[photo: Teri, far left, with her family at Jerry Day, SF, 2023, where she’s been volunteering since 2012!]
“I’m a cat, horse, children whisperer. They’re attracted to me. They always have been.”
Teri Tencer — the energizer bunny of good-willed souls — is the Prevention Services Coordinator at Larkin Street Youth Services. The 1317 Haight Street facility recently changed locations potentially for good, but Teri is happy to report that, with an upgrade of the premises, they expect to reopen by the end of September. Here’s a glimpse into her journey in becoming such an important, caring, passionate person in this community:
“I used to go to the playground and bring kids home all the time — as if my mother could keep up! [laughs] I don’t know what it was, I just always knew I wanted to take care of children. And animals. I decided this is the best way to spend your time.
“In August of 2012, I got a phone call from Larkin Street Youth Services, so I went in for an interview. Everybody was dressed very nice and I looked the way I look now [laughter]. At one point she asked “How do you relate to the youth?” One of people said, “I listen to music.” Somebody else said, “Oh yeah, I listen to the same music.” I didn’t realize but I said it loud, I thought I said it under my breath: “Oh, I’m just a Deadhead.” The woman who was interviewing me said, “We’ve got a spot on Haight Street. Do you want it?” I was like, “Yes!” At 13, I declared I was a hippie, so I said, “Mom! It finally paid off!” [laughs]
“I came to SF for the same reasons the kids are coming here for. Even though, unfortunately, the Summer of Love is way gone, there’s still that need for possibility of just being themselves. We get a lot of youth from Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and a lot of them are probably nonbinary, and they flee, they come here because, well, we have the resources, but also because they feel like they’re safe here. They can be who they want to be here, and I think that’s a really important piece to it. I give them unconditional love, every single one of them, and they know that. The thing is yeah, maybe they’re strung out, but maybe if you keep going back and saying, “Hey, how you doing? Do you need some food …” or whatever, you make a connection. And for a lot of them, that’s what they need. A connection. I’ve got kids who are third-generation homeless. Knowing that that you’ve helped in some way is the best feeling. It’s like a ripple in a pond. Maybe 5, 10 years down the line they’re gonna remember that support. That’s what’s important.
“We’ll have lots of food, they can make their own food, we have a bathroom, we have couches, they can hang out, they can sleep. It’s just a safe space for them to be. We have card games, board games, coloring books. Again, just a safe space for them to hang out and just be who they want to be. We’ve only had one rule in there and it’s always been: be aware of how your behavior impacts the space.
This is my pay it forward.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Teri Tencer: I’m a cat, horse, children whisperer. They’re attracted to me. They always have been.
Haight Street Voice: That’s cool. That was the opening line. [laughter]
Hi guys! So this is a Haight Street Voice first interview on Linda’s couch. Hi! This is Teri Tencer. And what’s your title there?
TT: Prevention Services Coordinator.
HSV: Slower this time! Welcome to the show!
TT: My title is Prevention Services Coordinator and I specifically work out of the Haight Street Referral Center, Larkin Street Youth Services. I am the only one in the entire agency that has that title. It was made specifically for me.
HSV: And how long have you been doing it?
TT: Eleven years September 26.
HSV: Okay, so let’s just do a brief history of you, where you come from and how you ended up doing this.
TT: I grew up in Chatsworth, California. I had a really good friend I knew since I was 14 and I used to come up to San Francisco and visit him. He’s the one who turned me on to the Dead, so I told him he’s responsible for this monster!! [points to self]
I kept going back and forth and I was really struggling in L.A. and I don’t know why I was really stubborn about it, I didn’t want a car. So I came up here.
HSV: And what years are we talking about?
TT: 1979. It was the second Haight Ashbury Street Fair. And that Sunday I stood there — well first of all someone was walking around saying, “Close your eyes, open your mouth, and get a big surprise!” And of course I did. I was standing there and I looking around and going, “how in the world can I try and make it in L.A. when here is an entire community of people that look like me, think like me — so I had to be here. I moved up here in July. I said, that’s it. I’m coming up. So I moved up here, I stayed with my friend. My brother was actually here for medical school so I moved in with him. My brother had a friend, an undergrad who was also at their medical school and he introduced us and we fell in love and we got married.
