In collaboration with the Housing Authority of the City of L.A. (HACLA), United Way recently recruited a group of local volunteers to help homeless and low-income families secure affordable private housing.
With a current waitlist of more than 7,000 applicants, HACLA’s Section 8 Housing Assistance Program provides qualifying applicants (based on income level and other criteria) with much needed vouchers to subsidize the cost of their monthly rent.
To partially offset the impact of federal funding cuts, more than a dozen newly trained HACLA volunteers will fulfill various administrative tasks, offer translation services and most importantly, work closely with clients to apply for Section 8 housing vouchers.
According to HACLA’s Section 8 program director, Peter Lynn, United Way’s continuing efforts in volunteer recruitment and other areas have created a win-win situation for all parties involved.
“These volunteers are making a selfless commitment, one which we believe can be very rewarding and bring them a great deal of satisfaction,” he said. “As for the most vulnerable families in L.A. who will now be able to maintain their housing, it means just as much because it shows them that they matter to the broader community.”
“Our partnership with United Way has really extended the reach of government programs and ensures that both of our organizations can better serve homeless and extremely low-income residents by affording them the extra time and attention they need.”
*Above, staff members from United Way and HACLA conduct a volunteer screening interview.
In an unprecedented response, Los Angeles County residents donated 315,000 pounds of food to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive last Saturday, May 12.
The annual drive, which is sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers in partnership with United Way of Greater LA, is in its second decade. Every year, the effort provides critical support to millions of American families who are struggling to make ends meet.
In 2011, 88,000 pounds of canned and non-perishable goods was collected. This year’s haul represents a 358% increase!
The challenge that arises from this amazing generosity? Sorting and distributing the food. Volunteers are needed rightnow in a warehouse near Downtown L.A.
If you can spare a few hours out of your day to help local families in need, please click hereto sign up!
For more information, please contact Volunteer Services Manager Jessica Yas at jyas@unitedwayla.org or (213) 808-6463.
The Home For Good Summit was held on February 23, 2013. With over 300 members of the public, private, nonprofit, business, government, faith and philanthropic sectors in attendance, the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness celebrated Home for Good’s Year One achievements and the official launch of Year Two. Watch the video below for some highlights from the day’s events!
The Giving Keys is an organization that works to end homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles, one person at a time. It all started with a couple holding a sign that said “Ugly, Hungry & Broke.” Founder Caitlin Crosby was walking along Hollywood Boulevard after a screening of Invisible Children when she came upon Cera and Rob, a homeless couple that would become her business partners in founding The Giving Keys. Caitlin began paying Cera and Rob to engrave keys with words of empowerment such as “LOVE,” “STRENGTH,” “HOPE,” “BELIEVE,” etc. to be put on necklaces. Once a key is purchased, it must eventually be given away to a person who you believe needs the message. As the employees of The Giving Keys pound each empowering word into each key, they are working to transition out of homelessness and into better lives. Two years later, Cera is working at the zoo, while Rob is attending community college. Caitlin Crosby believes that continuously pounding away at a meaningful word really allows the person to embrace the message that the word brings. Engraving “STRENGTH” into a key, for instance, reminds the person to be strong through this transition. Engraving “BELIEVE” into a key reminds the person to continue to believe in the process, that working to better themselves will pay off. The key is then passed from person to person, allowing an unlimited amount of people to feel the message. And it all starts with the homeless. This interconnectedness lets us know that we are not alone, and when the key is passed along, you are encouraged to go back to thegivingkeys.com to share your story and inspire others. All of the proceeds from The Giving Keys go to the homeless working to engrave the keys, and the organization hopes to set up an organization in the future that incorporates all of the tools the homeless need to transition, including drug rehabilitation, job counseling, and skills training.
My name is Christina Simmons and aside from being a wife to a former U.S. Marine and mother of an inquisitive and free-spirited seven-year-old boy, I am also a woman who has had to overcome my fair share of challenges in life.
Years ago, when my husband Lloyd joined the Marine Corps and was deployed overseas for the very first time, I immediately buried myself in work – foolishly believing that the busier I was, the less worried I’d be about his safety. But I still couldn’t help but wonder when, or even if, I would get to see him again.
I made the tough decision to give up my job at Kinecta Federal Credit Union and move to Camp Pendleton so my husband and I could start a family. But the joy of welcoming little Joshua into the world soon gave way to much harder times. Lloyd was deployed twice more and while he was away, I was basically a single mother doing everything on my own.
Back then, we were living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to feed our small family. Money was so tight that I’d often give him heavier portions at dinner, claiming I was full and then secretly eating a bowl of cereal after he went to sleep.
Once we returned home to Culver City, it was extremely difficult to find work. I even tried going back to the credit union, but because of the recession, they were no longer hiring.
The Bankworks program at United Way partner, Jewish Vocational Services, couldn’t have come at a better time. It offers training in the fundamentals of banking, builds your confidence and really brings out the best in you. Within two days of graduating, I received three job offers and happily accepted a position at US Bank!
Lloyd and I are slowly catching up on bills and things are finally returning to normal. My dream is for us to build stable careers which not only allow us to support ourselves but to send our son to college one day.
As a mother, there’s nothing I cherish more than being able to provide a brighter future for my family.
*Christina (second from left) is pictured here on her graduation day with husband Lloyd (second from right) and staff members from United Way and JVS.
In celebration of its recent anniversary, United Way Worldwide presented Bank of America, Deloitte, Illinois Tool Works, Microsoft and Wells Fargo with the prestigious 2012 Summit Award for their respective contributions to its 125-year-old global movement.
