{"id":244818,"date":"2012-01-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/project-aims-to-connect-san-diego-homeless-with-valuable-resources\/"},"modified":"2012-01-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-20T08:00:00","slug":"project-aims-to-connect-san-diego-homeless-with-valuable-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/project-aims-to-connect-san-diego-homeless-with-valuable-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Project aims to connect San Diego homeless with valuable resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jos\u00e9 Martinez | SDUN Reporter<\/strong>

\"Project<\/a>
Participants of the Project Homeless Connect were able to get a free haircut. (Photo by Jos\u00e9 Martinez)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

For San Diego\u2019s homeless population, many of the conveniences and services that come with an address are unavailable. That is why Project Homeless Connect, which took place on Jan. 11, provided a \u201cpassport\u201d of services for the over 900 homeless men and women who showed up. <\/p>\n

The 6th annual event, which took place in Downtown\u2019s Golden Hall, provided a litany of services in one location for its clients \u2013 as organizers of Project Homeless Connect refer to them \u2013 in order to counter the inconvenience of services being scattered across the county. Booths offering dental and medical exams, haircuts, public benefits assistance, childcare, substance abuse services and massages stood adjacent to areas where clients could collect clothing, toiletries and food at no cost.<\/p>\n

Rick Gentry, president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission said Project Homeless Connect is partly an effort to \u201cshortcut some of the bureaucracy\u201d of obtaining services for homeless people. The San Diego Housing Commission lead the event for the second time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an effort to try and connect people on the street with services and goods they might not have available to them otherwise,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have an address, it\u2019s hard to make the system work for you, and this event provides services all in one day and all in one place, rather than scattered around town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clients lined up outside Golden Hall, where a volunteer guide met them at the door. Clients then told their guides what services or items they were looking for, and followed their guides to the appropriate booths. <\/p>\n

Kyle Brewer, a client who lives in Golden Hill, picked up clothes and received a haircut. \u201cAn event like this helps out a lot of people,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s good; everybody\u2019s finding what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Hanby, a volunteer for the event from North Park, was struck by the generosity of donors. \u201cPeople are getting what they need,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are plenty of clothes and so forth. It\u2019s a miracle how many donations have been sent here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamar Evans, who lives near San Diego State University, has been to two Project Homeless Connect events, and said he was grateful for it. This year, he received clothing and a pair of glasses. \u201cI think this event is a blessing,\u201d he said. \u201cThings like this are important, here and all over the world. These are hard times and things like this [are] a blessing.\u201d <\/p>\n

San Diego Housing Commission statistics state last year\u2019s Project Homeless Connect provided services to approximately 660 homeless individuals. More than half of last year\u2019s attendance suffered from medical issues, and more than a third had mobility limitations. Nearly 60 percent had no form of income whatsoever. This year, over 900 people were served by the event. <\/p>\n

District Three Councilmember Todd Gloria said, \u201cProject Homeless Connect provides needed services to our neighbors who need them most. The success of this year\u2019s event makes me even more excited about the opening of San Diego\u2019s first permanent homeless services center, where similar comprehensive care will be offered year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hillcrest-based Alpha Project volunteered at Project Homeless Connect, offering human services information at their booth. Program Manager Travis Larson said, \u201cOur approach has always been pretty grassroots and our family on the streets knows this so our presence was expected and we were anxious to help in any way possible.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jos\u00e9 Martinez | SDUN Reporter For San Diego\u2019s homeless population, many of the conveniences and services that come with an address are unavailable. That is why Project Homeless Connect, which took place on Jan. 11, provided a \u201cpassport\u201d of services for the over 900 homeless men and women who showed up. The 6th annual […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":230689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Project aims to connect San Diego homeless with valuable resources","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}