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On Tuesday night, some 200 community volunteers will conduct the most important data-collection effort of the year – a city-wide count of the number of homeless people on the streets of Santa Monica. This year, for the first time, the City of Santa Monica is expanding its involvement in the biennial Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Count project and partnering with LAHSA to conduct a city-wide direct street count in all of Santa Monica’s census tracts. The last time LAHSA conducted the homeless count, in 2007, volunteers were sent to only 12 of the city’s 19 census tracts. This year, volunteer teams will travel every street and alley in the city and tally people sleeping outside, in makeshift shelters and in vehicles. At the same time a census will be conducted in shelters, hospitals, jails and some motels. A city-wide direct street count will remove projections and result in as accurate a count as possible. The data from the count will have many uses including helping define Santa Monica’s fair share, directing resources, and shaping our innovative and compassionate programs that engage homeless people in services, assist them to become stable and move them off the streets and into appropriate housing. The 2009 Santa Monica Homeless Count will launch with a volunteer training at 10 a.m. on January 24, 2009 in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium at the Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd. Then, on the evening of January 27, 2009 at approximately 10 p.m. volunteers will gather at the Ken Edwards Center at 1527 4th Street and Virginia Avenue Park at 2200 Virginia Avenue and fan out across the city to count the individuals they see on the streets. Police personnel will provide security for the street count. Raw data will be shared approximately one month after the street count. In order to respect the privacy of the homeless individuals and allow the teams to work without interference, a limited number of members of the media will be allowed to observe the street count. Members of the press will be able to interview volunteers, representatives of the Santa Monica Police Department, the City’s Human Services Division and local social service providers and review background information. This is a project of the City of Santa Monica’s Human Services Division, which provides and supports social service, recreation, education and community programs addressing the needs of infants, children, teens, families, people with disabilities, seniors, victims of domestic violence and low-income individuals, including those who are homeless. The Human Services Division is part of the City’s Community and Cultural Services Department. For more information about the Human Services Division’s efforts to address the impact of homelessness on the community, go to www.homelessnessaction.smgov.net or call (310) 458-8701. |
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