Tagged With "Crisis Worsens for Homeless Women"
Blog Post
Advancing a Plan for Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience within L.A. County Systems (prnewswire.com)
Center for Collective Wisdom Releases Extensive Report Outlining Research and Recommendations First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . "Trauma is a serious health concern affecting many children and...
Blog Post
Aiming to Help Homeless, UCLA Residents Practice ‘Street Psychiatry’ (californiahealthreport.org)
New programs begun in the last two years at UCLA include a resident-faculty group focused on community psychiatry, as well as health-system and community mentorships. There are also new clinical electives for psychiatry residents at the Los Angeles County Jail and the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry . The Diversion office was created by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2015 to develop and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and...
Blog Post
An Introduction to #MeToo in Japan (globalvoices.org)
In December 2017, the #MeToo movement finally reached Japan after three women decided to speak out against their abusers. The experiences of these three women provide insights into the challenges Japanese women face when speaking out about their experiences of sexual assault. While the #MeToo movement is generally regarded to have started in October 2017, when multiple women spoke out about their experiences of being allegedly sexually assaulted by Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the...
Blog Post
Anne Douglas celebrates her birthday at the skid row women's shelter that bears her name (latimes.com)
Anne Douglas could have celebrated her birthday at home in Beverly Hills with her husband, actor Kirk Douglas. Instead, she sat behind a silver-and-pink birthday cake Wednesday as women lined up, weeping, to embrace and thank her for starting the Los Angeles Mission's Anne Douglas Center for Women — one of skid row's first homeless shelters for women. "When I first encountered the women at this homeless shelter it was heartbreaking, and I was determined to make it better," said Douglas, who...
Blog Post
At L.A. Clinic, Free Showers Can Get Homeless People In To See A Doctor (californiahealthline.org)
Gregory Andrews, 60, sleeps in his Chevy Malibu just outside a health clinic on the west side of Los Angeles. In the morning, he lines up there for a free shower. “Besides trying to find something healthy to eat, the next most important thing is to take a shower,” Andrews said. “It keeps your self-esteem up.” Not many health clinics offer showers, but Saban Community Clinic, where Andrews goes, has been doing it for about three decades. The clinic serves an urgent need, given L.A. County’s...
Blog Post
At Transgéneros Unidas, Latinas find refuge and fellowship (latimes.com)
Every Thursday in Long Beach, a group of transgender women ranging in age from early 20s to 60s, catch up, swap advice and talk about past traumas. The meetings provide a needed refuge — a once-a-week respite from the too-long stares of strangers and the heaviness of hyper-vigilance. Transgender women are disproportionately targeted as the victims of hate crimes in L.A. County. The women walked to chairs arranged in a circle, and Del Rio gave them the week’s theme: hate crimes and suicide in...
Blog Post
Barger: Homelessness a critical issue in 2018 (signalscv.com)
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office said the supervisor will remain focused on homelessness heading into 2018. Barger’s spokesman Tony Bell said this week that the county has had trouble working with the standard of care in connection with the state’s Lanterman Act and the homeless. “We’re looking at the definition of the gravely disabled,” he said. “A good percentage of the county’s homeless population are dealing with serious mental health problems. Allowing them to...
Blog Post
“BECOMING MS. BURTON: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women” by Susan Burton and Cari Lynn
I met Susan Burton in 2010, but I had learned her name years before. I was doing research about the challenges of re-entry for people incarcerated due to our nation's cruel and biased drug war. At the time, I was in the process of writing The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - a book that aimed to expose the ways the War on Drugs had not only decimated impoverished communities of color but had also helped to birth a new system of racial and social control eerily...
Blog Post
Blake and Magic Launch Series to Advance Black Males (lasentinal.net)
Bishop Charles E. Blake, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, and businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson are partnering to offer advancement services to equip African American men to succeed in life. “This initiative was birthed out of a deep concern about poor academic achievement, financial disenfranchisement, high unemployment, soaring crime levels, the desperate state of the African-American male and the breakdown of the family unit that plagues our cities, small and large, urban...
Blog Post
Bob Hope’s Toluca Lake home is on the market, and here’s why it matters: Dennis McCarthy (dailybreeze.com)
“If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” - Bob Hope. They could have left the family home worth millions to their children or the Catholic church, but Bob and Dolores Hope didn’t. They left it to the homeless and the veterans of Los Angeles County to help shelter and feed struggling families at the bottom of the economic ladder - a million miles from where the Hopes lived at the top. Without any fanfare or press releases, the Hopes quietly took on...
