Donations Needed for Ventura’s New Homeless Shelter! You may have some of this stuff in your garage!

Ventura’s new year-round shelter, The Arch: All Roads Connect To Housing, opens on 1/9/20 and will make a huge impact in the lives of those experiencing homelessness in Ventura.

Below is a list of items that would be very helpful if they were donated. Please donate by the end of 2019. ‘Tis the Season!

If you can assist, please contact Meredith Hart (mhart@cityof ventura.ca.gov). In addition, please feel free to pass this on to any group, faith community, service club, or individual who could assist with the suggested donations.

CLOTHES

Continue reading “Donations Needed for Ventura’s New Homeless Shelter! You may have some of this stuff in your garage!” →

Mon 6/3: Monday’s Resistance Agenda!

Action #1 – Write a comment to oppose the Plains permit for an oil pipeline in SB,SLO and Kern Counties! Deadline today!

More information here. The people who brought us the Refugio Oil Spill in 2015 are back for another bite of the apple. Tell the BLM “no thanks”.

Action #2 – Support our local year-round homeless shelter/housing navigation center! Attend the City Council meeting tonight at 6 pm.

More information here. If you’ve ever wondered how you can help the homeless people you see around you, this is it. Sit at the City Council (it won’t be for long) and let your support be seen.

Action #3 – Donate to “Spread the Vote”.

More information here. “Spread the Vote” helps people get that ID in their pocket that allows them into the polling place in our more oppressive states.

Action #4 – Join in a free online course on reducing gun violence.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are offering an online course, which begins today, to teach the academic research and strategies they say are the best weapon to curb gun violence. Gun violence experts put the course together after hundreds of thousands of people — many of them students — participated in March For Our Lives last year, calling for tighter gun laws.”  You can take the online course here from Coursera for free (or pay $49 for a certificate) and learn how to combat gun violence in our communities.

Weds 5/29: Support our local year-round homeless shelter/housing navigation center! Attend the City Council meeting on June 3rd.

Action – Mark your calendar! Come out on June 3rd and show our city council our support for a year-round shelter/housing solution!

At the Monday, June 3, meeting at 6pm, the Ventura City Council (at City Hall – California & Poli) will be taking four very important actions regarding the opening and operation of the year-round shelter/housing navigation center. The agreements with the County, city of Oxnard and with Mercy House (the center’s proposed operator) are on the agenda to be approved.

It’s important that you come!!!!!

We want to fill the room as a visual symbol of the importance of this shelter to the community in addressing our homelessness issues.

Wear BLUE if you can.

We’ll provide matching signs for you to use in thanking our council for their positive actions.

This time, we’re not asking for speakers, just for an enthusiastic group of supporters to be seen and be counted. Kevin and I will arrange for no more than 3 speakers to address the council.

There is now real data and there are real solutions for homelessness. For more information to share with friends, here are 3 significant talking points on housing, including the benefits of affordable rental housing, the state’s proposed budget impact, and how supportive housing reduces homelessness.

Thank you for your support!

Judy and Kevin
Co-Directors of Ventura Social Services Task Force

Thurs – 1/17: HELP!!! The Homeless Count needs more volunteers! Training classes start today.

Please help with a “Day of Service” in your own community?

The yearly Homeless Count is happening again on Tuesday, Jan. 22nd at sites all throughout Ventura County including: Ventura, Camarillo, Ojai, Santa Paula, Thousand Oaks, Fillmore, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Port Hueneme, Moorpark, and unincorporated Areas.

An accurate count is crucial for our county to receive all the HUD support we need. These rainy days just illustrate how important it is to get as many people housed as possible.

THEY NEED MORE PEOPLE TO HELP!!!

Consider this: Since Trump was elected, a lot of us have done things that we’d never imagined doing, especially the introverts amongst us. Continue reading “Thurs – 1/17: HELP!!! The Homeless Count needs more volunteers! Training classes start today.” →

Sat. 1/5: Standing Indivisible with folks right here at home.

You don’t have to go to a Tijuana refugee camp to find people who need help. It’s going to be a cold, wet night right here in Ventura County… (Three actions below)

Action #1: Today! – Saturday 1/5 – Help feed people at the new Emergency Shelter!

(This message is from Peggy Ayala-Rivera, Jan. 3rd.)
Good evening! I’m reaching out to you because I need your help.
With rain scheduled to start late Friday or early Saturday, we will be opening our Emergency Shelter at the National Armory located at 351 S. K St. across the street from the old OXNARD high school gym and I need your help to prepare some hot food and brought to the shelter by 5:30 p.m. if there is anyway possible you can prepare a tray of food like spaghetti or some other pasta to feed the homeless. salad, french bread for Saturday night I would truly appreciate it if interested to help please contact me Commissioner Peggy Rivera with the Commission on Homelessness here in our City@ 805-890-7414 as soon as possible…you can help make life a little better for those less fortunate…
Other things that are needed is paper plates, napkins, plastic utensils and toilet paper.
Thank you all so very much I truly appreciate your help.
Peggy Rivera

Indivisible Ventura responds… We are now shopping and cooking!
If you have a donation to drop off or need a pick up, please contact us at indivisibleventura@gmail.com Continue reading “Sat. 1/5: Standing Indivisible with folks right here at home.” →

Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.

