One of the strongest requests coming out of the Housing Placement Bootcamps was to activate the expertise of community providers by contracting out the case management and housing location processes associated with the HUD-VASH Program. There was also the likelihood that contracting services would reduce duplication and delays since providers were already assisting Veterans on those processes.
We are happy to report that Betty Zamos and VISN-22 (which includes the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration as well as the Long Beach Veterans Administration) have just released a contracting opportunity to do just that: provide the full case management and housing location services to veterans associated with the HUD-VASH program in FY2012. Organizations will now be able to formally partner with the Veterans Administration to provide Veterans with much needed services.
An informational session for service providers will be held on May 9th, 2012 at 1:00pm. The Conference call line will be 1800-767-1750, CODE 21039. Please submit all questions to BOTH Chelsea.Black@va.gov and Richard.Blume@va.gov prior to this meeting.
Click HERE for application and site details. Applications are due May 21st, 2012.
If you are a service provider and have any questions about the application process please email CHELSEA.BLACK@VA.GOV or RICHARD.BLUME@VA.GOV
Read the program synopsis Contracting Synopsis
View the application Contracting Solicitation (Application)
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.
This week Home For Good released its first quarterly report for Year Two of the Action Plan! Important progress is being made towards ending chronic and veteran homelessness by 2016.
A couple of major highlights from the report include:
- The Home For Good Funders Collaborative released its first Request for Proposals through the collaboration of 19 public and private funders, representing over $75 million in public and private resources for permanent supportive housing.
- The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) created a new program of 500 tenant-based Section 8 housing vouchers for chronically homeless people. This set aside serving chronically homeless people is the first of its kind in Los Angeles County.
- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved several shifts to target resources and remove barriers to serving people who are homeless through the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA).
- Housing placement numbers met the 1st quarter benchmarks, thanks to the work of providers, developers, and public and private funders.
- 111 cross-sector leaders have signed on to Home For Good, including three new cities this quarter: Glendale, Burbank, and Beverly Hills.
Help us make the vision for a new Los Angeles a reality! Sign on to support Home For Good.
Read the full report: Quarter One, Year Two Progress Report
- Sign on to 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!
- Follow us on Twitter and Facebook @homeforgoodla. We’ll keep you in the loop on the latest stories, updates and opportunities to get involved which you can share with your friends!
- 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.
- Make personal 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.
In the City of Los Angeles, almost 50,000 low income households use shared housing to maintain a roof over their heads. By eliminating shared housing, the Community Care Facilities Ordinance will put thousands of people at risk of homelessness.
The following organizations are taking a firm stance in opposition to the ordinance:
Business Leaders Task Force
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Affordable Living for the Aged
American Civil Liberties Union
Amity Housing
Association of Community Human Services Agencies
Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles Homeless Coordinating Council
California Association of Alcohol & Drug Program Executives
CLARE Foundation
Community Solutions
Corporation For Supportive Housing
Disability Rights California
East LA Community Corporation
Homes for Life
Housing Authority for the City of Los Angeles
House of Ruth
Housing Works
Inner City Law Center
Invisible People
Integrated Recovery Network
Jovenes, Inc.
The John Stewart Company
Los Angeles Family Housing
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
National Alliance on Mental Illness Walden House
New Directions
Mental Health America Los Angeles
Our Faith Matters
PATH Ventures
PATH Gramercy
People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) Partners
Proyecto Pastoral
Public Counsel
SHARE Housing
Skid Row Housing Trust
Shelter Partnership
Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing
United Homeless Healthcare Partners
Volunteers of America, Los Angeles
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Learn more about the Community Care Facilities Ordinance and sign a letter of opposition by clicking HERE
Add your name to the list! If your organization opposes the ordinance let us know by emailing us at homeforgoodla@unitedwayla.org
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.
For a more detailed analysis of the implications of the ordinance please read Inner City Law Center’s Home For Good blog post: Community Care Facilities Ordinance Threatens Permanent Supportive Housing in the City of Los Angeles.
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.
Councilmembers and their contact information:
District 1: Ed Reyes (213) 473-7001
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District 2: Paul Krekorian (213) 473-7002
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Twitter: @PaulKrekorian
District 3: Dennis P. Zine (213) 473-7003
District 4: Tom LaBonge (213) 473-7004
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Twitter: @TomLaBonge
District 5: Paul Koretz (213) 473-7005
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District 6: Tony Cardenas (213) 473-7006
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Twitter: @tonycardenassfv
District 7: Richard Alarcon (213) 473-7007
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Twitter: @Richard_Alarcon
District 8: Bernard Parks (213) 473-7008
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Twitter: @BernardCParks
District 9: Jan Perry (213) 473-7009
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Twitter: @cd9news
District 10: Herb J. Wesson Jr. (213) 473-7010
District 11: Bill Rosendahl (213) 473-7011
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Twitter: @Bill_Rosendahl
District 12: Mitchell Englander (213) 473-7012
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Twitter: @CD12News
District 13: Eric Garcetti (213) 473-7013
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Twitter: @Eric_Garcetti
District 14: Jose Huizar (213) 473-7014
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Twitter: @josehuizar
District 15: Jose Buscaino (213) 473-7015
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Twitter: @LA15th
- Sign on! Sign on to support Home For Good and do what you can to help end chronic and veteran homelessness – volunteering, advocating, donating, or helping us spread the word.
- Follow us on Twitter & Facebook @homeforgoodla. We’ll keep you in the loop on the latest stories, updates, and opportunities to get involved that you can share with your friends.
