ABOUT THE PAYBACK

What is The Payback?

The Payback was started by Eddie Roberts, guitarist and bandleader of UK Funk group The New Mastersounds. After living in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco for several years, Eddie developed a real sense of connection to the community and felt the day-to-day reality of the burgeoning homeless situation in his neighborhood. There is currently a mass displacement of families occurring within the Bay Area; families with young children are often hit hardest with these changes.

Eddie decided to address this issue directly through partnering with various artists, musicians and other nonprofits to raise funds for organizations that are working to make a real difference in the lives of homeless families. The Payback benefit concerts have raised tens of thousands of dollars over the past two years in both San Francisco and Denver, CO. The Payback also has plans to expand to other major cities in the US over the next several years.

Who Will Benefit?

The San Francisco Payback will support Compass Family Services, an organization whose mission is to help homeless families and families at imminent risk for homelessness to achieve housing stability, family well-being, and self-sufficiency. Each year, Compass Family Services supports approximately 5,000 children and parents, 90 percent of whom are below the federal poverty line, and 50 percent of whom are under 18 years of age. The majority of their clients are single mothers with one or two children.

San Francisco Facts on Homelessness:

• Family homelessness has increased 20% in the past four years.
• Average wait for a family to get into temporary shelter is over eight months.
• A single parent with two children must work three full-time, minimum wage jobs to afford basic living expenses.
• 3,800 low-income children are on the waiting list for subsidized childcare.

Compass Family Services Accomplishments:

• 95% of families in Compass housing programs don’t return to shelters within a year of exiting the program.
• 5,000 parents and children benefit from their education, employment, and housing services every year.
• More than 1,000 children have graduated from their early childhood education programs prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond.
• They provide 32,500 nights of shelter for families annually.
• Through over 30,000 case