San Diego-based musician Steph Johnson co-founded Voices as a Performance Choir in 2017, in collaboration with local musicians and people experiencing homelessness. Our Choir has performed in more than 150 events, including San Diego Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Master Chorale, and America’s Got Talent (AGT), where Members received the Golden Buzzer award and inspired San Diego’s Board of Supervisors to declare June 2nd “Voices of Our City Day.”

To build upon the success of our choir, Voices expanded our arts and creative offerings to include songwriting and music production workshops and wraparound services that link Members to housing/social supports. We offer songwriting workshops to engage Members in creating new, original productions for our Choir to perform in community events. We also provide Members access to our in-house studio to learn music recording, engineering, video, and production skills.

In 2022, we formalized the structure of our case management, wraparound service referrals, and basic needs services into a Choir Member Services program. Through our musical programs, Members develop trusting, authentic relationships with our Member Services staff; these connections provide a critical avenue for staff to identify Members’ housing, food, and mental health needs and provide a symphony of resources to meet them. In this way, Voices uses the rhythm of musical programs to move Members through the hierarchy of basic needs and help them realize their full potential. In the process, Voices evolved from a performance ensemble to a nonprofit using musical programming to help unsheltered neighbors meet basic needs.

Voices has received excellence awards from Mayor Todd Gloria and the San Diego Psychological Association. Voices also received the 2022 Peacemaker award from the National Conflict Resolution Center.