HSV: Yay!
TT: So we met out here, but he was from the East Coast.
I was 23, almost 24, I had basically failed out of college the first time. I knew that I wasn’t ready. I kept telling my parents, “I’m not ready to go to school, I need to experience life.” So here I am, 23 almost 24, and I say that’s it, I’m going to school. I did 3 semesters at City College and then I transferred. I had a choice of Berkeley, Stanford — I mean I had some great schools, and I went, “no, no, no” I wanted SF State.
HSV: Yay! Go Gators.
TT: I studied developmental psychology. So here I am with a degree and I ended up — my husband and I got married in 1981 and in 1982 he decided we were going to the East Coast. He kept telling me that only kooks and nuts live in California. And I kept thinking, “You married one!” So we did a year in Baltimore, he did his residency. We did a year in New Jersey for another residency, and then we ended up in Connecticut for 27 years.
HSV: That’s where Keith Richards ended up.
TT: We were more northern. New England people do not understand Californians. Even though we lived there 27 years, we never were accepted. It was a struggle. But we kept coming back here cuz my family was in L.A. We were always coming back here. And my husband got sick. Wait, back up. So in the ‘90s I was working for the University of Hartford and I was given the opportunity to go to grad school for really cheap, so I decided to go back to school.
Originally I went for what was called an “MSOB” Masters of Science of Organizational Behavior”. I was basically on the track to become the commissioner of child care in Connecticut, and I realized at that point that’s not what I wanted. I wanted to be frontline. I’d already been behind a desk, I’d done administration. I said no, I need to be frontline. So to University of Hartford I said that’s it, I’m finishing up my degree but I’m going to be frontline because this is what I need to do.
HSV: Good for you.
TT: So I finished up. We were able, luckily, for me to not work and I took my 2 years off and I got my Masters. Meanwhile I have 2 sons: we have one born in 1983, Joshua, and then Marc was born 1987. So we had 2 boys.
HSV: [waving to camera] Hi guys. Good job Mom!
TT: [laughter] They’re out there now and they have partners now and I’ve got 3 granddaughters: Josh is in Seattle with Sarah, their daughter, Juniper, will be 1 on Tuesday. My son Marc is back East with Rachel and their daughters, Rory aka Aurora who is going to be 7 in a couple weeks and Cassie (Casseopia) who turned 4 in June.
HSV: Wow. [whistle] And you work 7 days a week! And I’m saying I feel tired!
I wanted to ask you, the spark of knowing you wanted to be a psychologist and help people, when did that happen? Was it when you were a kid, oh my parents were crap so I’ve got to take care of others, or what? How did that happen?
TT: I’m actually the oldest of 4 kids, I have a brother and 2 sisters. And I used to go to the playground and bring kids home — as if my mother could keep up! [laughter] I don’t know what it was! My mom and dad made life-long friends with other parents. I just always knew I wanted to take care of children. I always knew it. And animals, because I knew there was something special with dogs, cats and horses. I decided this is the best way to spend your time.
In 2000 to 2010 I ran my own nonprofit organization. It was called Therapeutic Equine Assisted Mental Health and we worked with a lot of kids who were on the autistic spectrum of disorders. We also worked with group homes, we worked with gangs in Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford.
HSV: Gangs?
TT: Gangs, yes. So was a program in Hartford called “Ebony Horsewomen”. It’s right in downtown Hartford, so I would go down and work with the woman who ran it named Pat Kelly We ran it together. We worked with gang members and horses.
HSV: Wow.
TT: It was pretty amazing to hear someone mucking the stall and they’d whisper, “You’re the best friend I ever had.” Your heart just goes, “Oh my goodness!”
HSV: I’m trying to get my head around not only the complexity of the horses and the gangs and the rest of it. That’s a lot of moving parts. Thank god the government does fund things like this cuz it’s so important. But let’s keep going with how you got to Larkin Street Youth Services.
