KC wants to get the work out about this great opportunity!
Children and families without homes is a growing challenge in Long Beach and across America. A child’s view of being without a home is quite different from an adult’s. When a family has no home, parents face difficult issues in their efforts to provide a safe environment for their children to thrive. Thus the approach to helping children and families without homes is different than helping homeless individuals. On October 27 we will have a chance to better understand what families must deal with and an opportunity to explore solutions. The Long Beach Area Coalition for the Homeless and the Long Beach Community Action Network invite you to attend this important dialogue.
What: Children and Families without Homes Dialogue.
When: Saturday, October 27, 2007 from 9:30am till 1pm.
Where: Cesar E. Chavez Park, Community Room, 401 Golden Ave., Long Beach, CA
Mayor Bob Foster and Long Beach First Lady Nancy Foster are scheduled to attend. Continental breakfast will be served at 9:30am with the program getting underway at 10am. There will be short multi-media presentation followed by a panel of family members experiencing homelessness and professionals in the field of social services. Then small discussion groups will explore how we can better understand the issues surrounding children and families without homes and what actions can be taken to move towards solutions.
The dialogue is being planned by the Homeless Dialogue Steering Committee, a collaboration of the Long Beach Area Coalition for the Homeless, the Long Beach Community Action Network, the Downtown Long Beach Associates, the California Conference for Equality and Justice, Children Today, Food Finders, City personnel, and private citizens whose purpose is to foster understanding of issues surrounding homelessness and promote change that will improve the quality of life for all residents of Long Beach.
The Committee develops themes and formats for a series of ongoing, community dialogues around critical issues of homelessness. The dialogues endeavor to educate the community, service providers, city departments, as well as those experiencing homelessness in order to increase awareness and foster understanding of various issues surrounding homelessness. These dialogues are intended to lead the way towards identifying objectives and actions that can result in meaningful change. The information is to be presented in a manner that places no blame and implies no shame with regard to the truth of homelessness. The dialogues are expected to empower the community and result in intentional objectives and actions to affect institutional change.
This might be something you want to check out!
To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please call Mary Coburn at 562-485-3133.
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It is estimated that there are 80,000 to 95,000 homeless children in California.
In absolute terms, there are more homeless children today in California than ever before. The percentage of children who are homeless is greater today than at any time since the Great Depression
43% of homeless children are molested; 66% are violently abused.
Homeless children are 12 times more likely to wind up in foster care than housed children.
Over 20% of homeless children do not attend school at all.
When in school, homeless kids are twice as likely to repeat a grade or be suspended.
Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children.
Homeless children have 5 times more stomach and diarrhea problems, and 4 times as much asthma.
Homeless children are reported in fair or poor health twice as often as housed children.
http://www.housingadvocates.org/default.asp?ID=170
What about Redding and Shasta County ?
http://redding.com/news/2007/mar/27/more-suffer-street-county/
There is Hope .....
Sacramento –Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny’s (D-San Diego) Senate Bill (SB) 303 was approved by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
Along with a diverse list of California organizations supporting the Housing Affordability Act The California State Firefighters Association, PORAC (Peace Officers Research Association of California) and Father Joe’s Ministries of San Diego were among the SB 303 supporters which attended the hearing to urge its passage.
SB 303 aims to reverse the trend of California’s housing supply falling far behind the ever-growing demand. It is this imbalance that economists say is one of the primary reasons for the runaway prices in California’s housing market that make homes unaffordable for much of the state’s workforce. SB 303 is designed to ensure responsible planning, require full compliance with environmental laws and boost affordable housing for all income levels, Ducheny told the committee. Local and regional governments will maintain control of the current process for determining how much housing is needed (Regional Housing Needs Assessment, RHNA) and where it will go. Now, however, the land will be zoned when the site for housing is chosen by the local community.
“More certainty means lower prices,” Ducheny said. “People who build our homes, people who keep our communities safe and teach our kids are still being priced out of the market. Our local governments have the right and responsibility to plan for places for people to live. We just want them to go the extra step of making sure that their process provides places that are truly appropriate for the housing they’re planning,”
Mathew Packard, vice president of Father Joe’s Villages, testified that his group’s charitable organizations work with the homeless, under-employed and people with AIDS among others.
“The Housing Affordability Act recognizes that all communities have a role to play in providing housing that all Californians can afford,” said Packard. “It is an important contribution of this bill that it recognizes that those on the lowest economic rungs must be included in our vision of the future: not with handouts, but with a chance to live a life they can afford and continue to be an essential part of our communities.”
Other organizations supporting SB 303 include the California Business Roundtable, AFSCME, California Council of Churches Impact, California Black Chamber Foundation, Major Builders Council, California Affordable Housing, Inc. and the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance.
http://dist40.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC=%7B3A828B7E-9F32-431B-A6F1-32C67AF694FD%7D&DE=%7BE64942C4-D5BB-446F-B44C-0F3404E8FC4E%7D
E-Mail the Governor---Support SB 303 !!
http://gov.ca.gov/interact
Bill Analysis
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0301-0350/sb_303_cfa_20070601_154702_sen_floor.html
www.reddingloavesandfishes.com
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