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Josh Hoffman sat homeless service workers in front of an ambitious room and talked about why it’s important not to be discouraged.
To make his point, the field veteran recalls the story of a woman with mental health issues who repeatedly refused to move to a new building as she said the birds in the neighborhood were unsafe.
As a result, she stayed on the streets, but things changed a few years later. Hoffman said his team received a call from another organization. The woman said she was currently in detention and was willing to follow the application process.
“If we hadn’t received the call, we would have thought… our work hadn’t really affected her life, but that was the case,” said Hoffman, now director of homeless services at Little Tokio Service Center.
“Plant the seeds,” one attendee said.
“That’s the perfect analogy,” replied Hoffman.
Helping people get off the streets can be a tough, inadequate paying job. It is a job that often laments that workers are not adequately trained in how to help or what to expect when dealing with people facing the worst moments of their lives.
Recent research has found that these factors contribute to the widespread burnout and sales of homeless service workers in LA County, and are hampering their ability to resolve the crisis in which thousands of people sleep on the streets.
Now, the new week of fellowship is about to change that by waking workers preparing for the first day.
In April, Los Angeles welcomed 15 fellows as part of their second cohort at the Response Academy, which is Laura for short.
Fellows attended a variety of medications, received learned scholarships, and reduced the way service workers employ the county’s online system to help reduce the side effects of street drugs. They also learned about the behaviors in their personal lives that they can take to reduce burnout and toured multiple service providers on Skidrow.
On the midnight mission, fellows ate in a cafeteria that feeds hundreds of people a day, and toured the dorms, an educational center with a 12-stage programme for women that opens immediately, computers, books and musical instruments. Finally, the mission’s chief communications officer, Georgia Berkovich, provided her number to her peers.
“You can always ask questions.
Justin Szlasa, who founded the Laura Fellowship, said it would take several months or years for homeless service workers to acquire dispensed contacts and knowledge in a five-day learning program.
With rapid tracking training, fellowships are trying to educate aspiring workers about what they are obsessed with and provide tools to succeed, including the large amount of contacts they can turn to when problems arise.
“If you’re embedded in your community and have peers and support systems, you’re less likely to burn out,” said Szlasa, director of the Homelessness Initiative at the Future Community Institute, which will guide fellowships.
First class in October was funded by actor Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves is a friend of Sulasa and the second bankroll was featured by United Way. Szlasa is working to find funds for additional sessions.
Skidrow tent.
(William Leanne / For the era)
Meghan D’Zmura, a former server at a downtown luxury Italian restaurant, was in the group in April and described the fellowship as the “Cliffsnotes Master Class” about social work, where he got a job in May as the resident services coordinator at Skid Row’s Weingart Center.
D’Zmura said her childhood homeless experiences motivated her in the past, but she had some things she didn’t know before joining the fellowship, including nuts and bolts on how to navigate the web of complex institutions and services.
“It’s very fulfilling, but I’m probably going to be in a taxable position,” said 35-year-old D’Zmura shortly before it began. “But I’m ready.”
One of the contributing factors to burnout is payment.
A study by 2023 Rand Corp. found that on average, homeless service workers in LA County earn around $40,000 to $60,000 a year, with little left after paying for rent and other essentials.
The analysis focused on frontline workers employed by nonprofits who act as the backbone of LA County’s homelessness response and who connect people with housing, vocational training, food aid and healthcare.
An executive at the nonprofit told the report author he wanted to pay more, but the government’s contracts funding its work have not paid enough to allow it.
Of course, if your pay is lifted, it means you have less money for other things like beds.
However, Lund economist Lisa Abraham, who co-authored the report, said higher wages could pay dividends in the homeless sector, citing one study that found residents’ health lower and mortality rates lower after wages increased in nursing homes.
“These frontline workers have a direct contact with the homeless population,” Abraham said. “I feel that having a talented, strong workforce that feels supported will motivate my job…it can lead to client outcomes.”
Officials in the city and county of Los Angeles have recently taken several steps to allow higher wages for at least some workers, but supporters say they need more.
Szlasa said that such training at the Laura Fellowship hopes will make a difference by generating strong arguments that pay lives to help workers learn to help more people.
“The long-term fix for me is more productive,” said Szlasa, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services.
The Veritt Polician was among the team members of April. She decided to go to the homeless service industry when her job as a television producer drained.
The Paulician said he expects to find stability while lining up to other months at the Midnight Mission Cafeteria if he gets a job in a homeless service job, which would be less than what he was making when the entertainment industry was healthier, but he wants to help others.
“Hopefully,” she said, “I’m going to do this.”
Later that day, the Paulicians and others walked a few blocks and walked to the sidewalk project’s drop-in center.
Soma Snakeoil, executive director of the organization, explained how people can come to the centre, get supplies that will help them to make drug use safer and get help if they experience sexual violence. Others need to rest after continuing to wake up overnight to protect themselves from assault.
“I hope you have a very successful career, protect your mind and body, and give your community a lot of good back,” she told the fellows.
As the group left, Snequil urged them to take a box of Narcan, an anti-overdose drug.
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