What is Salt + Light?

Salt + Light Works is a 501(c)3 designated public benefit organization
founded in 2019 and located in Tulare County, California

 
 

Our mission is to cultivate belonging and community wherever we go, focusing on our neighbors experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness.  

We believe that every human has the capacity to shine light into the world. Sometimes, we need to be reminded of our worth and be returned to ourselves.

That is what the forged family of community is designed to do.

Guiding Values

Dignity

Dignity reminds a person of their value and agency. The purpose of our work is to actively create opportunities for the restoration of hope and healing through the lens of dignity.

Radical Hospitality

Hospitality is the art of cultivating environments where people feel welcomed and seen rather than rescued or entertained. At Salt + Light, our posture is “there you are” rather than “here we are.”

Compassion + Love

We connect with people holistically, human-to-human, heart-to-heart, and shoulder-to-shoulder to see one another through the lens of compassion, love, and grace.

Abundance

We inspire people to give out of abundance and from their “first fruits,” treating our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness with the same generosity we would give to our friends and family.

Cultivating Community

We believe that we humans belong to one another. Cultivating Community means that we help each other with the understanding that many hands make light work and that when we help others, we collectively experience healing.

Belonging

The single greatest cause of homelessness is a profound, catastrophic loss of family. We believe that when we create relationships through community, we can recreate the sense of belonging and family that is vital to people healing from trauma.

Strategy for Change

We center our neighbors experiencing homelessness and shift mainstream cultural perceptions by:

  • Inviting the community at large into a relational lifestyle of service

  • Creating a space for their growth and healing

  • Encouraging others to give out of an abundance

  • Creating educational learning experiences

  • Increasing their visibility

  • Building the necessary organizational capacity and infrastructure

  • Creating a tailor-made, sustainable community based on proven models