United Way Launches Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness

On Wednesday, September 30th, United Way brought together over twenty Los Angeles business leaders from across the county and virtually every business sector for the first meeting of the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness. The Task Force, which is co-chaired by Renee White Fraser, President/CEO of Fraser Communications, Inc., and Jerry Neuman, a Senior Partner at Allen Matkins, is in partnership with the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and represents a significant step forward in United Way’s work to end homelessness.

For its first meeting, the group toured the Weingart Center Association and then Skid Row Housing Trust’s Abbey Apartments so they could begin to understand the issue of chronic homelessness and its solutions. They also heard from former NASA employee Pamela Parker, who lived on the streets for four years before finding housing at the Abbey. Pamela was one of 600 people who applied for 115 apartments at the Abbey.

The Task Force will now meet every couple of months for the next two years to learn about the most effective outreach and housing projects throughout the nation, and develop an action plan with measurable goals for reducing chronic homelessness in Los Angeles County. As Jerry Neuman told the group, it is time for the business community to step up on this issue and to start mapping out a means by which we can be part of the solution.