Blog Post
California issues update on state residents' ACE scores from 2011 & 2013 surveys
The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...
Blog Post
Community weighs in on plans to address homelessness (latimes.com)
Community members got their first chance Wednesday to weigh in on new plans by the city and county of Los Angeles to address the region's growing problem with homelessness. During two public hearings, advocates for the homeless praised the proposals while others pointed to gaps in the plans, including a lack of strategies to help women who are forced out of their homes because of domestic violence. The county's draft, released last week, proposed spending $150 million in county and state...
Blog Post
Consumer Corner: Putting More Eyes on Human Trafficking in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County is one of the top three points of entry into the U.S. for victims of slavery and trafficking. The diverse communities here make it easier to hide and move victims from place to place, and that in turn makes it difficult for law enforcement to locate and help them. New efforts in Los Angeles and Santa Monica focus on the place to place aspect of trafficking; to find and protect trafficking victims by identifying the places and situations where trafficking occurs or crosses.
Blog Post
Convenience Stores are Known for Chips, Candy and Soda But One Woman in Los Angeles Set Out to Create a Healthy Version of the Well-Loved Bodega. (nationswell.com)
That’s why LaRayia Gaston decided to fuse the low costs of bodegas with the health of Whole Foods. She launched LaRayia’s Bodega, a healthy take on the traditional convenience store. The store is part of Love Without Reason , a nonprofit started by Gaston about four years ago. Outside of the bodega, the nonprofit also provides vegan meals to people experiencing homelessness on Skid Row, a 50-block area with over 4,750 homeless individuals. Gaston and volunteers gather food from grocery...
Blog Post
County officials have stepped up their interest in closing a major gap in L.A.'s homeless services: an estimated shortfall of over 2,000 shelter beds. (scpr.org)
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is already considering converting a 170-bed winter shelter in the Sylmar Armory into a year-round homeless shelter. On Tuesday, they'll take up a proposal to study rapidly expanding shelters countywide. "We need to provide a comprehensive direction on how to move forward for each of our County-funded emergency shelters immediately," said Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis in their joint motion. They went on to call for lower barriers for accessing...
Blog Post
County to offer mobile shower facilities for homeless in East Pasadena, Whittier Narrows (sgvtribune.com)
Hugh Rossback knows the importance of a shower. While the homeless 50-year-old spends his nights near the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and California Boulevard in Pasadena, he is able to shower once a week when The Shower of Hope mobile shower facility operates behind Holy Family Church’s St. Joseph Center in South Pasadena. “It makes a huge difference,” Rossback said. “Aside from my immediate benefit, it helps in my interactions with others. Homeless people are not usually known to be...
Blog Post
Crisis Worsens for Homeless Women, Report Finds [ladowntownnews.com]
By Nicholas Slayton, Los Angeles Downtown News, February 5, 2020 Homelessness among women has increased in the last year, with 10,845 women experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles, and more women experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to a new report from the Downtown Women’s Center. The Downtown Women’s Center, in partnership with the University of Southern California, unveiled the 2019 Los Angeles City Women’s Needs Assessment on Thursday, Jan. 30 at its...
Blog Post
Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
Blog Post
Echo Parenting Changing the Paradigm Conference: March 5-6, 2015
10% discount for all LA County ACES Connection group members! Enter code "ACEs" when completing the online registration . Childhood trauma is responsible for many of our physical, mental and societal problems and interferes with a parent or...
Blog Post
Ending Homelessness, One Person at a Time [RWJF.org]
When people think of us, many envision a wealthy beach community dotted with hip boutiques and bistros overlooking beautiful sunsets. But here in Santa Monica we face stark, complicated issues—including homelessness—like any other city. In fact after seven years of stability, our homeless population spiked significantly this year (2017) to 921. This is a 26 percent increase over 2016. It’s part of a regional homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County , which also saw a 23 percent increase...
Blog Post
First Phase of L.A. County’s Homeless Initiative to Start June 30 (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Almost 47,000 individuals and families are homeless in Los Angeles County, according to the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which was conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and released on May 4. That count shows a 6 percent rise in the county’s homeless population from 2015. The total in 2015 – 44,359 – showed a 12 percent surge from just two years prior. The 2015 results played a major role in pushing Los Angeles County to create a plan to address the...
