Standing steps from the J Street entryway to downtown Sacramento, nonprofit leader Kathy Chao Rothberg described her vision for a campus at the former Vagabond Inn that will house and educate homeless residents and put them on the path to self-sufficiency.
As CEO of Lao Family Community Development, she has developed two similar campuses under the nonprofit’s CARE brand — Community Accessing Resources and Education — offering dormitory-style housing in Oakland and in Contra Costa County.
About six years ago, Lao Family also quietly began working with homeless Sacramentans at the nonprofit’s campus in the Arden area, Chao Rothberg said, and the nonprofit’s team has helped more than 3,000 people advance from having no job and no place to live into employment and permanent housing.
“We did it all for each person within six months to 12 months,” Chao Rothberg said.
The downtown Sacramento campus began serving clients this year, Chao Rothberg said, but because she hasn’t negotiated a government or private sponsor for the housing, Lao Family has only been able to offer rooms to clients who can pay a discounted rate or who have a special voucher for families in crisis.