Archive for the ‘Urban Activity’ Category
Report: 5-Year Plan to End LA Homelessness (NBC Los Angeles, February 24, 2012)
Friday, March 2nd, 2012Some 3,137 of Los Angeles Countyâs homeless moved to permanent housing last year, according to a report on homelessness released Thursday.
The âHome For Goodâ report, by the Business Leaders Task Force, a project of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Area Chamber, said 2,273 chronically homeless people were moved from the streets to permanent housing and 864 homeless veterans moved to permanent housing.
âOur community has taken enormous strides in the first year of implementing Home For Good,â said Renee White Fraser, a task force chairwoman. âWeâve much more work to do, but we are off to a very impressive running start.â
The report, presented at a Thursday summit meeting of local, regional and federal leaders, aims to end chronic and veteran homelessness in the Greater L.A. area in five years.
The report’s accomplishments:
Implemented a system by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to better understand whoâs homeless and what they need;
Conducted an extensive homeless count throughout L.A. County;
Momentum to house homeless in 18 communities throughout the County;
While the report touts its successes, it also lays out its shortcomings.
The report says that only 31 of the 88 cities in the county opted in to the full homeless count in 2011. It also said that 18 out of 20 communities conducted a comprehensive registry of vulnerable individuals.
The reportâs goals for next year are to get 70 cities to opt into the 2013 homeless count and to increase to 60 percent the use of the new homeless tracking system.
It also aims to cut to 60 days the time it takes to place homeless in housing. It currently averages about 100 days.
There are 51,000 homeless people in Los Angeles, making the city of Los Angeles the âHomeless Capitalâ of the United States, according to the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
President Obama and an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to American energy
Saturday, February 25th, 2012Continuing with the theme of building an economy that lasts, today President Obama talked about rising gas prices, “why developing new energy is so important to our future,” and of course, how Republicans want to politicize it:
Now, some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. And since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for gas. I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling. We hear the same thing every year.
Well the American people aren’t stupid. You know that’s not a plan – especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It’s a strategy to get politicians through an election.
The president points out that under his administration “America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years,” and that “in 2010, our dependence on foreign oil was under 50% for the first time in more than a decade,” but that we can and must do more:
You know there are no quick fixes to this problem, and you know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas price spikes down the line, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks; in our buildings and plants. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge.
And as anyone with a functioning brain knows (looks at elephant to the right), there’s even more that should be done:
Right now, four billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year. Four billion dollars.
Imagine that. Maybe some of you are listening to this in your car right now, pulling into a gas station to fill up. As you watch those numbers rise, know that oil company profits have never been higher. Yet somehow, Congress is still giving those same companies another four billion dollars of your money. That’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And it has to stop.
The president concludes with a call to get our priorities straight (subsidies) and a commitment to “make a sustained, serious effort to tackle this problem.”
Complete transcript below the fold.
6.6 Family and Youth Program Measurement Simplified
Friday, February 24th, 20126.6 Family and Youth Program Measurement Simplified
Effective homeless assistance systems rely on quality data and performance measurement. This workshop will describe simple steps to evaluate program outcomes as well as practical strategies for using data systems to support a performance-based homeless assistance system.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Why we must win the Wisconsin recalls
Sunday, February 19th, 2012Do you want to prove it’s possible for an enormous grassroots movement, backed up by fearless Democrats, to part a sea of unlimited corporate dollars and win elections with the message that we should stop taking stuff from working people and giving it to the rich?
We have a chance to prove that right now. Please, click here to contribute to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for the recall of Governor Scott Walker.
One year ago this week, tens of thousands of people were physically occupying the Wisconsin state capitol building and the grounds surrounding it. They were protesting an immoral Republican budget bill that stripped collective bargaining rights for public employees and slashed funding for health care and education in order to hand out huge tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-rich.
With this budget just hours from passage, all 14 Democratic senators left the state, thus denying Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the bill. If even one Democrat had either stayed behind or been captured by the state police which Republicans sent to arrest them, then the bill would have passed that day. Instead, the Democrats held out and the ranks of the protesters swelled. Fed by pizza orders called in from around the world, they kept the capitol building occupied for weeks.
Republicans eventually passed their budget bill by illegally circumventing Wisconsin’s open meetings law, but the protesters and the Democrats were undeterred.
Backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the protesters began organizing recalls of Republican state senators. With an all-volunteer effort, they collected hundreds of thousands of signatures in less than two months. Over the summer, they successfully removed two Republicans from office by scoring electoral victories in districts Democrats could not even win in the landslide of 2008.
Even after that, the protesters and the Democrats kept going. They continued holding daily protests at the capitol building and dogging Scott Walker at all of his public appearances. Then, on Nov. 15, they filed the papers to recall Scott Walker. Through snow and winter weather, more than 30,000 volunteers collected over one million recall signatures. In so doing, they forced recall elections against not only Scott Walker, but also against the Republican Lt. Governor and at least three more Republican state senators.
The whole time they did it with a simple message: Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are cutting education, health care and salaries for working people in order to make big corporations and the ultra-rich even richer. Despite the unlimited donations which have given Republicans a massive financial advantage in this fight, the Democrats and the protesters have used this populism to continually gain ground.
