As part of United Way’s campaign to end poverty in Los Angeles County, the organization is planning to host its seventh annual HomeWalk – a 5K run/walk to raise public awareness and fund solutions to end homelessness, one of the most extreme forms of poverty.
The past six years, nearly 40,000 people have participated – raising more than $3 million and helping move more than 13,000 people off the streets and into housing.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 23 at Exposition Park, beginning at 7:00 a.m. with registration. The opening ceremony is to start at 8:30. At 9, the 5K begins.
According to United Way reports, Los Angeles County remains the homeless capital of the nation, with more than 58,000 living without homes.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed 10 bills that his office said will help protect “the most vulnerable Californians – homeless children and adults and foster youth.”
GOV Brown los angeless homeless money goes to prisons 200,000 homeless teens are believed to be living in California.
Homeless children and education
That Act uses the Illinois statute in defining homeless children as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” The Act then goes on to give examples of children who would fall under this definition:
- (a) Children sharing housing due to economic hardship or loss of housing;
- (b) Children living in “motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations”
- (c) Children living in “emergency or transitional shelters”
- (d) Children “awaiting foster care placement”
- (e) Children whose primary nighttime residence is not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation (e.g. park benches, etc.)
- (f) Children living in “cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations…”
Following the Illinois statute, the McKinney-Vento Act also ensures homeless children transportation to and from school free of charge, allowing children to attend their school of origin (last school enrolled or the school they attended when they first become homeless) regardless of what district the family resides in.
Tonya McDowell, a 34-year old single mother who was arrested for sending her son to a school outside his home district, has been sent to prison for five years. The homeless mom sent her son to elementary school in Norwalk, Connecticut, instead of Bridgeport, where he was supposed to go. The state has accused McDowell of stealing $15,686 worth of education from the city of Norwalk.
- The Congress finds that —
- the Nation faces an immediate and unprecedented crisis due to the lack of shelter for a growing number of individuals and families, including elderly persons, handicapped persons, families with children, Native Americans, and veterans;
- the problem of homelessness has become more severe and, in the absence of more effective efforts, is expected to become dramatically worse, endangering the lives and safety of the homeless;
- the causes of homelessness are many and complex, and homeless individuals have diverse needs;
- there is no single, simple solution to the problem of homelessness because of the different sub-populations of the homeless, the different causes of and reasons for homelessness, and the different needs of homeless individuals;
- due to the record increase in homelessness, States, units of local government, and private voluntary organizations have been unable to meet the basic human needs of all the homeless and, in the absence of greater Federal assistance, will be unable to protect the lives and safety of all the homeless in need of assistance; and
- the Federal Government has a clear responsibility and an existing capacity to fulfill a more effective and responsible role to meet the basic human needs and to engender respect for the human dignity of the homeless.
- (b) Purpose
- It is the purpose of this chapter —
- to establish an Interagency Council on the Homeless;
- to use public resources and programs in a more coordinated manner to meet the critically urgent needs of the homeless of the Nation; and
- to provide funds for programs to assist the homeless, with special emphasis on elderly persons, handicapped persons, families with children, Native Americans, and veterans.
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