Homeless Outreach Program

There were paintings, a spread of cheese and crackers and a small group of people discussing the merit of the artworks. But missing from the opening of the "Art From Skid Row" exhibition at Los Angeles City College last week were, save one, the artists themselves. One was in jail. One is mentally ill, and organizers thought his presence would be disruptive. Several, organizers said, were out spending recently received general relief checks on alcohol and drugs.

Five years ago, a homeless man showed up at the door of Covering Wings seeking a little warmth. Workers at the Huntington Beach agency gave Bob O'Brien a specially designed survival blanket, some clothing and other necessities, then sent him on his way. But he kept coming back. O'Brien returned to Covering Wings not for more help but to lend a hand to others who are homeless.

The Community Redevelopment Agency has voted to give a Skid Row-based outreach program $30,000 to continue its work through June. Started with a $5,600 CRA grant last November, the Homeless Outreach Program in downtown Los Angeles uses former homeless people to help their former brethren find their way through the maze of social services available to the homeless. They offer referrals, walk people to shelters and run a drug-abuse outpatient program.

The Los Angeles City Council has approved spending $4.6 million--a 10% drop from last year--to help fund seven homeless assistance agencies and pay for 452 shelter beds, officials said. Council members voted Wednesday to allocate the largest portion of the $4.6 million to the Weingart Center Assn., which provides temporary housing, alcohol rehabilitation programs and mental health counseling on Skid Row. A total of $1.9 million will pay for 363 permanent shelter beds at the center, 566 S.

The Los Angeles City Council has approved spending $4.6 million--a 10% drop from last year--to help fund seven homeless assistance agencies and pay for 452 shelter beds, officials said. Council members voted Wednesday to allocate the largest portion of the $4.6 million to the Weingart Center Assn., which provides temporary housing, alcohol rehabilitation programs and mental health counseling on Skid Row. A total of $1.9 million will pay for 363 permanent shelter beds at the center, 566 S.

Cutbacks in the county budget have prompted the Orange County Health Care Agency to contract with a private provider for mental health services for the homeless. The county-staffed Homeless Outreach Program stopped operating on July 1, according to Doug Barton, director of county mental health programs.

I was very surprised that my friend Mike Neely says (in "Panhandling: A Give-and-Take," Oct. 3) that the homeless and panhandlers "have no say" in the Central City Assn.'s Downtown Safe and Clean program. The association has solicited input from social service providers who serve the homeless community, including Chrysalis, the Coalition to End Homelessness, Justiceville/Homeless USA, the Ketchum Downtown YMCA, the Los Angeles Mission and the Union Rescue Mission. The outreach also included a Sept.

Several months ago, Mike Neely, a Skid Row activist and recovering drug addict, decided that the best way to help the homeless on the dangerous streets east of downtown was to work with the city's Establishment. He went to a city agency closely identified with Los Angeles political power, the Community Redevelopment Agency, and asked for money to hire five homeless people, open a storefront office and try to persuade the homeless to enroll in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs.

The flash of insight came to Brenda Clark when she heard the clangorous tune of an ice cream truck's music box. She had no money to buy her four children treats; she had spent it on cocaine. "That hurt," she recalled. But it didn't hurt enough--not enough to make her stop using cocaine. Not until she had turned her children over to her mother and spent 10 months living on the streets did Clark enter a rehabilitation program. She has been off cocaine now for three months, she says.

To express his views on the oppression of women, Hector Barcenas used bold, dramatic hues to paint a club-wielding woman stomping down a red path toward the stoic figures of a man and his dog. Colored cubes, symbolizing the frustration of her "blocked ideas," frame the oil painting. Vincent Richards used more obvious images to express his views about another societal problem--poverty. Richards took a photograph of Sunday food lines in front of Los Angeles City Hall.

I was very surprised that my friend Mike Neely says (in "Panhandling: A Give-and-Take," Oct. 3) that the homeless and panhandlers "have no say" in the Central City Assn.'s Downtown Safe and Clean program. The association has solicited input from social service providers who serve the homeless community, including Chrysalis, the Coalition to End Homelessness, Justiceville/Homeless USA, the Ketchum Downtown YMCA, the Los Angeles Mission and the Union Rescue Mission. The outreach also included a Sept.

To express his views on the oppression of women, Hector Barcenas used bold, dramatic hues to paint a club-wielding woman stomping down a red path toward the stoic figures of a man and his dog. Colored cubes, symbolizing the frustration of her "blocked ideas," frame the oil painting. Vincent Richards used more obvious images to express his views about another societal problem--poverty. Richards took a photograph of Sunday food lines in front of Los Angeles City Hall.

Cutbacks in the county budget have prompted the Orange County Health Care Agency to contract with a private provider for mental health services for the homeless. The county-staffed Homeless Outreach Program stopped operating on July 1, according to Doug Barton, director of county mental health programs.

Walking the wet streets of downtown Los Angeles Wednesday, Raymond Blackshire remembered how it was to be homeless in the rain. Three years ago, Blackshire, 34, spent his nights sleeping on the traffic island at 3rd and Main streets. When the weather was bad, his days were devoted to trying to escape the elements, one way or another.

There were paintings, a spread of cheese and crackers and a small group of people discussing the merit of the artworks. But missing from the opening of the "Art From Skid Row" exhibition at Los Angeles City College last week were, save one, the artists themselves. One was in jail. One is mentally ill, and organizers thought his presence would be disruptive. Several, organizers said, were out spending recently received general relief checks on alcohol and drugs.

The Community Redevelopment Agency has voted to give a Skid Row-based outreach program $30,000 to continue its work through June. Started with a $5,600 CRA grant last November, the Homeless Outreach Program in downtown Los Angeles uses former homeless people to help their former brethren find their way through the maze of social services available to the homeless. They offer referrals, walk people to shelters and run a drug-abuse outpatient program.

Henry Brown, a homeless man painting a mural on Skid Row, has a dream shared by many from the blighted area who met there Wednesday to discuss their hopes for the new $20-million Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts. "I'd like to see a place I can go and work, where I can refine my talent and get materials," said Brown, one of about 100 gathered at the East 6th Street office of the Homeless Outreach Program, a service organization. "You see all those unfinished drawings?"

Has there been a "Shameful Fumble" in Los Angeles County's efforts to help the homeless, as your Jan. 21 editorial claimed? No, but there has been confusion, a confusion generated by well-intentioned, but insufficiently planned and informed efforts to help the homeless. Without question there are homeless people in Los Angeles County. But it is not a new-found and neglected problem, as the focus of attention in recent weeks might lead the general public to believe. For example, more than 2,500 voucher beds are used each night countywide.

Henry Brown, a homeless man painting a mural on Skid Row, has a dream shared by many from the blighted area who met there Wednesday to discuss their hopes for the new $20-million Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts. "I'd like to see a place I can go and work, where I can refine my talent and get materials," said Brown, one of about 100 gathered at the East 6th Street office of the Homeless Outreach Program, a service organization. "You see all those unfinished drawings?"

Twilight comes hard to Skid Row. As a warm dusk gives way to a cool evening, violet clouds turn gray and the skyscrapers of downtown light up in the west. The line at the Los Angeles Mission stretches into the shadows. Those at the front grumble about the food, those at the rear worry over there being any left. A man stumbles past the bedraggled crowd, offering to sell his meal ticket for a quarter; there are no takers.