TT: In 2009, my husband started to get sick, and by 2011 — it took us 2 years to finally get a diagnosis. The professionals kept saying he was depressed but that wasn’t it. We finally found out it was Lewey’s Body Disease, a form of Parkinson’s disease, what Robin Williams was diagnosed with and why he killed himself. And we found out his father had it as well, even though they never told us what the diagnosis was. My sons are freaking out, one’s 40 and one’s 36 now. My 36 year old is like, “Mom maybe I have 10 good years left?” I say no, don’t think that way.
HSV: It’s not definite though, is it?
TT: No. What they know about the disease is that there are other components. Like there are soldiers that came back from Vietnam who were exposed to Agent Orange, which caused it. My husband Rich grew up in Long Island which was an agricultural center, so probably pesticides. So we had to close the horse practice because I couldn’t do it on my own. My boys were already out of the house.
We always had this thing where the person who could make the most money got to choose where we’d live. So it was finally my turn [laughter] cuz he had to quit. I said, “That’s it! We’re moving back home.” We came back to San Francisco, he gave me absolutely no flack whatsoever. So we moved September 1, 2011.
HSV: Right about this time.
TT: And for a year, I kept putting application everywhere, I was trying to get a job desperately and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was also trying to get my license out here and originally when I called California to see if I could get a license, they were like, “Well, you graduated before ’96, you can go down and use the grandfather clause, and this is what we’ll need from you. So I did it and they denied me. So, I’m not licensed, which really hurt me because it took me so long to get licensed and do those hours.
But anyway, in August of 2012, I got a phone call from Larkin Street. It was the first person to call me back after all the resumes, The interview was actually very interesting. There were 5 of us.
HSV: Was it in this location (pointing to Haight)?
TT: No. This was downtown on Sutter between Polk and Larkin.
So there were 5 of us and we were all applying for case manager jobs and everybody’s dressed very nice and here I am, you know, my normal stuff. I looked the way I look now [laughter]. And at one point she asked “How do you relate to the youth?” And one of people said, “Oh, I listen to music.” Somebody else said, “Oh yeah, I listen to the same music.” And I didn’t realize but I said it loud, I thought I said it under my breath: “Oh, I’m just a Deadhead.” And she looked at me, the woman who was interviewing me said, “We’ve got a spot on Haight Street. Do you want it?” And I was like, “Yes!”
So that night, I call my mother, I went, “Mom!” At 13 I declared I was a hippie, so I said, “Mom! It finally paid off!” [laughter]
It’s perfect for me cuz I was one of them. I came here for the same reasons they’re coming here for, even though, unfortunately, the Summer of Love is way gone, there’s still that need for possibility of just being themselves. We get a lot of youth from Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and a lot of them are probably nonbinary, and they flee, they come here because, well, we have the resources, but also because they feel like they’re safe here. They can be who they want to be here, and I think that’s a really important piece to it.
HSV: Yeah, again, I’m one of those like, actually I don’t know how these services work! I know them, the ones that are on drugs, they’re drinking every day, screwing up, or the people who are doing bad things — and if they are using, maybe you don’t treat them? They have to be clean and sober?
TT: No.
HSV: How could these kids be both clean and sober and also go through this thing at Larkin Youth Services?? Explain! Take your time!
TT: Actually the 11 years I’ve been here I’ve had 10 managers. It hasn’t’ been consistent. It’s been crazy. Basically at this point the resource center is me. So we take anyone 12 through their 25th birthday, even after their 25th birthday we still help them out. We don’t sign them in but they can come in and they can get services. [inaudible] We have absolutely no barriers. I believe them if they tell me their age. I mean we had someone at some point who was in there who was 36.
We’re trying to raise the ceiling above 25 because with the brain studies going on now, the females mature at 25 and the males mature at 27, so really they’re teenagers at 25 and 27. So we’re trying to get the age bumped up to 27 and 29. That’s something that all of us are working on.
For years I’ve been seeing a shift where they’re 23 or 24 and they’re saying, “I’m done partying, I want to go to school, I want to do something with my life.”
