Members of the Long Beach Homeless Connections Initiative are inviting residents to join them as they prepare for a new homeless count in downtown Long Beach in July.
The Homeless Connections group is a coalition of city and volunteer homeless and mental health groups that have helped to find permanent housing for more than 80 chronically homeless residents of the downtown area.
The next meeting of the group is Tuesday, March 15, at 3:30 p.m. at the Family Health Education Center, 3820 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach.
The group, which includes PATH (People Assisting The Homeless), the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services and Mental Health America of Los Angeles, was formed in 2009. In the summer of 2009, volunteers conducted a three-day count of downtown homeless to not only find the number of homeless, but determine their health and susceptibility to disease and death from remaining on the streets.
The group's original goal was to find housing for the 10 most at-risk homeless in the area, However, with funds made available by the federal government and other sources, more than 80 homeless have been housed and offered appropriate services.
The group is hoping to capitalize on the massive turnout of volunteers who appeared to join the city's biennial homeless count, by inviting those participants to join the Homeless Connections effort.
The purposes of Tuesday's meeting is to talk to interested people about the organizaton and begin planning the July homeless count
Information is available by calling PATH at 323-644-2209..
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