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The Church Without Walls: ‘A Place to Belong’
The Row LA – The Church Without Walls has served the Skid Row community for 18 years.
The Row LA – The Church Without Walls has served the Skid Row community for 18 years.
Celebrating 24 years, Friends of Skid Row has distributed hygiene kits, clothing, blankets, children’s books and toys on Christmas Eve to more than 600 men, women and children experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles.
Kevin Jones graduated from high school in 1988 and decided not to pursue higher education. But after becoming homeless in 2014, he decided to turn his life around and just received his bachelor’s degree from CSUDH.
Troy Vaughn, President, and CEO of Los Angeles Mission, along with sponsor Suitcase Joe, and many volunteers, organizers, chefs, celebrities, and elected officials, helped to make this Thanksgiving a memorable one for the residents of LA’s Skid Row.
Los Angeles Mission’s President Troy Vaughn and the dedicated team of LA Mission executives, volunteers, successfully kicked off the Skid Row Revitalization Project, with a free performance by Grammy Award-winners Kirk Franklin and Maverick City Music in the heart of Skid Row on Monday, July 25.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn has concluded a trip to Los Angeles to see in person the condition of Black men and women in a city where they make up less than 9 percent of the population, but nearly 40 percent of the homeless.
A two-year investigation into narcotics dealing in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles has resulted in 50 arrests and the seizure of various quantities of drugs, including more than 46,000 fentanyl pills, authorities said today.
The Los Angeles City Council today took a first step toward expanding citywide the Skid Row Clean Team, which works to prevent trash and debris buildup in the area.
A federal appeals court today overturned a Los Angeles judge’s sweeping order forcing local government to offer shelter to every unhoused person on downtown’s Skid Row by the middle of next month, and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. A panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the district court had “abused its discretion” because it did not have authority to issue the preliminary injunction order based on claims not pled in the complaint brought last year by the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, an association of downtown residents, homeless individuals and property owners seeking to compel the county and city of Los Angeles to find shelter for the thousands of people camping on city sidewalks.
A housing project in Skid Row that officials say will be the largest homeless housing development in Los Angeles history broke ground today.
The Weingart Towers, which will include a 19-story high-rise at 555- 561 S. Crocker St. and a 12-story high-rise at 554-562 S. San Pedro St., will offer a total of 382 units to people experiencing homelessness. The development will offer more than three times the number of units in the second largest development funded by Proposition HHH, a ballot initiative passed in November 2016 to use $1.2 billion to build 10,000 units for homeless Angelenos.
The Los Angeles City Council approved a street engagement strategy today to accompany its sweeping ordinance to restrict sleeping and homeless encampments in certain areas of the city. The ordinance went into effect on Sept. 3, but enforcement was limited to accessibility obstructions pending the city’s approval of the street engagement strategy. Under the engagement framework, which was approved 14-0, each council office will have at least three engagement teams to deploy to areas chosen for the ordinance’s enforcement. The teams will assess the encampments, determine how long engagement will take place, collaborate with city and county departments, as well
The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit seeking to force the city and county of Los Angeles to effectively deal with the homelessness crisis filed a motion for a preliminary injunction today that would require housing to be offered to thousands of indigent people in downtown’s skid row area by August.
Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring mental health and substance abuse issues, homelessness in the region is comparable to “a significant natural disaster in Southern California with no end in sight,” U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote in an order filed late Sunday in federal court.
Local churches spread the Christmas spirit in spite of the pandemic, giving back to those that need help.
The Los Angeles Police Department could be removed from enforcing traffic rules under a new proposal that addresses one of the most problematic and racially charged elements of police interaction with people of color — traffic stops.