Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance to conduct homeless census

By Larry James of Urban Daily

What follows comes to us from the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. If you live in or near Dallas, you might want to consider being involved in this unusual process. The "point in time" census of our homeless population is very important to the work we are doing to end chronic homelessness in Dallas by 2014.

It is once again time to conduct the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) annual Homeless Count & Census.

The census is conducted each year in the last week of January so that Dallas and Collin County can collect information on our homeless residents.

With MDHA's renewed commitment to end Chronic Homelessness by 2014 and the opening of the Homeless Assistance Center in April 2008, the Homeless Count & Census allows us to monitor our progress in achieving this goal. The Census helps us to complete a needs assessment for the community and encourage the development of programs to fill identified gaps. The information compiled during the census is also used by several interested groups, including non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, media outlets and various departments in Federal, State & local government.

DATE: Tuesday, January 22, 2008

TIME: 5:30 P.M. – 12:00 A.M. (subject to slight changes if needed, most volunteers are able to leave by 10:30 p.m.)

LOCATION: Dallas City Hall – 1500 Marilla, L1 F North Auditorium (park in City Hall underground parking off Young Street and enter through the GREEN door.)

HOW TO HELP: Volunteers are needed for both the indoor and outdoor census.

Indoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the homeless survey in an indoor location, such as an emergency shelter or transitional housing facility. Law enforcement professionals are not assigned to these teams, but a staff contact will be provided for teams who visit these locations and agency staff will be present.

Outdoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the survey outdoors in teams of 3. Law enforcement personnel are also assigned to each team for safety reasons.

Training

Training on how to conduct the census will be provided for volunteers on the night of the census. Volunteers will begin signing in from 5:30 – 6:00, and should arrive no later than 5:45 P.M. in order to receive all of the information presented.

Contact Information

Thank you for your interest! In order to volunteer for the Homeless census or to receive more information, please contact Kit Lowrance at Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance:

Phone: 214-978-0002 E-mail: klowrance@unitedwaydallas.org

Pegasus News content partner - Urban Daily

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