HSV: Plus don’t they just get tired of living on the street?
TT: Yes. Unfortunately, I would say 80 percent of them move on and do something, but there’s that 20 percent that doesn’t.
HSV: Let me ask you this, I work at the shop on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, I know a lot of the street kids, a lot of them by name, most of them are nice, some of them I’ve seen in good shape, but then not so good another time. But some of them want help, yes, but then others get help, rehab or whatever, but then they end up right back on the street again because that’s where they want to be.
TT: I’ve had kids come in, I know they’ve shot up in the bathroom, they come out and I’m like, “I’m not letting you go cuz you’re too high. Stay here til you’re not.” That’s how we are. We’ve had kids come in and just start drinking and I’m like, “No guys, put that away. Don’t do it in this space. It’s cool if you go outside.” So we have no barriers.
HSV: So … are they getting better? You give them a space to talk about what’s troubling them …
TT: I give them unconditional love, every single one of them, and they know that.
HSV: I guess another question is, and I’m playing devil’s advocate, some people in the neighborhood might say, you’re feeding those kids and you’e just encouraging them when they’re trashing the neighborhood and blah blah blah, that whole thing. And I’m not saying this is me, but some people don’t want them here. So how do you dance between those things? You can’t get mad at those people cuz you know where they’re coming from.
TT: Yes.
HSV: You know, they might have a 3-year-old kid and there’s human feces on the sidewalk or a naked person trashed, naked, and sleeping. What do you say to those people? You can speak to them now. This is the Haight Street Voice where you can voice your mind.
TT: Right. Well, these people — first of all, we practice harm reduction, which means we don’t give them drugs. Some people think harm reduction means we’re giving them drugs. We don’t. We’re giving them stuff to keep them safe. And are probably one of the only sites that practices it because of the funding situation. Our residential programs can’t practice that because of where their funding comes from. But we practice that here at Haight Street Referral Center And we do outreach all over the City, so we’re always out there: safe shooting, safe snorting, sex kits, there’s hygiene — we’re out there handing out stuff. The thing is yeah, maybe they’re strung out, but maybe if you keep going back and saying, “Hey, how you doing? Do you need some food …” or whatever, you make a connection. And for a lot of them, that’s what they need. A connection. I mean I’ve got kids who are second or third generation homeless.
HSV: Oh my god.
TT: Yeah. How do you deal with that? During the shelter-in-place we put them in the hotels.
HSV: I just flashed on Stumbles and Halfpint. Did you know them?
TT: Mmhmm. (Sad face)
HSV: I let them take a bath in my place years ago and they were so grateful and so happy.
TT: That’s the best feeling, that you touched somebody, you helped in some way. I always tell other people it’s like a ripple in a pond, you touch someone and maybe five, ten years down the line they’re gonna remember that. They’re gonna remember that support. And that’s what’s important.
HSV: Do you remember Lily the cop?
TT: Oh yes!
HSV: I love her! Shoutout to you, Lily!
She used to get so frustrated cuz she’d try to help some kids rehabilitate, but then they’d end up right back on the street again. It was hard for her to witness. You must go through that, yes?
TT: We’ve lost a lot of kids to fentanyl.
HSV: Not only kids — I mean, even Bruce, who was probably in his late 40s.
Dr. Dave was telling me even marijuana is laced with fentanyl cuz the street dealers have residue on their scales.
TT: Yes. We have test kits. We discovered that about 2 years ago. We had kids coming in and saying, “Can you test this?” So they are very aware of what’s going on. But yeah, fentanyl is everywhere. And I do have youth that specifically seek out fentanyl because they’re above heroin. We’ve lost a lot of kids.
HSV: I’m excited to have Eleni — who is my kitten’s grandmother, her cat Sid Vicious is my kitten’s mom — be doing the Street Person Spotlight this edition.
TT: That will be great!
HSV: Eleni was saying she comes up here because it’s so much nicer than the Tenderloin, where she’s been housed. She’s grateful to be housed but it’s horrible down there.
Why are they housing people there? Can you tell me what that’s all about?
