Four graduates of our Federation’s 2012-2013 New Leaders Project (NLP) participated as Volunteer Enumerators in this year’s Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. Jesse Gabriel, Jeremy Rawitch and Rommy Shy volunteered at the Culver City Senior Center Deployment Site where they were on a team that surveyed one of the Culver City Census Tracts. Their fellow NLP alumna, Christopher Patrick King, is the Vice Chairperson of the Culver City Homelessness Committee and trained the volunteers on proper procedures to follow the night of the count.
All cities in Los Angeles County (and throughout the nation) are mandated by law to conduct a “homelessness count” once every two years. The data collected is reported to each local city, to the County, the State of California and to the Federal government for record-keeping and resource allocation purposes. Data collected helps determine funding for homeless service related programs. The count is critical for localities like Culver City to obtain the necessary resources to help those in need.
The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is a “point-in-time” count meaning that each city in Los Angeles County (ideally) counts on the same night of the week from 8pm until 2am. This helps to avoid duplication in counting. Given that homeless individuals and homeless families may be transient or hidden to enumerators, the data collected is run through statistical models to determine a more accurate estimate of the homeless in a given area. Enumerators go out in teams of 4 to 6 looking for homeless individuals, vehicles with people sleeping in them, campers/RVs, and encampments (temporary shelters). They mark their findings on a tally sheet then return the sheet to the deployment site. At the end of the night, the Deployment Site Coordinator drops all of the tally sheets at a central location managed by Los Angeles County for quick and accurate processing.
Shy and King wrote a paper for their graduation project from NLP on homelessness, housing issues and creating affordable housing. Additionally, the City of Culver City presented a certificate of appreciation to The Jewish Federation, and each of the volunteers, for their support in assisting the city in combating homelessness.
The New Leaders Project (NLP), is the premier Jewish civic leadership training program in Los Angeles. It provides an extraordinary opportunity for participants to become the Jewish civic leaders of tomorrow. Participants learn first-hand how to enhance their leadership capabilities and gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the diverse fabric of our city while working with community leaders to address some of the most critical issues facing Los Angeles. NLP creates a new generation of leaders who approach their roles grounded in Jewish values and educated on the challenges that affect both the Jewish and civic communities.
NLP is a program of our Federation’s Community Engagement strategic initiative.
