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What's New at Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers

See: Alive & Free Around the World – Dr. Marshall's Travels Abroad

Featured Omega Alum: Sakari Lyons-Glenn

Sakari Lyons-Glenn received both her bachelors degree and her Masters in Social Work from California State University East Bay. She is currently a social worker for the Department of Public Health in Solano County.

"You can call me a success story, I suppose," says Sakari Lyons-Glenn, "but there were a lot of lumps and bumps along the way."

Sakari's father was incarcerated from the time she was five, and her mother was addicted to crack cocaine. "I bounced around a lot, in five different homes, before I even went into the foster care system," she says. "I finally went into kinship care with my great-aunt and uncle, who raised me." In spite of the moving from home to home, Sakari always excelled in school; she believed if she got good grades, her mom would do better.

When she came to Omega, Sakari found a place where she could be herself. "My aunt and uncle were wonderful to me, but they were older and I was uncomfortable talking to them about teenage issues." With encouragement from Omega, Sakari won a scholarship to Howard University. At the end of her first semester, however, she discovered that her mother was dying and she herself was pregnant. She returned to the Bay Area and continued her education while working and raising her son in a transitional housing program for emancipated foster youth.

Her days were exhausting, but Sakari completed her degree — and then earned an advanced degree in social work, even though by then she had had a second child. Today, she is married and has three children. She is a social worker for the Department of Public Health in Solano County and is contemplating pursuing a Ph.D. "A couple of social workers had a big impact on my life," Sakari says. "One of them, Anca Bujas, inspired me to be a social worker because of her gentle heart, urban spirit, and her ability to make me think outside the box."

"Omega gave me a way out," she says, "and I learned important life lessons there. And now I'd like to be my own Omega Boys Club for my children. I want them to understand that dating and falling in love will happen, but education comes first. And, of course, I continue to work with Omega. My goal is to go back and teach current Omegas what it means to be family. After all, as Dr. Marshall says, 'The more you know, the more you owe.'"

Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers – keeping youth Alive and Free.

2nd Street Soldiers National Conference — Alive & Free-Baltimore — Another Major Success

The second Street Soldiers National Violence Prevention Conference — Alive & Free-Baltimore — was held October 17-18, 2008 at the historic Lake Clifton Campus, the home of the Doris M. Johnson and Heritage High Schools. Actress Terri Vaughn, comedian Sinbad, filmmaker Ray Upchurch, activist Kemba Smith and mayor Sheila Dixon all joined Dr. Joe Marshall and the Street Soldiers National Consortium in bringing the Alive & Free Movement to Baltimore. The two day conference featured workshops on the Alive & Free Prescription and a showing of the film Daddy Hunger. It was a great event. Thank you Baltimore for embracing Alive & Free.

• View Photographs
• Read Thank You Letter From South African Street Soldiers (Acrobat PDF)

Omega Boys Club Chosen as Finalist in International Changemakers Competition

Omega's "Alive & Free Movement: Saving a Generation, One Life at a Time" project was selected as one of 14 finalists in the Changemakers' 15th Annual Young Men at Risk collaborative competition. The competition was stiff: 362 entries from 39 countries. In the end, a prestigious panel of judges singled out Omega for "outstanding demonstration of innovation, social impact, and sustainability,"

Omega Boys Club 20th Anniversary Recap

Omega Boys Club celebrated its 20th anniversary in high style in the grand Julia Morgan Ballroom atop of the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco's Financial District. The event's energy level soared into the stratosphere as more than 250 friends, family members and guests were immersed in the spirit that has propelled Omega "from the street corners of San Francisco to the four corners of the world." Learn More »