- Donate. Click HERE to donate to Home For Good, and your donation will help fund efforts to house every chronically homeless person and homeless veteran in our communities.
- 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.
- Make personal connections with homeless people in your community. Make eye contact, have a conversation, and build a relationship that links them to local organizations.
- Advocate. Support policy change that will help end homelessness. Click HERE to take action on the latest local, state, or federal policy work.
Gina McLeod, Lead Tax Services Principal at Deloitte Tax LLP in Los Angeles, will be stepping down from her position as the Founding Chair of United Way’s Emerging Leaders Council later this year.
Early on in her career, Gina understood the importance of helping others succeed. She quickly responded to a call-to-action to engage the next generation of philanthropists by overseeing the establishment of Emerging Leaders – a dynamic young group of professionals dedicated to tackling the root causes of poverty in our community.
Thanks to Gina’s leadership over the past two years, the group is now 300 members strong, represents more than 50 major corporations and has hosted several CEO Spotlight events with speakers such as Kent Kresa, Sharon Allen and Michael Johnson to generate support for United Way’s mission to create pathways out of poverty for L.A. residents.
As the mother of two young children, a respected philanthropist and a successful businesswoman, Gina has touched the lives of many individuals – a few of whom have chosen to express their gratitude and share their thoughts on the impact of her work:
“Thank you, Gina, for being the original inspiration for Emerging Leaders and for taking ownership of its creation. It has been a pleasure working with you and also incredibly rewarding to see your vision come to life.”
Karin C. Harwood, Deloitte Tax LLP
“Few people are willing to step up and help support a great cause, but even fewer have the devotion and the heart to step up and lead an effort which can create change for so many. Gina deserves recognition for her efforts.”
James Rock, KPMG LLP
“Gina, thanks for everything you’ve done for Emerging Leaders! You will certainly be missed. Best of luck!”
Eric Street, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
“Gina stepped up to lead this amazing group of young professionals who represent the leaders of tomorrow. Our Emerging Leaders are deeply committed to creating pathways out of poverty for all residents of this County. Thank you, Gina, for your leadership, commitment and passion!”
Elise Buik, President and CEO, United Way of Greater L.A.
On April 24, United Way’s Emerging Leaders hosted its latest CEO Spotlight Event at L.A. Live’s Conga Room for more than one hundred rising young professionals.
Employees representing dozens of major corporations including HSBC, ExxonMobil, PwC, UPS and NBC Universal were treated to an evening of networking and a roundtable discussion entitled, “Rising to the Challenge: The Key to Overcoming Adversity and Promoting Positive Change” featuring Paula Madison, Chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management.
Madison, who is also the current Chairman of the Los Angeles Sparks, spoke openly about her humble beginnings, her rise to the top and her lifelong connection to United Way and its core mission.
“I was one of those children who grew up with very little and who benefited a great deal from the assistance of United Way. It was a safe harbor from the storm,” she said.
“As a result, I’ve been involved with this organization in every city where I’ve ever lived – it was a way to ground myself in the community. And I know that United Way of Greater L.A., in particular, has narrowed its focus on closing the poverty gap which speaks, in more ways than I can say, to what I believe in.”
To find out how you can help build a brighter future for our community by joining United Way’s Emerging Leaders, please contact Walen Ngo at wngo@unitedwayla.org.
I decided to start painting seriously about five years ago, when my father died. I thought that if he could die, then I had better start doing things I really wanted to do now, at age 54, before I died. I wanted to paint people who showed great depth of experience and something with a powerful social message. Since I live near the beach and was confronted with the homeless on a daily basis I thought I would turn something upsetting into something that was an adventure. I wanted to do something that combined two of my loves, painting and psychoanalysis. I’m a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in West Los Angeles.
I found that these people that I tried hard to avoid and wished would go away were some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life; many loving, kind, accomplished people who had experienced deep traumas and misfortunes. It made me want to find ways to reach out and help them and give them a hand on the way back. Their life stories, which I have collected as I have painted their portraits on location at Venice Beach, are compelling and profound. I had truly been judging the book by its cover. There are homeless who want to be without responsibility and have chosen to live this lifestyle, but I believe they are a small minority.
I hope by telling these people’s stories, both by painting them and by collecting their histories, poems and art, that others can see how valuable these human beings are who we as a society are throwing away. I have painted 60 portraits (oil on canvas 18 x 24″). I hope after seeing my exhibition that you will never look at a homeless person the same way again.
Many times, when I go home at night after painting, I feel like crying and feel guilty because I leave behind some people who have become dear friends of mine. They remain in their lives of desperation and I go back to my beautiful home, wife and children, with a refrigerator filled to the brim. So many of these peoples’ stories have touched my heart. Something that has stood out to me is how many veterans and former foster care children are part of the homeless. A group that touched me deeply is a number of men whose beloved wives died. These men just walked away from their children and middle-class successful lives and careers because they could not go on without the love of their life. They literally walked onto the beach and have been living there since, self-medicating their pain with drugs and alcohol. I feel that psychotherapy and/or support groups could have helped these men avoid giving up their lives and souls to despair.
It was very exciting to have my paintings exhibited at the Home for Good conference at the downtown Marriott in February.
The exhibition is available to be shown upon request. Please contact Wendy Levin at wclevin@gmail.com.
Stuart’s portraits were featured at this year’s Home For Good Summit. For pictures of the day’s events, click here.
