PRESS RELEASE

A Call to Action for Long Beach Residents

Help Long Beach Homeless Neighbors Get “CONNECTED”

June 23, 2009

During July 21st to 23rd, more than 125 Long Beach volunteers will converge on central Long Beach and take part in a three-day volunteer effort aimed at helping Long Beach’s most challenging homeless individuals. The community initiative, known as Long Beach CONNECTIONS, will cover neighborhoods from the beach to Anaheim St., and Alamitos Ave. to the Los Angeles River.

“Small groups of people will perform interviews to identify the most vulnerable people living on our streets,” said Martha Long, of Mental Health America. “This will help us identify our most needy homeless neighbors and design targeted strategies to get them housed.” Long co-chairs the community initiative along with Joel John Roberts, CEO of PATH Partners.

The homeless survey is the first component of Long Beach CONNECTIONS, a grassroots community
engagement initiative geared towards helping develop coordinated responses to address homelessness in Long Beach. Participating stakeholders include the City of Long Beach, Police and Fire departments, CSULB, local hospitals, business groups, residents, faith groups, and service agencies.

“This is a powerful opportunity to demonstrate our collective commitment to ending homelessness in Long Beach,” said Mayor Bob Foster.

“Resolving homelessness in Long Beach is a win-win situation for the homeless, businesses and
residents,” said Mary Coburn, of the Downtown Long Beach Associates. “We all benefit from enjoying a vibrant community to work, enjoy and call home.”

In addition to the homeless survey, the CONNECTIONS Initiative will partner with California State University Long Beach (CSULB) to conduct a community engagement analysis called the
“CONNECTIONS Index”. The CONNECTIONS Index will evaluate how key stakeholders (within the
homeless survey boundaries) respond to homelessness. Information obtained will assist in optimizing service integration amongst faith groups, businesses, emergency services, law enforcement, homeless agencies, and the medical services community.

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