Let’s Make Everyone Count!
Homeless Point-In-Time Count, Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Why: This effort helps to better understand who is homeless in Ventura County and gain access to state and federal funding.
What: Volunteers canvass the community in pairs and collect survey data through interviewing homeless persons or reporting observations.
Who: Volunteers must be 18 years or older and have the ability to walk distances in designated locations. A smart phone/device will be needed to download the “Counting Us” app for the survey. More information will be shared during the training.

Please register online at http://www.volunteerventuracounty.org/need/detail/?need_id=388508 and spread the word!

or…

Join Indivisible Ventura’s team! Email us here with your name, email, phone #, and preferred shift on Jan. 22nd, either [6 am-12 noon] or [11am-5pm]. Tell us if you’re signing up with a friend. The morning shift always needs more people (6 am!!!), so please indicate if you’re flexible.

Training time options: Continue reading “Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.” →

Help Ventura house our Homeless Residents! Write City Council to acquire State funds to address our Shelter Crisis & attend the Council Meeting on 9/24

First things first. Familiarize yourself with the issues, myths, and solutions in the pipeline regarding our homeless brothers and sisters in Ventura.

On Monday, Sept 24, our City Council will be deciding whether or not to ask for State funds by declaring Ventura as having a Shelter Crisis.

The City Council will be voting on the decision to declare a local emergency shelter crisis to be eligible to access California Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) funding.

In order to receive these State funds, Ventura must have an official Shelter Crisis declaration for this funding to be utilized within our city. Funds are anticipated to be released by year-end 2018 and in an amount significant to really make a difference to our most vulnerable residents.

Action #1: Email our City Council (addresses below)

Talking points for emails (be sure to make it your own!):

-As a voter and concerned citizen in Ventura, I’d like your commitment to declare a Shelter Crisis to be eligible to receive California Homeless Emergency Aid Program funding.

-State funds are being allotted by year-end to help our most vulnerable residents and, in addition to the funds earmarked by the Council in June, I feel strongly that, we, as a city can make great strides in addressing homelessness in our city

-Funding will go toward homelessness prevention, emergency housing vouchers, rapid rehousing, and navigation centers.

-In addition,
Continue reading “Help Ventura house our Homeless Residents! Write City Council to acquire State funds to address our Shelter Crisis & attend the Council Meeting on 9/24” →

Help our Ailing Homeless – Urge our State Senators to support AB 1971 in its Original Form!

No fellow human being unable to make medical decisions for his or herself should die on our streets. Sadly, some people are so mentally ill that they do not know they’re sick.

We need to change the definition of “gravely disabled” to include those who cannot care for themselves medically to ensure first responders and medical professionals have the authority to direct these people to treatment.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I am calling to urge the Senator [___] to support AB 1971 in the form unanimously voted for in the Assembly, NOT as amended by the Senate Judiciary committee.

Contact:
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson: (SD-19): SAC (916) 651-4019, SB (805) 965-0862, OX (805)988-1940
Not your state senator?:findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Why this is so important:

Much of this text is from an exceptional op-ed in the Ventura County Star by Mary Haffner, an attorney and member of the Ventura Unified School District and Ventura County Behavioral Health Advisory boards. Read the full text here

On June 26, the California Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony regarding Assembly Bill 1971, which would expand the definition of “gravely disabled” to include medical necessity. Existing law does not recognize a person’s inability to provide for his or her basic personal needs for health as an element of grave disability. AB 1971 can change this.

Homelessness and homeless encampments have become a part of the permanent landscape of California, and approximately 33 percent of these people suffer from serious mental illness. A subset of the mentally ill lack the capacity to understand that without medical intervention, they will die.

We need the tools to intervene. AB 1971 addresses this public health crisis and would give first responders and medical professionals the authority to direct these people to treatment.

AB 1971 passed with overwhelming support through two Assembly committees and the Senate Health Committee. On June 26, however, Continue reading “Help our Ailing Homeless – Urge our State Senators to support AB 1971 in its Original Form!” →

Thanks to all who came out to the City Council Meeting – THEY VOTED TO FUND THE SHELTER!

Last night, Monday, June 18, our City Council voted to fund a 24-hour, year-round shelter in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic supporters!

We heard from a long-term homeless advocate who’s been working for decades for this night.

We heard from a man who’d experienced homelessness firsthand.

Continue reading “Thanks to all who came out to the City Council Meeting – THEY VOTED TO FUND THE SHELTER!” →

TODAY! Attend City Council Meeting – HUGE Vote to Help our Homeless Ventura Residents!

First things first. Familiarize yourself with the issues, myths, and solutions in the pipeline regarding our homeless brothers and sisters in Ventura.

Today, Monday, June 18, our City Council will be deciding whether or not to fund a 24-hour, year-round shelter with the goal of transitioning folks into permanent housing.

The City Council allotted $300,000 in Measure O funds last year, and the ask is for an additional $300,000 for 2018. Zoning for a shelter was put into place last year and advocates are asking for a site to be chosen by the end of 2018. THIS IS HUGE.

This would enable our homeless residents to be surrounded with services and given the chance to gain a foothold in their lives. A year-round shelter is supported by our police, business owners and homeless advocates alike.

Action: Show up today at the Monday, June 18 Council Meeting to support this important cause!

6 pm (show up early for a good seat!) at 501 Poli Street (At the top of California Street, downtown). Parking is around back and use the door at the rear of the building.