New Beginnings Counseling Center Gets National Coverage

A feature story in this month’s issue of Rolling Stone magazine adds to the recent spate of coverage — which also includes NBC Nightly News, NPR, PBS, and People — of New Beginnings Counseling Center, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization that helps the homeless by providing free parking spaces through its Safe Parking Program. The program has also garnered interest from the United Kingdom’s Channel 5 News, France’s Channel 4 News, and South Korean newspapers. More than 500 people currently receive aid from New Beginnings’ program.

Qualifications for the organization’s benefits are few — anyone homeless is eligible. For the Safe Parking Program, current car registration, insurance, and licensing is mandatory, and parking spaces must be vacated between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. There have been very few instances of suspension or expulsion from the program.

“Quite honestly, most people are thrilled to have this opportunity,” said New Beginnings’ executive director, Kristine Schwartz. “We give them a jumping-off point.”