Wisconsin is not the only state where these battles are being fought, but it is a special case because it shows us a path to victory. How do we put an end to the gut-wrenching trend of conservative politicians taking from working people and giving to the rich? We do it by having heroes on the ground who keep protesting, gathering signatures, and knocking on doors no matter what, and by having Democrats who are willing to back those heroes up by going to the mat to defend the middle-class.
The decisive recall election against Scott Walker is coming soon. If Walker is recalled, then the whole country will know Democrats and the middle class can defeat the forces of greed with fearless populism. Republicans and the ultra-rich know such an outcome could change the political dynamic in our nation, which is why they have given more than million dollars to Scott Walker to defeat the recall.
Much of that money came from only a few dozen members of the one percent of the one percent, all of whom gave ,000 or more.
What happens in Wisconsin will impact the entire country. We must prove it’s possible for a tenacious grassroots movement, backed up by a fearless Democratic Party, to breach a red sea of corporate cash and win elections with a populist economic message. If we lose, the masters of the universe will continue looting what remains of the middle class with no apparent electoral consequences for politicians who facilitate their destructive actions.
On the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Wisconsin protests, please give to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to recall Scott Walker. This is an election none of us can afford to lose.
Pre-Conference Session on Coordinated Entry
Saturday, February 18th, 2012Pre-Conference Session on Coordinated Entry
The Allianceâs Center for Capacity Building is hosting a pre-conference session focused on planning for the development of a coordinated entry and implementation steps. The session will open with short presentations on the key aspects of successful coordinated entry. A facilitated discussion on these concepts, as well as others of interest to participants, will follow. Audience members will then have time to work on their own communitiesâ coordinated entry processes. Communities are encouraged to bring their ideas and any work they are currently doing on planning for or implementing a coordinated entry system. Multiple stakeholders from each community are encouraged to attend. Space is limited to the first 50 registrants.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
2.1 A Blueprint for Ending Family Homelessness
Saturday, February 18th, 20122.1 A Blueprint for Ending Family Homelessness
The recent recession and continued economic downturn have negatively impacted families more than any other homeless population. This workshop will explore local program innovations and discuss what systems changes and other efforts are needed to stem the rising tide of family homelessness. Presenters will offer a big-picture look at family homelessness across the nation and what it will take to end it.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
3.4 Effectively Collecting, Coordinating, and Using Youth Data
Tuesday, February 14th, 20123.4 Effectively Collecting, Coordinating, and Using Youth Data
Data is essential to create effective evidence-based strategies to prevent and end homelessness. This workshop will examine methodologies of point-in-time counts and other surveys, discuss coordinating HMIS with mainstream data systems and explore ways to use these data to inform policy decisions and interventions.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
2.2 Implementing the HEARTH Act: Preparing for the New Emergency Solutions Grant
Sunday, February 12th, 20122.2 Implementing the HEARTH Act: Preparing for the New Emergency Solutions Grant
Under the HEARTH Act, homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing are eligible activities for the new Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). Presenters will review the changes to the ESG program and discuss ways to transition programs from HPRP to ESG funding. Presenters will also discuss strategies for implementing ESG and will explore successful program models. Other resources for funding these programs will be explored in workshop 5.6.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
1.8 Weathering the Storm: Employment Strategies That Work
Saturday, February 11th, 20121.8 Weathering the Storm: Employment Strategies That Work
To transition back into housing and off of time-limited rent subsidies, families and youth require immediate assistance to achieve sustainable work and economic security. This workshop will examine strategies that have helped low-income parents and youth find and maintain employment. Presenters will discuss strategies cultivated from successful subsidized and transitional employment program models and strategies for parents experiencing homelessness.
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Mitch McConnell’s attack on ‘liberal thugs’ will be only one bite at CPAC’s red-meat conference
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Conservative Political Action Conference has today begun an annual get-together that looks to be even more of a contest in right-wing attacks than usual. American Conservative Union President and long-time lobbyist and Republican heavyweight Al Cardenas got things started with a speech filled with phrases such as demolishing the “subsidized radical left.”
In excerpts provided from a prepared speech Mitch McConnell will make, the Senate Minority Leader says that Democratic strategy is to “Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and then polarize it.”
“But rarely have we seen those tactics employed with the kind of zeal that we see today. This White House and its lieutenants have made an art form out of the orchestrated attack,” the Kentucky Republican will say, according to excerpts provided to POLITICO.
“They’ve shown they’ll go after anybody or any organization that they think is standing in their way.”
Projection is a chronic ailment of McConnell and his pals.
But he’s unlikely to provide the fieriest speech of the conference. In addition to presidential contenders Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, ex-contenders Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann, and possible future contenders Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sen. Rand Paul, Peter Brimelow will appear on a panel titled “The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity.” Brimelow is the founder and chief honcho of VDARE.com, a racist, anti-semitic, anti-immigrant white nationalist website. It is named after Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents to be born in North America, 425 years ago in the short-lived Roanoke Colony.
(Continue reading below the fold)