I started working at LAYN in May of 2010. It is a network of homeless shelters for youth all located in Hollywood. I decided to work here because I did some research on the homeless population in LA and found that there are over 10,000 homeless children/youth at any given time. Around 7,000 of them sleep in the streets every night.
There are 3 shelters/programs and an independent living program at LAYN. The one I work at most is the first level shelter on Gower. This is the emergency shelter. They offer drop in, emergency overnight, and other services for up to 17 youth at a time. The youth are there for a day, week. or month but mostly they are in and out. Most of the time when I haven't been there in a few days there will be a completely new set of youth I haven't met yet.
The next shelter is on Taft. It is a short-term group home. It is set up in a huge house that was recently remodeled. This house can serve up to 10 youth at a time. The upstairs was the administrative offices but they have recently moved to Vine. I believe the plan is to turn those offices into more bedrooms to house youth. Usually the youth who are allowed at Taft are more stable but it serves as an emergency shelter when Gower is full.
The long-term group home is located on Beachwood right beneath the Hollywood sign. Youth are admitted to this program once they prove to be stable and in compliance with their individualized case plan. These youth go to school, meet with our clinical director, have mentors, tutors, and an education specialist. I like working at Beachwood because the youth are always the same. Some of them have been there for almost 10 years.
Since I have been at LAYN the Beachwood program has seen 2 youth go to UCLA, one go to USC, and one is the star football quarterback for Hollywood High School. He has scholarships to any school he wants as an upcoming junior.
Finally there is an independent living program called WOOW meaning Were On Our Way. These are apartments that are rented by LAYN for youth who are 18-21 and transitioning into independent living. It helps former foster and homeless youth transition into adult life. Program youth must be enrolled in college classes part-time and must be employed or looking for work. They receive assistance with transportation, grocery money, independent living skills and weekly case management. They are required to pay 30% of their paycheck to rent, which is put into a savings account and returned to the youth at the end of the program. The goal of the program is to assist youth with their transition into adult self-sufficiency.
If you would like to learn more about LAYN or get involved go to:
www.layn.org
To view the newspaper article about the star quarterback go to:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/07/sports/la-sp-sondheimer-jeremi-ross-20101008
Update to this blog: I was asked to become a full time staff person at my church in Westlake Village so I have switched my involvement from staff to volunteer. I will still be at each of the shelters as must as possible. This is a great organization and I am happy to help anybody who is interested in volunteering.
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