H4WRD Great Reads for February 2025

February's Great Reads offers a variety of homelessness-related articles and resources, including an overview of Canopy Roots, the CIRCLE Program's new contracted partner in Hollywood who were highlighted at the H4WRD member meeting on February 18th.

• H4WRD Member Meeting, 2/18: Canopy Roots' Introductory Presentation to new LA Partners
  • The Canopy Roots team joined H4WRD's member meeting last week to introduce themselves to our community, share more about their background offering unarmed first responder services in the Minneapolis region, and the ways they intend to serve in Hollywood as the new partner for the City's CIRCLE program. Canopy Roots is currently hiring for a number of roles, which can be ACCESSED HERE.
• The Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP): Know Your Rights Information Hub offers a wide range of resources aimed at supporting the documented and undocumented immigrants cared for by the many local providers in our H4WRD community, including:
  • ICE Raid Guidance for Homeless Service Providers
    • On the intersection of immigrants’ rights and homeless service providers, see this helpful KYR from the National Homelessness Law Center
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
    • Resources on this page include a wide range of downloadable tools produced for diverse audiences
  • ACLU Know your rights
    • Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights under the Constitution. Learn more here about your rights as an immigrant, and how to express them. CLICK HERE for the Spanish version.
• LA Times, 2/7: Leaked document says ‘large scale’ immigration enforcement action coming soon to L.A.
  • Federal law enforcement agents are planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in the Los Angeles area before the end of February, which could threaten many people experiencing homelessness in our community. (Please see resources above if you or any of your clients may be impacted.) The operation, spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will focus on people who do not have legal status in the country or who already have pending orders of removal, according to the document, which was circulated among some federal law enforcement officials this week.
• LA Daily News, 2/11: LA controller to audit city’s encampment cleanup program
  • The Los Angeles City Controller on Monday announced plans to audit the city’s Comprehensive Cleaning and Rapid Engagement program, which was launched in 2019 to maintain city streets and address encampments. According to City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office, the performance audit is intended to examine the program’s “overall efficiency” and measure its performance against stated goals, such as removing solid and hazardous waste from public streets and providing outreach and hygiene services to people experiencing homelessness.
• LAist, 2/19: Thousands of volunteers launch LA’s annual homeless count
  • One of the most important surveys on homelessness in Los Angeles is underway as thousands of Angelenos started visiting streets and sidewalks across the county Tuesday night. The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count — the largest of its kind in the country — is typically done at the end of January, as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But this year’s was postponed because of the wildfires. The data volunteers collect, which will be released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) in the coming months, plays a critical role in how resources are used to address homelessness. (See item below for recap on the Hollywood Homeless Count on 2/18!)
• California Sun Podcast, 2/20: Dr. Shayan Rab is taking psychiatry to the streets
  • Dr. Shayan Rab, associate medical director at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) -- and one of the early leaders of the innovative Hollywood 2.0 program -- explains his revolutionary, if controversial, approach to helping mentally ill homeless individuals. While challenging conventional wisdom, Dr. Rab's work with H20 and LACDMH's Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) Team has become a model for how to approach the intersection of mental health and homelessness.
• LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA): Request for Information
  • The recently released RFI is intended to improve LACAHSA's understanding of the current state of the domestic affordable housing programs, projects, market, infrastructure, influencers, and partnerships within the geographical footprint of LA County. LACAHSA is requesting meaningful and detailed responses to focused questions intended to assist the Agency with supporting programs or projects that will prove to be most timely and successful at affordable housing delivery.
  • PLEASE NOTE: All submissions must be received no later than the deadline of Friday, 2/28.

2/18: A Count Night to Remember

The Hollywood 4WRD team was out in full force for the Hollywood Homeless Count last Tuesday night, proud to participate as volunteer counters this year after hosting the event last year. Major kudos to the team from The Hollywood Partnership (THP) for doing such a stellar job stepping up and stepping in as the Deployment Site Coordinators at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (FPCH). Big thanks and kudos as well to all the volunteers who showed up to count alongside us this year, including the large and enthusiastic team from the Hilton Foundation.

We don’t take it for granted that Hollywood has so many engaged community members ready to roll up their sleeves to help solve this crisis in our midst.

One lovely and heart-breaking touch the THP team added to the proceedings this year was a remembrance of the many unhoused friends and neighbors who lost their lives this year, each one commemorated by candle-lit luminaries at the front of the stage. As FPCH host Rev. Amie Quigley said movingly in her opening remarks, “The world may point fingers at people in the street and say ‘hopeless, dangerous, broken system’ but we in this room look at them and say ‘friend, perfect, made to flourish, beloved… someone’s child!’

"So as you count tonight, my prayer is that you talk to one another, dream and imagine what we can all do together!”