Each year Contra Costa County conducts an annual homeless count with the help of the community...
By administering a point-in-time count (PIT) of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons living in Contra Costa, we are able to deliver better services to our homeless population. The count gives service providers, advocates, and other stake-holders a more nuanced understanding of the state of homelessness and allows us to craft more tailored responses and effective solutions to the issues facing our most vulnerable community members.
This is a massive effort requiring hundreds of caring volunteers who are willing to help in 3 ways:
Volunteer to do the Count directly
Donate needed emergency items
Give a financial donation
Volunteers doing the count directly will donate 4 hours of their time to help conduct a brief point-in-time count survey. Locations will include: food distribution sites, multi-service centers, soup kitchen and dining halls, and health care facilities.
The 2015 count will take place on January 28, January 29, and January 30.
Volunteers must attend a two-hour training session before the count. Training sessions will be: Sunday, January 25,2-4 pm and Monday, January 26,6-8pm. Volunteers will be assigned a site to interview members of our community based on availability and location.
Emergency itemsare needed so outreach teams can help those most vulnerable. We need bottled water, blankets, socks, hats, mittens, gloves, sleeping bags and toiletries.
If you can donate one or more of these items contact: Mary Fenelon mefenelon@synergycollaborative.net or 202.257.5223 or drop off items to Temple Isaiah, 945 Risa Road, Lafayette, CA.
Financial donations to the Multi-faith ACTION Coalition will allow us to purchase critical items for individuals living on the streets. All donations will be used for homeless needs. Donations are tax deductible through our fiscal sponsor, the Richmond Community Foundation. You can donate online through RCF’s website. Please make sure to note in the tribute section (part 3) that the donation is for Multi-faith ACTION Coalition. Any amount is appreciated.
Community Solutions has selected our county to participate in the Zero: 2016 initiative. The homeless point-in-time count is the jumping off point for us to end chronic and veteran homelessness over the next two years. Stayed tuned for more info or visit the Community Solutions website here.
Please contact Jasmine Tarkoff at jtarkoff@aol.com or Doug Leich at leichd@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