Blog Post
Free Shuttle to Shelter for Malibu Homeless (malibutimes.com)
Julie Ellerton / TMT Several agencies worked together during a recent meeting at Malibu City Hall to discuss the needs of homeless in Malibu. Pictured, from left: Timothy Lippman, Leah Randall, Gail Block, Tony Walczuk, Mark Winn and Carol Moss. Although the predicted El Niño has only resulted in a few days of rain in Malibu so far, an interagency group is concerned how the Malibu homeless might fare in the face of heavy downpours, flooding and mudslides that could still occur over...
Blog Post
Funds From Ballot Initiative Help Newly Released Prisoners Find a Home in Los Angeles [calhealthreport.org]
As Latanja Madison’s release date from prison inched closer, she felt more terrified than elated. During a decade behind bars at the California Institution for Women in Corona, the 55-year-old Madison underwent multiple orthopedic surgeries and now uses a walker. Her immediate family members passed away during her incarceration, creating grave doubts she would have a support system. She feared leaving prison may lead to a worse fate – habitual homelessness. “I’m more blue collar than white...
Blog Post
Homelessness jumps 12% in L.A. County and 16% in the city; officials ‘stunned’ (latimes.com)
In a hard reality check for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year. The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. “At this point of unprecedented...
Blog Post
Homelessness jumps 12% in L.A. County and 16% in the city; officials ‘stunned’ (latimes.com)
In a hard reality check for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year. The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. “At this point of unprecedented...
Blog Post
Hope Springs Anew in Center for Los Angeles Foster Youth [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
A year and a half after Los Angeles County shut a pair of emergency shelters for hard-to-place foster youth, Astrid Heppenstall Heger is still working to find ways to reach the county’s “invisble children.” Last week, Heger’s Violence Intervention Program (VIP) opened the doors of the Leonard Hill Hope Center, a space that she hopes will help Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable foster youth – those who are at the highest risk of leaving county-run care and ending up homeless, being sexually...
Blog Post
How a Group of Female Inmates Won the Right to Live with Their Children [Vice.com]
The springtime sun blazes over East Arrow Highway in Pomona, California, and the glare off the whitish-gray concrete walkways forces everyone to squint. Regina Dotson moves busily in and out of her office on the second floor of a residential...
Blog Post
How L.A. County can open more doors for homeless women: Guest commentary [DailyNews.com]
Los Angeles County’s 2015 Homeless Count showed a 12 percent jump in homelessness, grabbing headlines and leading to a declaration of “emergency” by elected officials. Yet another number stands out — 33 percent, representing the over 13,000 women who make up the county’s homeless population. A woman experiencing homelessness enters a system designed by and for the majority. Her homelessness may have resulted from a violent home, a final paycheck, or untenable...
Blog Post
Inside the New Skid Row Sobering Center (ladowntownnews.com)
The facility at 640 S. Maple Ave. is open 24 hours a day. It is staffed with medical practitioners, social workers and sober coaches, people who have cleaned up and can offer life advice. Patients, most of them from Skid Row, are given beds, medical treatment when required, food and snacks, and a chance to connect with social services. The average patient will stay in the facility somewhere between a few hours and overnight. The center works with a number of Skid Row outreach teams that have...
Blog Post
Insurance provider wades into LA's homelessness problem (scpr.org)
L.A. Care, the county's largest MediCal health plan, announced Thursday it will donate $20 million over the next five years to a program that houses homeless people who have medical issues. The money is expected to help the nonprofit Brilliant Corners house about 300 people through L.A. County's Housing for Health program. That program, started in 2013, identifies homeless persons who are frequent users of county emergency rooms and other high-cost medical services, and through nonprofits...
Blog Post
Jobs and work support could curtail L.A.'s stubborn homeless crisis, study says (latimes.com)
Providing jobs and other aid to Los Angeles County residents soon after they land in the streets could help prevent 2,600 to 5,200 people a year from falling into persistent homelessness, according to a new study from a liberal think tank. The "Escape Routes" study from the nonprofit Economic Roundtable zeroes in on a key dilemma in Los Angeles' homelessness crisis: Even as officials have moved 33,000 homeless people into permanent housing since 2013 and launched a $1.2-billion construction...