TT: [grabs her head in frustration] What that’s about is that that’s where the congregation mom SROs [single room occupancy] are in the City. They’re all in the Tenderloin. There are a few out of that district, but they’re mostly in the Tenderloin. So unfortunately, that’s what they’ve got for housing. The ones that are not in the Tenderloin are on Ocean Avenue and outer Mission, so there are some that are farther out but they’re hard to get into because the waiting list is so long. That’s the problem.
They don’t want to be down in the Tenderloin because it’s either too tempting and they don’t want to be around all this stuff, or they just don’t feel safe down there.
HSV: Especially with her little 1-year-old Wiley and her dog and her cat.
TT: Yeah, I just saw her today and she’s not happy about it. Plus, this is their community. That’s not their community. So this is what gets into this whole thing with Haight Street and Larkin Street: They are two different communities. They realized this in the ‘90s, and when they opened this place up here in the Haight. There’s a quote on the Larkin Street website: “Asking the youth from the Haight to come down to the Tenderloin is like asking the youth to move to Mars.” That is the quote. So they knew that they did not want to be down there. The youth that do go down there they feel stigmatized. They don’t feel welcome.
HSV: Oh god yeah. It blows my mind.
Somehow, somewhere, there must be space up here that would be groovy and good for them.
TT: Well, we tried that at 1020 Haight, ATI, between Broderick and Baker. When you come west on Haight it’s on the right-hand side, kind of set back, you can see it. That used to be ATI “Avenues to Independence.” They shut that down in 2015 I think, and then in 2016 they reopened it and they called it “1020 Haight”. And the person who was running Larkin Street at the time, the goal was to offer the Haight Street kids their choice for beds. It was 4 rooms, 3 males and one female room. We actually got some kids in there and within 2 months they were thrown out because they had drug paraphernalia. And because of the funding, they can’t have drug paraphernalia. So that was the issue and they just said, “No, screw it. We don’t want to be there.” So we haven’t tried it since then.
Right now, I would say that all the kids up here who want to be housed, we’ve found them a house, so we’re in a good spot. Of course it’s driving them crazy downtown! I’m like, I’m just doing my job! The ones that wanted a house, I found them a house.
HSV: And what about the ones that don’t want to be housed, they just live in tents or whatever …
TT: And that’s cool too. They’re usually pretty good about it.
HSV: What about the tent cities down by the freeway and all that? That’s people who are older, in their 50s, yes?
TT: Yes, those are hardcore. What’s interesting is they moved from here at Haight down to 850 VanNess. Nobody’s going to come down there! So what’s happening is that they sent people to take down the tents. There was a huge sweep last Thursday, and they were back Friday. What’s happening is they’re trying to push them out of the Tenderloin and they ended up pushing them into Soma or onto VanNess, which has got pockets of tents now going up.
I think we forget when we try to move or house all these people, is that that is their community. They have a community. That’s very important to them.
HSV: Going back to the Haight Ashbury and the corner and Robert the owner … it can be hard for him when tons of people are out there with chairs and partying and and playing music … that’s fine, but take it down to the park. Don’t do it right in front of his shop, right?
There has to be that thing of respecting each others’ space. But lately it seems like things are good.
TT: Yes, and I’ve noticed that the street kids are sort of spreading out, some have moved across the street, down the street, on the four corners, different spots. Which is actually awesome, we haven’t seen that in years.
HSV: So this move down to VanNess … you were very upset. Tell the people what’s going on. I don’t know what’s going on, so have at it, tell the folks!
TT: There has been a push for quite a while for us to leave the Haight because the numbers have gone down. When I started in 2012 to 2015, we saw between 50 and 75 youth a day unduplicated. We don’t see that. Pre-pandemic, we probably saw maybe 25. Right now we’re seeing anywhere from 0 to 10. So the numbers have come down. I think the numbers are going to go back up, I really do. I think as more people realize that things are opening up. I think the pandemic just wiped everybody out and they got scared. So anyway there has been a push for a while to move everybody down to 850 Van Ness because we own the space.
HSV: Oh, you own it?
