The Community Assessment and Referral Center (CARC) provides a single point of entry for crisis intervention, assessment, service integration and referral of arrested youth. The program provides a setting in which staff from juvenile probation, public health, the sheriff's department, the police department, and community-based organizations work together in the same space to assess and case manage youth who are arrested for a variety of offenses. The CARC is a collaboration in the most unique sense of the word: a very real public/private partnership that is paving the way for a new process to provide adolescents who have made mistakes with guidance and support.

The CARC serves young people ages 11-17 arrested for a variety of offenses, including both felonies and misdemeanors. Youth are brought to the CARC in police custody. Once at the CARC, the youth meets with a probation officer for intake, a licensed psychology technician to identify any physical or mental health crisis, and a case manager, who conducts a voluntary assessment. The CARC staff develops a case plan. Youth and their families leave CARC with a new sense of support, opportunity and hope. The CARC case managers have successfully worked with youth to reintegrate them into the schools, arrange for special educational services, obtain mental health services, complete community service and probation requirements, and engage the youth in positive social, arts, athletic, and youth development programs.

The CARC is open from 9 am to Midnight, Monday through Friday. HYP contracts with the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justicel (MOCJ), which is a department of the City and County of San Francisco. For further information, please call (415) 567-8078.