Blog Post
L.A. County has seven female police chiefs. They've brought different skills — and set an all-time high (latimes.com)
(Lisa) Rosales is one of seven female police chiefs in Los Angeles County, an all-time high. Women lead departments in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Claremont, Hermosa Beach, Alhambra and Manhattan Beach. Several of the chiefs gathered recently at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy for a panel discussion on female leaders in law enforcement. Rosales said her style of policing encompasses listening, empathy and patience — qualities she said have helped de-escalate potentially volatile...
Blog Post
L.A. County is shutting down troubled centers for foster kids with nowhere else to go [LATimes.com]
he waiting rooms for foster youths with nowhere else to go opened with great fanfare several years ago. Known as Youth Welcome Centers, they were hailed by Los Angeles County officials as an important way to address the chronic shortage of foster homes, especially for children hardest to place. They were the only facilities in the county system with a no-refusal policy and quickly became a place for youths who would otherwise be homeless. But in the next few days, the county plans to close...
Blog Post
L.A. County Launches First-of-its-Kind Online Portal to Address Street Homelessness (smdp.com)
LA. County Launches First-of-its-Kind Online Portal to Address Street Homelessness The Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority have launched the Los Angeles Homeless Outreach Portal, dubbed LA-HOP, the new Countywide Web-based portal that channels outreach support to people experiencing homelessness. Funded by Measure H, the mobile-friendly platform empowers members of the general public, first responders and service providers to provide information...
Blog Post
L.A. County’s Latest Solution to Homelessness Is a Test of Compassion [CityLab.com]
California’s budding YIMBY movement is up for a real test. Under a new pilot program approved this week, Los Angeles County homeowners are being asked to literally open up their backyards to the homeless. The county’s board of supervisors gave the green light to the The Granny Flats Motion project on Tuesday, which would give homeowners up to $75,000 to build a backyard home—if they agree to rent it to a homeless family or individual. (For those who already have a unit to offer, the county...
Blog Post
L.A. County steps up efforts to eradicate homelessness (lasentinel.net)
Ethnically diverse advocates detailed their efforts to eradicate homelessness during New America Media’s forum at Skid Row Housing Trust’s Apartments on Feb. 3. Panelists hailed from African-American, Chinese, Latino and Korean backgrounds. The briefing focused on how L.A. County is working to raise awareness among our audiences about the diversity of its homeless population and how all ethnic groups have a stake in working to end it. “Who we hire is important, and how they’re trained is...
Blog Post
L.A. County supervisors seeks state of emergency as homelessness ‘threatens’ services (dailynews.com)
(Image Credit: nationalartsprogram.com) The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a motion to declare homelessness a humanitarian emergency in California. Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl sought the motion, saying the issue calls for more pressing attention, because of the increased health and safety risks to people living on the streets. The motion means the board will send a letter to the California state Assembly and Senate, asking them to...
Blog Post
L.A.'s chronic challenge: What to do with the mentally ill homeless who refuse help? (latimes.com)
Last week, at a strategy session in the offices of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, the advocates passed around an outline calling for those who “refuse to accept the status quo” to stipulate, among other things, that “treatment is a right,” and that “to withhold treatment is cruel.” They’re aware, though, that they need to tread carefully. Celina Alvarez, executive director of the nonprofit Housing Works, said the group needs to make clear that it has no intention of abusing the rights of...
Blog Post
LA County Demographics of Homelessness Continuum of Care (lacounty.gov)
A Dynamic and Deepening Crisis That Demands Our Attention By Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas The Board of Supervisors’ most recent initiative set aside $4 million for teams of social workers and health professionals to go out into the streets of Skid Row and connect homeless single adults to housing and supportive services. Los Angeles County has half a million more very low-income households than available apartments so the typical monthly rent has skyrocketed 27 percent since...
Blog Post
LA County Dept of Mental Health Director on homelessness, schools, jails and more (scpr.org)
Dr. Jonathan Sherin leads the largest Mental Health department in the nation and its challenges are deep and wide-ranging. Mental health challenges related to homelessness in Los Angeles, including the plan to convert a mental health facility in Canoga Park into transitional housing for the homeless and the Mental Health Department’s visits to a homeless encampment in Whittier The closure of “board-and-care” homes The plan to replace the Men’s Central Jail in Downtown with a mental health...
Blog Post
LA County expands funding for families in crisis (sgvtribune.com)
The Board of Supervisors voted today to allow dollars once designated for permanent housing to be spent on “crisis housing” to get families off the street until longer-term solutions can be found. Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended creating more flexibility in the way housing dollars are used. With a vacancy rate of less than 2 percent in some cities in Los Angeles County, it can take on average three to nine months to find permanent housing for eligible homeless families. To read more of...