TT: Yes. Meanwhile we rent this space. So over the years, this space is falling apart and our landlord doesn’t want to do anything, so we keep putting bandaids on it to try to make it functional. But it’s falling apart. We’ve been trying to find another place on the street for years and we’re just having a really hard time.
We went to Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, we went to the merchants, we went to everyone and they said okay. Everyone was onboard, and the landlord turned around and said, “No, I want retail.” And it’s still empty 3 years later. We couldn’t find another place to move, so the solution was — they thought — to just pick up and move down to 850 Van Ness, which isn’t doing anything. I was gone, I was on vacation, I got a text Monday morning saying, pack up, we’re moving to 850. What happened was, not only did they do that but the people that had made that decision had already given their 2-week notice. They were leaving the following week. They didn’t talk to anybody so we had no idea what was going on! I had texts, I had phone messages, emails — nobody was contacting us back. And here are the 4 of us going, “What is going on?!”
Finally, we got word about what’s going on, and what’s going on at this point is that this is temporary. Right now, just yesterday, there were some contractors who were supposed to go look at the space and figure out what they can do to improve it, upgrade it, do something with it, because it’s falling apart. Our goal is to be back by the end of September.
HSV: Oh good, wonderful!
TT: Yes. Because — this is actually cute. The person who runs facilities came over last week to talk to me, he says, “I want you to know that I was told that if we shut down the Haight Street Referral Center, you’re going to kill me!” [laughter] And I went, “Really!?” I said, “Yeah, you’re probably right!” So people are starting to care because I kept saying, there’s nothing up here during the day for the kids — to hang out, to eat — there’s nothing. People say, well, get HYA HYA is in evening. There’s nothing up here. So I think that’s what they finally started to hear.
HSV: So tell me, when it does open back up here, what is it that you provide?
TT: I don’t know if they’re going to switch hours, although I’m arguing with them because they want to open up later and when it starts getting dark earlier, people are going to already be in their spots, they’re not going to be hanging out. So anyway, right now they’re open 9am-1pm and 2-4pm. We have lots of food, they can make their own food, we have a bathroom, we have couches, they can hang out, they can sleep. It’s just a safe space for them to be. We have card games in there, we have Cards Against Humanity in there, board games, coloring books. Again, just a safe space for them to hang out and just be who they want to be. We’ve only had one rule in there and it’s always been: be aware of how your behavior impacts the space. Basically over the 11 years I’ve been there there’s only been 3 times we’ve had to do what’s called an “MIS” Modification In Services. Meanwhile downtown, it’s at least 4 or 5 times every day.
Here, the kids police themselves. If somebody starts to act up in that space, I hear it all the time, “Hey man, cool it. Go outside.” This is their space, and that’s what I felt it had to be.
Unfortunately during the pandemic we were going to paint. I don’t know if you saw all the signs floor to ceiling, we had all the signs kids had been flying since the ‘90s, we put them somewhere else and somebody took them. I was able to find a few but what really hurt me was the spray paint in front of Pipe Dreams, the Grateful Dead, that was one of my kids, and he gave me the original. He did it on a piece of wood first before he put it on the shop, so I had this. It was on the wall and it was very special. I haven’t seen it since.
HSV: How much do you stay in touch with the kids?
TT: I’d say I have about 10 or 15 right now. I might get a call or a letter or a Christmas card. I’ve got one who’s got 4 kids now. I haven’t seen her in 8 years. So I do keep in touch. I also just love it when somebody will pass by and be like, “Oh my god! You’re still here! Do you remember me? I was here 10 years ago!” And I’m like, “Yeah, I do!” And I do. I remember.
HSV: Do you ever feel when you see a kid having a hard time, do you want to — I don’t even know why I’m asking this — contact their parents, not that you want to send them back but do you …
TT: No. I give them unconditional love. I have no judgment.
HSV: Supporting them in who they are, letting them make their own decisions.
TT: It also depends on the relationship. I’ve known some of these 5, 6, 7 years and I can say, “Hey, cut the bullshit out!” Because I have a relationship with them. You can’t do that unless you do. And I always make sure that they understand that I’m not their friend.
