Real Life Skills continues to expand and grow. Revenues Increased 43% over the prior year with increasing revenue coming from program services we provide. Our program was taught in 13 agencies to 500 students with 325 receiving graduation certificates. 

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Here are some highlights for this year

      

     a. Homeless in Transition -We developed a Train the Trainer program under a licensing  agreement which was introduced at the San Diego Rescue Mission. They now have 4 caseworkers certified to teach the program beginning this new year.

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     b. Parolees - We continue to teach inside the detention centers at East Mesa, Las Colinas, and Progress. For those that have been released we teach classes for the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (HR360) on Monday and Tuesday at our office in Spring Valley and in Escondido. A survey of 7 recent graduates indicated that all had obtained jobs. Some became plumbers, welders, bus drivers with an overall combined average starting pay of $20.71 per hour.

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     c. Single parents seeking jobs- We conducted 11 series of classes for the San Diego Housing Commission. Our classes were on the front end for their bridge program for CNA training and jobs. There were 96 who began the program with 52 still in training, 44 that completed training and 35 placed in jobs at an average starting pay of $15.06

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     d. Youth - A series of classes were taught at the Robinson YMCA for a Students Leadership program.

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Looking Ahead

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At the time of this writing our country began facing COVA-19 one of the most serious health issues in our lifetime. Real Life Skills had begun a program to collaborate with agencies to serve the homeless and transitional youth. These programs came to an abrupt stops with the virus and enforcement of new stay at home rules and safe distance policies. We also stopped our on site classes for students in groups.

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We believe that the strict health measures are important to protect our lives and also believe the situation will be with us for awhile. In the meantime we have found that this negative event has created some opportunities for Real LIfe Skills. In particular we believe that we now have new opportunities to begin teaching our classes On Line.

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On Tuesday April 21 we will begin teaching remotely to our lifer parolees using Zoom Software. James Robins will be teaching the curriculum from home and I will manage the technical side from my home. The participants will learn the class program using their smart phones and laptop computers.

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We are grateful to the San Diego Breakfast Rotary and the Catherine Estes Rogers Foundation for their generous and continuing support.

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The Board approved a 2020 Budget for $100,000.

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A special thanks to our teachers, staff and board members who have given so much of their time helping to serve others.

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We see 2020 as a new adventure that will be challenging as well as providing new opportunities to help those in need. This COVA-19 event with the loss of life, challenging work environment and loss of jobs has created uncertainties for many. The daily challenge of life, survival, disappointments, and family issues are often overwhelming. We believe we are here to help.

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Blessings,

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Richard Karlson

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                                                  Financial Highlights  2019

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                                    Total Gross Income.                  $88,338

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                                     Functional Breakdown of Expenses:

                                          Program expenses              $55,246     77.5%

                                          Fundraising                                696       1.0%

                                          Administration                       15,353     21.5%

                                                 Totals                           $71.295

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                                           Net Assets -Beg of year.    $39,299

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                                           Net Assets-End of Year.     $56,342

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