FAQs

Our effectiveness has been widely recognized, as demonstrated by the increasing demand for our  services. In just three years we grew over 500% and are now operating in multiple cities. In 2023 alone, Urban Alchemy improved conditions in neighborhoods by: 

• Decreasing crime: Achieved a 52% reduction in crimes at Urban Alchemy intersections in San Francisco.
• Leading a community response: Responded to more than 40,000 non-emergency calls in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• Reducing homelessness: Helped reduce unsheltered homelessness by nearly 50% in the Hollywood and Venice neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
• Promoting pro-social behavior: Engaged in more than 1.5 million discussions promoting pro-social behavior, such as maintaining clear sidewalks for everyone.
• De-escalating conflict: Performed more than 40,000 de-escalations, ensuring community safety without police involvement.
• Engaging in encampments: Conducted over 5,000 engagements with people living in homeless encampments in Austin.
• Sheltering thousands: Sheltered over 1,200 people nightly in our low-barrier, client-centered facilities.
• Connecting to services: Connected 4,000 people experiencing homelessness to shelter and services.
• Finding housing solutions: Helped over 1,000 people exit homelessness through permanent housing.
• Providing hygiene service: Provided 10,000 showers for people living in Oakland. 
• Cleaning communities: Removed nearly 1,000 tons of trash in the neighborhoods we serve.

We have hundreds of thousands of engagements with people each year and continue to improve our data collection and reporting. But some of the most powerful evidence is in the way Urban Alchemy changes lives. We also have shared personal stories throughout the website to illustrate the transformative power of our Practitioners’ work.

One of Urban Alchemy’s many functions is to provide complementary strategies to conventional  policing and security. Urban Alchemy does not enforce laws, force people to move, or take  responsibility for protecting property. We develop relationships with people and encourage them to treat their neighborhood with respect. We listen to people and promote behavior that protects the health and safety of our public spaces. For example, we might ask people to stay clear of active doorways, to use a public restroom rather than the sidewalks, or to not openly use drugs. We believe that engaging in conversations and encouraging folks to care about their  neighborhood is a much more effective approach than forcefully directing people or fining them if they do not comply.

Urban Alchemy Practitioners engage with everyone in a community, making deposits into an  “emotional bank account” by building trust with housed and unhoused individuals. When a  problem or a crisis occurs, Practitioners help de-escalate the situation, redirect folks toward more positive behavior and/or connect them to  services. We’re able to do this because we share a special bond with society’s most vulnerable, since we often see ourselves in their struggles. We know what it means to be dismissed and disrespected. We recognize the humanity in those who are suffering, and we treat them how we once wished others had treated us.

Urban Alchemy is an employment social enterprise, receiving over 90% of our funding through contracts for services. Government agencies, universities, community groups and businesses often struggle to address chaotic conditions in public spaces and to support those who are suffering the most. Those looking for effective alternatives to conventional social services and ineffective security work with Urban Alchemy to restore dignity and peace in a community, one person at a time.

Urban Alchemy’s contracts with a variety of public and private organizations such as the City & County of San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Oakland, UC Hastings; the Tenderloin Community Benefit District; the Mid-Market Foundation; Supreme; the San Francisco Public Library; Bay Area Rapid Transit, Austin ECHO, Austin Public Health, and others.

Urban Alchemy has over 1,000 employees throughout California, Oregon, and Texas. Our staff receives extensive training and ongoing support to ensure their success. Approximately 96% of our Practitioners have been incarcerated and/or experienced homelessness, and over 80% of Urban Alchemy employees are Black or people of color. These shared experiences create a deep bond and a spirit of mutual support that produces thriving employees who do outstanding work. Practitioners bring deep passion and commitment to their work because it is often their communities that are suffering the most. Through their experience and training, Urban Alchemy staff know how to practice kindness and connect with people who are struggling in a way that helps transform trauma into resilience.

Urban Alchemy provides people who were incarcerated with meaningful employment and opportunities to give back to their communities. We offer living-wage jobs with benefits as well as a career path both within and outside of our organization. Many of our Practitioners advance within Urban Alchemy, and others are recruited to work at other companies. 

In our experience, the best people to facilitate the kind of healing we envision are those who have experienced that level of healing themselves. The work that Practitioners do is part of their own healing process. Providing individuals with opportunities to give back to their communities is a powerful way to help people exiting prison re-enter society. Urban Alchemy’s hiring practices are a win-win for the communities we serve. We create meaningful jobs for formerly incarcerated people while leveraging their unique skills to improve conditions in our neighborhoods. 

Most Urban Alchemy employees, including leadership, experienced long-term incarceration. Employers aren’t bending over backwards to hire people who were incarcerated, but at Urban Alchemy, their skills are sought after. Many of our staff have spent more than a decade in a confined environment where their survival depended on the ability to read and relate to people in unpredictable situations. Incarceration taught Urban Alchemy staff instincts you can’t learn in a classroom. 

Urban Alchemy does not hire formerly incarcerated people from a place of charity or as part of a workforce development program. We value their experience the same way Fortune 500  companies value MBAs from Ivy League schools. We recruit people with lived experience because they are the best at doing this type of community work.

The outcomes of our work are clear evidence that our model is effective. Furthermore, our rapid growth and inquiries from cities throughout the United States and beyond demonstrate that people who work in struggling urban communities validate our success. It has been widely acknowledged that people with lived experience bring practical skills and knowledge to the field of community-based public safety and social services. There is also a plethora of scientific evidence. More information is available in our White Papers.

The “alchemy” that we practice is intentional, and Practitioners complete a rigorous training program built around Urban Alchemy’s model of using individual engagements to help transform trauma into resilience. Every Practitioner who is wearing our uniform is required to know and understand our core values of respect, integrity, empathy, empowerment, self-discipline, self control, and self-esteem.
Practitioners’ training begins with classroom instruction in the areas of emotional intelligence, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, effective communication, de-escalation, advanced de-escalation, harm reduction, self-care and wellness, safety, CPR, first aid, and use of naloxone. We also train Practitioners on Urban Alchemy’s policies and procedures, including an understanding of how to connect people to social services. Practitioners then receive on-the-job training where they are monitored, guided, and provided feedback in real time.
During this training period and throughout their employment, Practitioners are reminded that they are employed to bring peace to struggling communities, not add to anyone’s trauma. Urban Alchemy knows the only way to transform people and places is with respect, compassion, and love.

When possible, we accommodate walkthroughs and ride-alongs to help journalists and researchers better understand the challenges faced by our communities and the work our Practitioners undertake every day. Please go to the Contact Us page on our website and select “media” under inquiry type.