Making a difference
We are just a few days into the New Year. And shaking off the effects of all those celebrations. Wonderful! And now down to the business of the resolutions. Rather than make ones you won’t want to keep how about some different ones? Resolutions that make a difference.
Support Street Safety in the Neighborhood – Drive 25 miles/hour or less. Significantly reduces the chance of a mortality if an accident should occur. Come out on Jan 16th along 10th Street
Parking your Expensive car on the Street – How about reducing all that pent up tension and use the drive or garage – if of course, you have one. Plus cleaning out your garage you’ll find you can store important items you’ll need during a disaster.
Disaster Preparedness is always on people’s to-do list but how many of us have 3-7 days of water? Start off right by joining in at the Winter Community Meeting (Red Leprechaun – Wed Jan 23 7pm). Where we’ll have a local expert on Disaster Preparedness. Bring the kids there will be some related activities for them!
More along the lines of Stress Reduction, how about volunteering in the bi-annual Homeless Count. You’ll be glad you did. Neighborhoods are a key stakeholder in addressing homelessness within our community. The Department of Health and Human Services would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming Homeless Count on Thursday, January 24, 2019 which provides a great opportunity for community neighborhood volunteers to come together on an issue that impacts us all. Participation in the Homeless Count is guaranteed to provide insight to services available to assist individuals experiencing homelessness, meet service providers and mingle with others concerned about homelessness in our City. Participating in citywide outreach to our most vulnerable residents is a very enlightening and rewarding experience for all!
Every two years, the Department of Health and Human Services, Homeless Services Division, in conjunction with the local Continuum of Care (CoC) service providers, is required to conduct a point-in-time (PIT) count of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. Other CoC jurisdictions across the country will be conducting counts during the week of January 2019.
The PIT Count involves two distinct processes; a residential-based count of all people living in emergency and transitional housing programs in Long Beach and a street-based count. For the street-based count, the Long Beach jurisdiction will be divided into 47 GIS mapped segments to be canvassed by a team of volunteers. Teams of three to five individuals, comprised of community volunteers, service providers and homeless program participants, will canvass each specific segment to count and survey people experiencing homelessness in each area. Segments take between three (3) and four (4) hours to canvass. Teams will be assigned and deployed from the Multi-Service Center, located at 1301 W. 12th Street, in Long Beach beginning at 5 AM. Participants must be 18 years or older, and must attend an orientation prior to the day of the count. There will be no same day orientation training on the morning of the PIT Count.
One-hour orientations for volunteers will be hosted at the Multi-Service Center. Volunteers need only attend one of the following orientation dates:
- Monday, January 14, at 1:00 p.m.
- Monday, January 14, at 6:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, January 15, at 1:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, January 15, at 6:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, January 16, at 6:00 p.m.
- Thursday, January 17, at 1:00 p.m.
- Thursday, January 17, at 6:00 p.m.
In addition to canvasing a map segment, volunteers can also help by raising awareness and recruiting other volunteers to participate in the PIT Count via social media, host donation drives to collect outreach engagement items such as socks, travel size hygiene products and pre-packaged snacks and donate funds to support count activities. To donate funds to support this effort, please write a check to City of Long Beach and mail to:
Homeless Services Division
Attention: 2019 Homeless Count
1301 W. 12th Street
Long Beach, CA 90813
To register, download the Homeless Count Flyer and Fact Sheet at www.longbeach.gov/health/services/directory/homeless-services. Registration closes on Friday, January 11, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.
For additional information on the count, please contact Elsa Ramos, Special Projects Coordinator at (562) 570-4588 or Elsa.Ramos@longbeach.gov. Your assistance in getting the word out is critical to this project’s success. Thank you in advance for your support.
