparanza Grant for the fourth consecutive year. The grant honors HTHP’s exemplary work and consistent success meeting grant goals.

2009

As part of Huckleberry’s Strategic Planning process, the Huckleberry Community Assessment and Referral Center moves from 121 Leavenworth to its new location at 44 Gough Street. Services are expanded through a grant from the Department of Public Health, Community Behavioral Health Services.

The first class of the Huckleberry Wellness Academy (pictured) graduates on May 14, 2009. Huckleberry establishes a Wellness Academy Advisory Board of prominent leaders in the health community and experts in education and the medical field, to provide Huckleberry with guidance, advice and insight into effective ways to expand services and measure program success.

Huckleberry receives a $200,000 grant from the Department of Public Health Services for the Huckleberry Multi-Service Center. Larkin Street Youth Services and Community Health Programs for Youth partner with Huckleberry to provide services to Transitional Age Youth (ages 16 to 24). Funding for the Multi-Service Center is also received from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.

Huckleberry hosts its first annual Wine Tasting and Auction event on Saturday, May 9, 2009, raising $40,000 for the agency and becomes an annual Spring fundraising event.

Through a grant from the Taproot Foundation, Huckleberry launches a new website in October 2009. The grant provides Huckleberry with $50,000 in pro bono web design.

2010

Huckleberry wins the National Network for Youth Agency of the Year Award because of the, "organization's wide scope of youth programming, years of innovation in the field of youth services, and commitment to collaboration with other youth-serving agencies."  (Pictured: Huckleberry's Executive Director Bruce Fisher, accepts the National Network for Youth Agency of the Year award from Victoria Wagner of the NN4Y, on January 26, 2010.)

Huckleberry Community Assessment and Referral Center relocates to 44 Gough Street and partners with the city of San Francisco on the Truancy Assessment and Referral Center (TARC).

Huckleberry's Director of Juvenile Justice Programs, Denise Coleman, is recognized by KQED and Union Bank as a Black History Month Local Hero.

The creation of the Huckleberry Youth Multi-Service Center begins in both San Francisco and Marin Counties, thanks in part to a $200,000 grant from the Department of Public Health, Community Behavioral Health Services for the Huckleberry Multi-Service Center - San Francisco and The Grainger Foundation for the Huckleberry Youth Multi-Service Center - Marin. The new Huckleberry Youth Multi-Service Center - Marin will open in July 2010, is 6,000 square feet and offers more space for expanded programming and a state-of-the-art classroom for the Huckleberry Wellness Academy-Marin. The new location is almost three times the size of the current location.

The second class of the Huckleberry Wellness Academy - San Francisco graduates on June 16, 2010 at a special ceremony at Fort Mason.

Huckleberry Board Member Liz Leone wins Marin's "Volunteer of the Week" Award and is featured in the Marin Independent Journal. Liz is the Huckleberry Board Secretary and Development Chair. She plays an instrumental role in the fundraising and marketing of the agency.