HSV: Interesting.
TT: I’m friendly, and they can come to me and I’ll support them, but I’m not going to hang out with them. There’s a rule that a client has to be out of services for 2 years if they want to work for Larkin Street. There was this one kid after 2 years thought that meant I could smoke with him. It’s been 5 years now and he’s always like, “Hey, come on! Let’s go smoke some weed!” And I’m like, “I can’t! I’m sorry! I can’t.” When I see the kids at Jerry Day, I’m like hiding. It’s a boundary.
HSV: It’s so fascinating. It’s so abstract to me. What you do and the percentage of kids where you do see positive results in just having that safe space and not having to explain yourself and just being who you are.
But there is some frustration when there’s a disrespect, when I go to work and there’s crap everywhere and it’s dirty.
TT: A lot of the times it’s not the kids. A lot of times the stuff gets blamed on the kids and it really isn’t them.
HSV: Interesting.
What is your favorite thing about what you do?
TT: This is my pay it forward. I had someone when I was struggling who was there for me and really helped me out a lot. And I always thought in the back of my head, if I could do that I would do that. So this is my pay it forward. And when the kids ask me, “Hey Teri, what can we do?” I say, “Just pay it forward.” That’s all I ever say to them.
HSV: Is addiction woven in to all of this or is that not even part of it at all?
TT: It’s woven in there but it’s also trauma and … it’s interesting. I mean we do have some youth up here, this is their choice. They don’t need to be here. And then we have the other youth where this isn’t a choice, this is just how it is. So it’s hard. We jokingly call some of them trust fund kids. I had one that wanted to be a dirty kid, he even went out and bought himself an $800 van, but it just didn’t work. He just wasn’t accepted.
HSV: If you could say something to all the kids via this interview, what would you say to all of them? The ones you know and the ones who may be coming …
TT: Just that I love them all. I am amazed. When I look at these kids, I see an incredible future because these are kids who think outside the box, that are going to do something fantastic. I always say that I am there for them.
HSV: For anyone who’s reading this article, is there a number or contact information or whatever. Who should they reach out to?
TT: If they’re interested in Larkin Street Youth Services, there’s a whole website. If you want, you can give my number out, that’s fine with me. But there are incredible amounts of resources in this City for youth. And part of my job is to help refer people. But it’s out there. They just need to reach out. They have to get frustrated cuz they do get frustrated. Housing isn’t going to happen overnight. That I know is a big piece.
HSV: Do you see light at the end of this tunnel? Yes there’s been covid, yes we’re more overpopulated than ever, there’s there racial tensions and the environmental problems — there’s a helluva lot more problems than when we were kids. But this seems to be a time when it’s more important than ever for us to connect with each other, get stronger together, around the art, the issues, helping each other, each of us doing what we’re best at — I really do feel a hope in that.
TT: I’m October 23, cusp of Libra and Scorpio. So I’m a very fair person but I can get into trouble some times cuz I speak my mind. I have a huge sense of fairness!! I’m known at the agency as the troublemaker. Cuz I open my mouth and when I do open my mouth, it’s always for the kids.
HSV: “Hyper-local with a global perspective”. Any words you’d like to say to the kids, to the community here, and all over the world?
TT: Be kind! I don’t know what happened to kindness in this world. Find something, even just a smile. Smile at someone, especially these people out on the streets. They feel like people look over them, they ignore them, they don’t look at them. Just say “Hi! How ya doin?”
There’s a lot of good stuff still happening up here.
HSV: And like that great Kesey line: “We have to stick together in case one of us gets there.”
TT: So, they’re not hippie kids anymore, they’re dirty kids. Dirty kids have violence in them. They’re like, “Didn’t you do that?” And I say, “No, because we treated each other as brothers and sisters. We had respect for each other. We shared. We didn’t steal from each other. We didn’t hurt each other physically.” And that, to me, is a big difference, and they hear that. And that’s where the kindness comes in.
HSV: So you call them dirty kids?
TT: Yes, that’s what they call themselves! That’s what they identify with, that’s what we call them.
