Michelle Camba was the general manager of the Underground Clothing Connection, formerly located in Sunrise Mall before it closed this spring. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - The Underground Clothing Connection (UCC), a clothing store for students and their families in need, formerly located in Sunrise Mall, closed July 11, leaving Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART) leadership deciding what to do with remaining inventory and determine its future.

In the last 14 months, Underground Clothing Connection volunteers served about 500 individuals, including about 300 students from the San Juan Unified School District and nearly 200 of their parents and siblings, according to Wouter Boudrez, who oversaw store operations for the Citrus Heights HART.

“The Sayonara Community Center in Citrus Heights and the Sacramento-based nonprofit Hope Cooperative also referred many Citrus Heights families in need to the UCC,” he said.

The Underground Clothing Connection opened in November 2020, then closed briefly for re-organization before reopening in September 2024 with a ceremony attended by multiple volunteers, Citrus Heights City Council members and community and regional leaders.

Citrus Heights HART had been given the former retail space for free from November 2020 to June 2022 when the store then began to pay a greatly-reduced rent.

The current lease was about to expire at the end of July this year and in negotiating a new rental lease with the Namdar Realty Group, the proposed rent was expected to more than double. 

Since its inception, the Underground Clothing Connection existed to ensure San Juan Unified School District students had access to clean, stylish clothing so they could devote their full attention to academics and school activities without distraction.

The store was open from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursdays only by appointment, according to its former manager. Eligible students were able to receive a free selection of clothing twice a year from the Underground Clothing Connection.

Individual signs on each clothing rack describe the quantities and type of clothing students and their families can choose from. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

Underground Clothing Connection’s leftover items were shared with other charitable organizations within Citrus Height’s HART’s existing volunteer network, ensuring that every piece of clothing found a purpose, Boudrez said.

“The store front in Sunrise Mall was great because the kids could have a normal shopping experience,” said Citrus Heights HART board member and treasurer Kathilynn Carpenter. “We didn’t want to stigmatize them by having a trailer or clothes closet on campus.”

Some remaining inventory, furniture and essential equipment from the former Underground Clothing Connection store was consolidated into a storage unit for further use, according to Boudrez.

“To maximize the benefit to all our intended recipients, all inventory from the UCC store was first offered to San Juan Unified’s McKinney-Vento Department for their distribution, the Sayonara Community Center and the Hope Cooperative,” Boudrez said.

By cross-referencing each item distributed with average resale values at local second-hand stores, the (Underground Clothing Connection) team estimates that they provided more than $150,000 worth of clothing from sturdy jackets and jeans to dresses, shoes and everyday essentials, he said.

For a while, the Underground Clothing Connection store was the only tenant then open on the mall’s south side and the mall’s south side was blocked off with a retractable gate.

“Despite the clear impact which was made, the uncertainty over Sunrise Mall’s future and a substantial rent increase just compelled us to suspend our storefront operations,” Boudrez said.

Carpenter described the decision as an especially difficult one.

“We just couldn’t afford it and the other costs associated in operating the store,” Carpenter said in an email.

“We (Citrus Heights HART) are very focused on trying to raise funds to support all our programs. Once federal Medicaid and SNAP cuts kick in, there will be a lot more people living on the edge and our HART Rental Assistance program will be more important than ever,” Carpenter said.

“We’re seeing a rising need for rental assistance support and our fundraising is now largely focused on that program,” she said.

Citrus Heights HART representatives reached out to the San Juan Unified School District for available space, according to Boudrez.

“Unfortunately, due to rising enrollment and smaller class sizes at several schools, no suitable space could be found,” Boudrez said.

“This current hiatus now offers Citrus Heights HART an opportunity to rethink how clothing assistance can be delivered more sustainably. Several ideas are under active consideration and we welcome others,” Boudrez said. “This strategic consolidation also buys UCC both physical space and breathing room to plot the next chapter of the Underground Clothing Connection.”

Much of Underground Clothing Connection’s overall success stemmed from its strong partnerships with representatives of the San Juan Unified School District’s McKinney-Vento Department, which continues to focus on students facing housing instability, Boudrez said.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which authorized the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, has been the primary piece of federal legislation related to the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal calls for eliminating funding for the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, along with many other federal education programs, consolidating funding into a block grant.

The proposal states that schools could then choose to use funds from this newly-created block grant to serve homeless students but there would be no requirement to do so.

San Juan Unified School District’s McKinney-Vento Department representatives did not respond to the Citrus Heights Messenger’s multiple requests for comment about the proposed federal cuts or their likely local impact.