Making Change Possible
We, Cliff and Stephanie, founded the Izaya Michael Foundation after the loss of our son to fentanyl poisoning. With the support of our friends and family, we were able to turn the pain of our loss into action so that no other family would have to experience the same heartbreak. Through our community-based outreach services, we look to honor Izaya’s legacy by strengthening and unifying our communities.
Volunteering and Local Outreach
Our volunteers are the heart of our outreach. Our outreach is focused on supporting those who need it most. We go directly into neighborhoods, parks, and other areas where support is needed, ensuring that local needs always come first.
None of our work would be possible without the individuals who are willing to show up for the community and help those who are struggling. The time, energy, and compassion that they provide allow us to reach more families, serve more meals, and impact more lives. Through volunteering, our community becomes part of the solution and part of the healing.
Currently, we are seeking more volunteers to help us continue serving our communities. Each week, we are able to support between 250 and 500 people. With additional help, we hope to sustain these efforts and, if possible, expand our reach to serve even more individuals and families.
Local Empowerment
We believe real change starts with how people are treated. We meet people where they are with compassion, respect, and without judgment. Using our counseling skills and lived experience, we create a safe space for people to be heard and supported no matter what their situation may be. We want every person we encounter to know their life matters, their voice matters, and they are not alone. We are turning grief into action, pain into purpose, and loss into lives being saved. And with your support, we can continue showing up for our community and honoring Izaya’s life by helping to save others.
Our Impact
Through our outreach efforts, the Izaya Michael Foundation helps place over 20,000 doses of Narcan (naloxone) and more than 80,000 fentanyl test strips into our communities each year, helping prevent overdose deaths and save lives. In addition to overdose prevention, we provide regular food outreach serving hundreds of individuals and families, distribute care packages and essential supplies to families and individuals in need, and speak directly with youth about the dangers of fentanyl, gangs, and substance use.
Every outreach is an opportunity to educate, support, and remind someone that their life matters. With the support of our community, we are able to continue expanding our impact and reaching more people who need help the most.
Your support helps us continue saving lives, educating our youth, and providing life-saving resources to those who need them most.
Watch our community outreach and Narcan distribution on KCRA
Prevention and Education in Action
See our community outreach in action on Telemundo
Our mission is to fight fentanyl, save lives, and restore hope through compassion, outreach, and education.
To support our mission, we seek to raise awareness in our communities and educate both parents and youth about the dangers of fentanyl and substance use. This is with an emphasis on the dangers of drugs being unknowingly laced with fentanyl, making already dangerous substances even more deadly.
One of our core efforts is engaging directly with our community. We look to equip individuals impacted by addiction, homelessness, and loss with life-saving tools and continuous support. We do this by distributing Narcan and fentanyl test strips, providing overdose prevention education, and having real conversations with community members about the realities of gangs and drugs, as well as the importance of making choices that can lead to a better future. Through our honesty regarding our lived experience, we thrive to create an open, honest, and safe space for young people to be able to ask questions and seek support. This same outreach allows us to support families and the unhoused individuals by providing them with food, clothing, shoes, hygiene items, blankets, tents, and connections to resources. All our efforts are hands-on and community driven.
Currently, our program is looking to build a general fund for operational needs. As the need for support continue to grow, a general fund will help us to:
• Purchase and upkeep a reliable outreach and food distribution vehicle. Vehicle
will be used to pick up donated food, transport supplies, and deliver resources to families and individuals without transportation.
• Purchase, install, and maintain Narcan boxes throughout Sacramento and
surrounding counties to ensure life-saving medication is always accessible during emergencies.
• Obtain food distribution and outreach supplies that will go directly to the unhoused and families in need. These supplies include, but are not limited to, hygiene kits, clothing, blankets, tents, shoes, and other essential items.
• Stock, store, and transport Narcan and fentanyl test strips.
• Purchase educational prevention materials for youth outreach. We are looking to focus on fentanyl awareness, gang prevention, and overdose response.
• Provide outreach and community events. We look to provide resources and services directly to local communities.
• Keep our programs active. This allows us to respond quickly to urgent community Needs.
• Expansion of overdose prevention education and youth outreach programs focused on fentanyl awareness and gang prevention in Sacramento and surrounding communities.
Your support keeps this work moving forward. You are helping us reach more people, respond in real time, and save lives every week.
To us, equity means never turning our backs on anyone. We go directly into neighborhoods, parks, and encampments to reach people who are often Overlooked at-risk youth, struggling families, and members of the unhoused community. This passion roots from our own lived experiences, so we show up with respect, without judgment, and with genuine understanding. We strive to ensure that life-saving resources and support are available to anyone who needs them, because every life matters and everyone deserves a chance.
Organization name
Izaya Michael Foundation
2023
Mission Category
Community Improvement, Capacity Building
Operating Budget
$0-$50,000
Organization Need
Funding: Other
Local Counties Served
Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado
Address
3419 MAUREEN DRSacramento, CA, US
Folsom, CA, US
Woodland, CA, US
Roseville, CA, US
Rancho Cordova, CA, US