|
 Organizers
for the 2007 Summer Homeless Census are calling on the
public to volunteer to help with a person-by-person
count of the homeless throughout the urban areas of
Clark County on July 31.
The
Summer Census will complete this year’s picture of
homelessness in Southern Nevada and help the county
secure the necessary federal funding needed to provide
basic human services for the homeless.
“These
counts are a key part of getting the most accurate
picture of the homeless problem so we can meet it head
on,” said Shannon West, regional homeless service
coordinator for Southern Nevada Regional Planning
Coalition (SNRPC). “We are calling on people to give
us a few hours of their time so we can help out some of
our area’s most vulnerable citizens.”
The
Winter Point-in-Time survey, conducted in January, found
that Southern Nevada has an average of 11,369 homeless
in shelters or on the street at any given time, but has
more than 50,400 instances of people becoming homeless
over the course of a year. Homeless experts say that
people in Clark County do not stay homeless as long as
those in other major cities, yet there are more cycles
of homelessness throughout the course of a year. The
Summer Census will give a complete snapshot of those
cycles, West said.
Anyone
willing to volunteer will need to attend one 90-minute
volunteer training course held at Clark County Social
Service on the 3rd Floor Training Room at 1600 Pinto
Lane in Las Vegas:
-
Thursday,
July 26 at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m.;
-
Friday,
July 27 at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. or 3 p.m.
Census
organizers are seeking volunteers who have
transportation and preferably a cell phone to
participate in the counts. The actual count will take
place on July 31 at 2 a.m.
Anyone
wishing to volunteer to participate in the homeless
census can call (702) 455-5832 or e-mail caw@co.clark.nv.us,
or visit www.HelpHopeHome.org.
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