Recognized for their philanthropic, volunteer engagement and community impact efforts, these companies have demonstrated a comprehensive commitment to bettering the lives of others through ongoing involvement with local chapters of the organization such as United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
Bank of America raised $35 million through its UW workplace campaign while its employees volunteered 1.5 million hours nationwide. In 2011, its support of the free income tax assistance program helped secure $800 million in refunds for low-income families. By the end of the 2013 tax season, Bank of America will have invested $6.5 million in United Way’s financial stability initiatives.
Deloitte raised $21 million through its workplace campaign and boasts more UW Tocqueville Society members (giving upwards of $10,000 each year) than any other corporation in the country. It has pledged $110 million worth of pro bono work to leading nonprofits and provides key research to spark advances in corporate philanthropy and volunteering through its annual Volunteer IMPACT Survey.
Illinois Tool Works raised $11 million through its workplace campaign thanks to a dollar-for-dollar match program which incentivizes participation and leadership giving of $1,000 or more per year. ITW’s employees put in nearly 3,600 volunteer hours and its annual UW video is created in collaboration with area high school students, Boys and Girls Clubs’ members and a nonprofit creative arts foundation.
Microsoft donated $100 million as well as $844 million in software to nonprofits and educational institutions in 2011, with United Way remaining the single largest recipient of employee gifts and corporate matching funds since the company’s Community Affairs program was created. Microsoft also provided a $17 per hour match for volunteering employees who recorded more than 426,000 hours of charitable work last year.
Wells Fargo raised $56 million through its UW workplace campaign while its employees volunteered 1.5 million hours of their time in 2011 alone. In addition to creating a unique Volunteer Leave Program which offers team members up to four months of fully paid leave to work on local school or nonprofit projects, the company generously donated a total of $213 million to various charitable organizations.
Click here to see photos from the awards ceremony!
Congratulations to our local corporate partners: Bank of America, Deloitte LLP, Microsoft Corporation, Wells Fargo and ITW . They were all winners of United Way’s highest national awards for corporate citizenship and community impact at the Community Leaders Conference in Nashville, Tennesee, May 1-4, 2012.
Yesterday, Women Leaders from across the region gathered at the Downtown Women’s Center, a United Way partner organization, to create a hot, delicious meal for 150 homeless women currently living on Skid Row.
Employees of B & B Premier Insurance Solutions, Bank of America, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Resources Global Professionals and Transamerica Retirement Services spent their evening preparing turkey sloppy joes, paprika oven fries, fruit salad and green salad all while getting to know one another and helping those who are less fortunate.
United Way’s Women Leaders are dedicated to building a brighter future for the residents of L.A. County. For more information on how to get involved, please contact Sarah Oesterle at soesterle@unitedwayla.org.
Sign onto support Home For Good and do what you can to help end chronic and veteran homelessness – volunteer, advocate, donate or help us spread the word!
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Donate to the Home For Good initiative and your dollars will help fund efforts to house every chronically homeless individual and military veteran in L.A. County.
Get to know the homeless services organizations in your community. Click here to check out our list of partners and set up a time to volunteer.
Makepersonal connections with homeless people in your community. Make eye contact, have a conversation and build a relationship which links them to local organizations.
Advocate. Support policy changes that will help end homelessness for good. Click here to take action on the latest local, state or federal policy work.
The Community Care Facilities Ordinance has come out of the Los Angeles City Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) hearing without a recommendation. It is now set to go to council for a vote. Help us mobilize 10,000 people in 10 days to ask their representatives to oppose the bill!
What does the Community Care Facilities Ordinance mean for housing in L.A.?
The Community Care Facilities Ordinance will eliminate shared housing in single family neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles by making multiple leases in one home illegal. This means that individuals living together, such as roommates or a person with disabilities living in shared housing, will have to share a lease. As a result, the behavior of one roommate may put the other person (or family) at risk of eviction.
This compromises the living situations of more than 43,000 families in Los Angeles who share housing in single family homes.
This would eliminate 250 housing units of shared housing for people with disabilities.
In addition, the Community Care Facilities Ordinance would violate the Fair Housing Administration Act, the Rehabilitation Act, state fair housing law, and the state’s constitutional right to privacy, which would put us at risk of losing hundreds of millions in federal funds.
This Community Care Facilities Ordinance puts people at risk of losing their homes and ending up on our streets. Los Angeles is already the homeless capital of the nation; we need to find ways to end this problem- not make it worse!
What can we do to stop this?
Write and call your local City Council representative and tell them to oppose the Community Care Facilities Ordinance!
An online petition is available through change.org . To send a letter to your councilmember click here.
If you are contacting your councilmember by phone, here are some talking points you may refer to when speaking with your representative’s office:
I want to urge my Councilmember to oppose the Community Care Facilities Ordinance.
The ordinance will eliminate shared housing for thousands of low income households and will negatively impact our seniors’ ability to live independently.
By eliminating shared housing, the ordinance will impact housing affordability in Los Angeles and put thousands of people at risk of homelessness.
The Community Care Facilities Ordinance is in violation of Fair Housing and Disability Rights Laws.
The ordinance will also conflict with federal housing subsidy requirements and puts Los Angeles at risk of losing millions in federal funds to help alleviate poverty and homelessness in our region
As a constituent, I urge my representative to make the right choice and OPPOSE this harmful ordinance.
Below you will find a list of districts and councilmembers in the City of Los Angeles. If you do not know your councilmember, click here to use your address to identify your representative.
