Sailors were not only poor but also notorious for being a riotous lot, and would often end up hungry and depressed. It has always been the mission of Peniel and now CityTeam Mission to offer food for the body, and also food for the soul. The good news is that there is a God who loves us all deeply, and who is eager to forgive us, and reestablish us back into society to serve him and our fellow man. In the last few decades, significant changes have occurred in Oakland. In some cases this meant drug use, and eventually serious addiction problems began on a large scale.
Addiction always flourishes where there is a high level of despair and hopelessness.
The drug addiction and abuse continue to this day, with the primary drug of choice in our city being crack cocaine and heroin. The Mission has always made an effort to meet the needs of the people as they evidence themselves, so our emphasis in the last 20 years has been to not only offer food and shelter, but also well-structured residential recovery programs. Our highly successful programs have changed scores of lives, and continue to grow in scope and effectiveness. We at CityTeam in Oakland are determined to move ahead with aggressive plans to expand the scope of our work to include reaching out to the fastest growing sector of homeless people in our city - battered and underprivileged women with children, many of whom are being eliminated from welfare rolls, and not making a successful transition to independent living. We intend to help women face this life transition successfully.