Winter & Spring 2026
Happy beginning of summer, everyone! It’s been a minute since we posted on the blog, and that’s because we’ve had some major updates brewing that we’re finally ready to share with all of you.
First thing’s first: Mother Angela’s is decentralizing. Our wonderful namesake, Angela, who has been fighting for her own health, wellbeing and stability these past few years and has finally achieved it, will be continuing the philanthropic efforts we’ve been building together in New Orleans independently without a formal nonprofit incorporation. These programs have been integrated heavily into her outside-of-work life in her community, and she’s now able to maintain a full time job at a popular local establishment while simultaneously continuing to build on the foundations we’ve laid there over the last 36 months.
In addition to continuing the resource connection and mutual aid endeavors, she’ll be helping to organize her workplace and the workplaces of others in her community, and we couldn’t be happier for her. We will continue to collaborate and share our strategies for growth behind the scenes, but our individual work will now be more highly tailored to our own individual cities and the unique needs of our communities. Because she prefers to continue the work without the hassle of a formal 501(c)(3) in New Orleans, she has insisted we keep the name Mother Angela’s to honor our shared beginnings as we continue to expand our reach in the Bay.
We will miss her dearly, and couldn’t be more grateful for the four years we’ve spent working together and for the lifelong close friendship we’ve forged along the way.
This big change has left us (the royal us, me, Hannah) to ponder how to best fortify and expand our programming in San Francisco (namely the Resource Pamphlets that have become our Primary Program) with our unique cultural needs in mind. And after a few months of consideration and consulting with the people we serve and others in the nonprofit space, I’ve landed on two immediate plans for improvement.
The first is that the Resource Pamphlets (and, consequently, the auxiliary programs we use to distribute them) will be expanding into Oakland!! Our goal at Mother Angela’s has always been to do the most with the least, and to reach the populations that are in greatest need of harm reduction and holistic services for chronically ill, unhoused/low-income and traumatized people. And while there continues to be a significant cohort of folks in SF in dire need of those services, the next closest urban population in need of resources is in the East Bay.
San Francisco culture and community networks are inextricably linked with Oakland, especially considering how gentrification over the last several decades has pushed many native San Franciscans across the bridge. We can’t wait to bring our services and Resource Pamphlets to the vibrant and beautiful Oaklanders who deserve access to long-term stability and the unhindered pursuit of happiness.
Stay tuned for the finished 2026 Resource Pamphlets – now in the editing phase – for both San Francisco and Oakland later this summer, landing about a year after the 2025 print.
Part two of the plan is that I will be furthering my formal education by pursuing a master’s degree in Social Work. After researching many related degrees, I’ve determined that becoming an LCSW will allow me the best chance to add clinical understanding of the issues our clients face to the experiential wisdom of street work and personal experiences. The advanced degree will also allow us to offer more free services to our neighbors in need, the most poignant being therapy for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) and victims of severe trauma that will incorporate the harm reduction knowledge and practices I’ve been honing for the better part of a decade.
I’m currently in talks with professionals in the field to determine the best place to complete my prerequisite coursework before applying to an array of online Masters of Social Work (MSW) programs so that I can stay in SF and continue the nonprofit work while pursuing this degree and licensure. I will keep our little community of supporters updated as the process unfolds, and I’m so excited, if a bit nervous, to take the work of Mother Angela’s to the next level with this vital education.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about our work, would like to refer someone to us for resources or harm reduction, or become a volunteer or regular donor. If you are someone who has been following along due to your connection to New Orleans and would like to continue to support Angela’s efforts down there, please email me and I’ll connect you to her directly.
I’ll be updating our website and instagram to reflect all these changes in the coming days and weeks, and appreciate your patience in the meantime. The links to donation options should remain unchanged. Thank you all for your continued support, and we can’t wait for the next phase of our work to unfold!