Blog Post
LA County exploring a system of 'battle buddies' helping other veterans (scpr.org)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has taken a step toward creating a new peer support network to better connect local veterans to housing and services. On Tuesday, the board approved a motion asking the Los Angeles County Health Agency, the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, and other agencies to team up with the VA and veteran-focused nonprofits to create a plan for establishing a “veteran peer access network” in L.A. County. According to the motion introduced by Supervisors Mark...
Blog Post
LA County leaders greenlight effort to pay homeowners to house the homeless (dailynews.com)
A pilot program that pays some Los Angeles County homeowners to build a second dwelling on their property to house homeless people was approved with a 4-0 vote Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. Homeowners in unincorporated communities who qualify can receive up to $75,000 to build a second dwelling in areas zoned for such structures, while others may get $50,000 to update and legalize an existing dwelling. The program was introduced last year as part of Los Angeles County's set of 47...
Blog Post
LA County leaders support $1.2 billion ballot measure to help homeless (dailynews.com)
Los Angeles County supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday to support the city’s property tax bond measure that, if passed by voters in November, is expected to raise about $1.2 billion to build supportive housing for the homeless. Known as Proposition H, the measure would allow for a new property tax on both residential and commercial properties in the city of Los Angeles. For example, a $1 million home would be taxed about $40 to $80 a year with the new fee, according to city analysts.
Blog Post
LA County’s homeless need more than housing to stay off the streets, report says (dailynews.com)
Housing alone will not solve Los Angeles County’s homelessness problem, and a more strategic effort at early intervention is needed to prevent people from becoming homeless or staying homeless, according to an analysis done by the Economic Roundtable. The Roundtable released a report that looks at 26 sets of data to better understand the characteristics of the homeless population and their needs, with the goal of finding the best way to help people out of homelessness and prevent them from...
Blog Post
LA County's plan to keep Skid Row's intoxicated out of jail and the ER (scpr.org)
Los Angeles County opens its first sobering center Monday, on Skid Row. It will primarily serve homeless, intoxicated people who might otherwise be picked up by police or paramedics and taken to jail or an emergency room. The county built the Dr. David L. Murphy Sobering Center on Skid Row to break this expensive cycle, he said. Now, emergency responders will be able to take inebriated people to the Center to sober up and be referred to treatment and housing programs. There will be on-site...
Blog Post
With dramatic homeless increases, Redondo Beach works to help individuals (tbrnews.com)
Homelessness in Redondo Beach has tripled since 2013, causing the city to look deep into its pockets to see where representatives can help. The most recent survey from the Greater Los Angeles Area Homeless Count in January found 216 individuals in Redondo Beach, up from 165 in 2015 and 70 in 2013. The city accounted for 83 percent of the homeless population across the beach cities and El Segundo. At the most recent Redondo Beach City Council meeting, both police and the Los Angeles County...
Blog Post
Women Surround Crying Mom Whose Toddler Was Having A Meltdown At The Airport (sunnyskyz.com)
This wonderful story was posted on Facebook by Beth Bornstein Dunnington who took part in an unforgettable moment at the Los Angeles International Airport. "Something extraordinary at LAX today... (writing this on the plane). I was at the gate, waiting to get on my plane to Portland. Flights to two different cities were boarding on either side of the Portland fight. A toddler who looked to be eighteen or so months old was having a total meltdown, running between the seats, kicking and...
Blog Post
2019 Los Angeles Women's Needs Assessment [downtownwomenscenter.org]
By Downtown Women's Center, February 2020 A report on women experiencing homelessness The 2019 Los Angeles Women’s Needs Assessment is a community-based research project developed in partnership with unsheltered and sheltered women in the City of Los Angeles. Expanding on the legacy of six past projects documenting the demographics, needs, and conditions of homeless and low-income women in downtown Los Angeles, this project includes women from a broader geographic swath of the city. [ Please...
Blog Post
4 myths that make L.A. County's homeless problem worse [LATimes.com]
Some myths about homelessness get repeated so often that they become accepted as true. But with more than 31,000 people sleeping in our parks and on our sidewalks every night here in Los Angeles County, we cannot allow fallacies to drive our homeless policies. “Some people just want to live on the street” is perhaps the most dangerous myth about homelessness. Yes, some people resist moving into short-term shelters because that may require separating family members, losing one's...