About Us

Urban Alchemy was founded in late 2018 with the purpose of creating career pathways for returning citizens, primarily those who were serving long term or life sentences.

Beginning in San Francisco and Los Angeles providing street cleaning, public restroom monitoring and activating public spaces, today we have grown into a thriving social enterprise with over 1,300 Practitioners (staff) and operations in California, Oregon, Texas, and Alabama. Our groundbreaking initiatives, programs and services are built on science, research and best practices and rooted in love, respect, and empathy, for traumatized people and communities.
 

Urban Alchemy knows the skills and energy of people who were once incarcerated can transform people and places through love and respect. When individuals in a community are suffering, Urban Alchemy offers solutions. When a neighborhood, street, or intersection earns a reputation as a place to avoid, we turn it into a place of community. Urban Alchemy provides services and engagement that create a peaceful and supportive presence, helping our communities rebuild a sense of pride one person at a time. We have helped tens of thousands of people while creating thousands of good-paying jobs with a career path for returning citizens.

While many of our programs address homelessness and the devastating impacts of poverty and hopelessness, our shelters, tiny home villages, care coordination services, and outreach programs are only part of who we are as an organization. We are game changers, impact makers and community healers. Our Ambassadors program in San Francisco has reduced crime in some areas by 52% – and drug crimes by 80%. We continue to grow and build innovative, transformative services models like our community-based public safety programs. 

Our vision is to change the world by healing the trauma and suffering that unfolds every day in our public spaces. The work Practitioners engage in is also a part of their own healing process. Their ability to perform daily acts of kindness, promote social norms, activate spaces, and support vulnerable members of society contributes to their effective re-entry. We are on a mission to change the world by bringing this model to as many communities as we can.